TY - JOUR
T1 - Lonely online
T2 - A social model of digital media addiction: A study in 21 countries
AU - Błachnio, Agata
AU - Przepiórka, Aneta P.
AU - Gorbaniuk, Oleg
AU - McNeill, Monika
AU - Bendayan, Rebecca
AU - Ben-Ezra, Menachem
AU - Angeluci, Alan
AU - Abreu, Ana Maria
AU - Blanca, María J.
AU - Brkljacic, Tihana
AU - Babić, Nenad Čuš
AU - Durak, Mithat
AU - Gorbaniuk, Julia
AU - Holdoš, Juraj
AU - Ivanova, Ana
AU - Makita, Meiko
AU - Malik, Sadia
AU - Mazzoni, Elvis
AU - Milanovic, Anita
AU - Musil, Bojan
AU - Pantic, Igor
AU - Rando, Belén
AU - Seidman, Gwendolyn
AU - Senol-Durak, Emre
AU - D'Souza, Lancy
AU - Vanden Abeele, Mariek M P
AU - Wołońciej, Mariusz T.
AU - Wu, Anise M. S.
AU - Yu, Shu M.
AU - Benvenuti, Martina
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Western Social Science Association.
PY - 2024/1/10
Y1 - 2024/1/10
N2 - Digital media addiction limits face-to-face communication, which can have negative effects on the subjective wellbeing of individuals. However, the effect of digital media addiction on subjective wellbeing has not been adequately explored, and it is recommended in the literature that the role of mediating variables related to social life should be investigated. These include loneliness and satisfaction with relationships. The current study investigated whether loneliness and satisfaction with relationships explained the link between people’s digital media addiction and their sense of flourishing. A sample of 6,434 respondents from 21 countries (Mage = 25.92 years, SD = 9.78; 65.5% women) took part in a cross-sectional survey study. The study included a comprehensive evaluation of digital media addiction using several measures. The following scales were applied: the Internet Addiction Scale, the Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire, the Phubbing Scale, the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, the Relationship Assessment Scale, and the Flourishing Scale. A two-level path analysis showed that loneliness and satisfaction with interpersonal relationships fully mediated the link between digital media addiction and flourishing on the individual level. This suggests that digital media addiction may affect flourishing only through its impact on loneliness and satisfaction with interpersonal relationships.
AB - Digital media addiction limits face-to-face communication, which can have negative effects on the subjective wellbeing of individuals. However, the effect of digital media addiction on subjective wellbeing has not been adequately explored, and it is recommended in the literature that the role of mediating variables related to social life should be investigated. These include loneliness and satisfaction with relationships. The current study investigated whether loneliness and satisfaction with relationships explained the link between people’s digital media addiction and their sense of flourishing. A sample of 6,434 respondents from 21 countries (Mage = 25.92 years, SD = 9.78; 65.5% women) took part in a cross-sectional survey study. The study included a comprehensive evaluation of digital media addiction using several measures. The following scales were applied: the Internet Addiction Scale, the Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire, the Phubbing Scale, the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, the Relationship Assessment Scale, and the Flourishing Scale. A two-level path analysis showed that loneliness and satisfaction with interpersonal relationships fully mediated the link between digital media addiction and flourishing on the individual level. This suggests that digital media addiction may affect flourishing only through its impact on loneliness and satisfaction with interpersonal relationships.
KW - Digital media addiction
KW - Flourishing
KW - Loneliness
KW - Satisfaction with relationships
U2 - 10.1080/03623319.2023.2228439
DO - 10.1080/03623319.2023.2228439
M3 - Article
SN - 1873-5355
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - The Social Science Journal
JF - The Social Science Journal
ER -