Dolly Sapam Kiran, Samantaray Narendra Nath
Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Medical and Paramedical Science, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, India.
Community Mental Health Unit, Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Indian J Psychiatry. 2024 Mar;66(3):263-271. doi: 10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_718_23. Epub 2024 Mar 18.
The amount and frequency of internet use are often used to forecast its pros and cons, with mixed findings. After COVID-19, technological advances and sociological upheavals have shown the internet's ability to support numerous activities, necessitating a change in internet use. Beyond internet use frequency, it has been advised to examine why people use it and how it affects their well-being. Hence, we aimed to investigate the various mediators and moderators in the relationship between the quality of internet use (type of activity) and well-being. Further, we investigated whether user attributes such as initial age and frequency of internet use moderate the influence of internet use quality on problematic internet use, loneliness, and well-being.
131 students in Manipur who were 18 years old were included in this cross-sectional study. Self-rated measures of the Adult Internet Usage questionnaire, Internet Addiction Test, and Mental Health Continuum-Short Form assessed internet use, dependence, and well-being.
Loneliness mediates the association between well-being and internet behaviors related to personal use-self-actualization (BootSE = .53, BootLLCI = .10, BootULCI = 2.18), cultural use-belonging (BootSE =.57, BootLLCI = -2.23, BootULCI = -.02). Average online hours moderate economic use-education, loneliness, and well-being (BootSE =.13, BootLLCI = -.55, BootULCI = -.04).
To conclude, the effectiveness of internet use affects well-being differently depending on the type of activity. After a certain point, even seemingly good internet activities may have diminishing returns.
互联网使用的数量和频率常被用来预测其利弊，结果不一。新冠疫情之后，技术进步和社会动荡显示出互联网支持众多活动的能力，这使得互联网使用方式发生了改变。除了互联网使用频率之外，有人建议研究人们使用互联网的原因以及它如何影响人们的幸福感。因此，我们旨在调查互联网使用质量（活动类型）与幸福感之间关系中的各种中介因素和调节因素。此外，我们还研究了诸如初始年龄和互联网使用频率等用户属性是否会调节互联网使用质量对问题性互联网使用、孤独感和幸福感的影响。
这项横断面研究纳入了131名来自曼尼普尔邦的18岁学生。通过成人互联网使用问卷、互联网成瘾测试和心理健康连续体简表的自评测量来评估互联网使用、成瘾情况和幸福感。
孤独感在幸福感与与个人自我实现相关的互联网行为之间起中介作用（BootSE = 0.53，BootLLCI = 0.10，BootULCI = 2.18），在与文化归属感相关的互联网行为之间起中介作用（BootSE = 0.57，BootLLCI = -2.23，BootULCI = -0.02）。平均上网时长调节经济用途-教育、孤独感和幸福感之间的关系（BootSE = 0.13，BootLLCI = -0.55，BootULCI = -0.04）。
总之，互联网使用的有效性因活动类型而异，对幸福感的影响也不同。在达到某个点之后，即使看似有益的互联网活动也可能会出现收益递减的情况。
