Oxford Study: Internet Boosts Global Well-Being, Counters Negative Perceptions
According to a new study from Oxford University, the internet has played a great role in the well-being of people despite how much people see usage of the internet in a negative light. The researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing data from two million people in 168 countries. The study saw the data from 2006 to 2021 to say that 84.9% of the time, the internet was the source for the well being of many people.
Previous studies have also been done on this topic but there were always issues of demographics and geographies between them. This study also included Latin America, Africa and Asia as use of the internet isn’t just concerned with North America or Europe, said Professor Andrew Przybylski from Oxford Internet Institute. He also added that use of the internet is a global phenomenon and everyone all over the world uses it. So, it is important to cover all the major countries from each continent to get the results right.
The study focused on some indicators of well-being like life positive experience, satisfaction, physical well being, social well being etc. to see how they are being affected by use of the internet. The results showed that all the associations with the internet are positive but there is a slight difference in the results based on gender. 4.9% of the negative associations with internet use were found in women of ages between 15 to 24. This could be because of cyberbullying and depression due to social media use. Researchers of the study said that they hope that this research can bring more context to screen time debate. People who experience greater well-being on the internet tend to use the internet more as compared to people that find themselves negatively being affected by it.
Image: DIW-AIgen
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