Sewall Craig J R, Goldstein Tina R, Wright Aidan G C, Rosen Daniel
University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychiatry.
University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychology.
Clin Psychol Sci. 2022 Sep;10(5):997-1014. doi: 10.1177/21677026221078309. Epub 2022 Mar 25.
Despite a plethora of research, the link between digital technology use and psychological distress among young adults remains inconclusive. Findings in this area are typically undermined by methodological limitations related to measurement, study design, and statistical analysis. Addressing these limitations, we examined the prospective, within-person associations between three aspects of objectively-measured digital technology use (smartphone use duration and frequency; social media use duration) and three aspects of psychological distress (depression, anxiety, and social isolation) among a sample of young adults ( = 384). Across 81 different model specifications, we found that most within-person prospective effects between digital technology use and psychological distress were statistically non-significant and all were very small-even the largest effects were unlikely to register a meaningful impact on a person's psychological distress. In post hoc subgroup analyses, we found scant evidence for the claim that digital technology use is more harmful for women and/or younger people.
尽管有大量研究，但数字技术使用与年轻人心理困扰之间的联系仍无定论。该领域的研究结果通常受到与测量、研究设计和统计分析相关的方法学局限性的影响。为了解决这些局限性，我们在一个年轻人样本（n = 384）中，研究了客观测量的数字技术使用的三个方面（智能手机使用时长和频率；社交媒体使用时长）与心理困扰的三个方面（抑郁、焦虑和社交隔离）之间的前瞻性、个体内部关联。在81种不同的模型规格中，我们发现数字技术使用与心理困扰之间的大多数个体内部前瞻性效应在统计学上不显著，而且所有效应都非常小——即使是最大的效应也不太可能对一个人的心理困扰产生有意义的影响。在事后亚组分析中，我们几乎没有找到证据支持数字技术使用对女性和/或年轻人更有害的说法。
