The Sisyphean Cycle of Technology Panics

Orben, Amy

doi:10.1177/1745691620919372

Cited by 147 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(91 reference statements)

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“…Such a framework should focus on incorporating how factors like formal features, content, context, individual and social factors moderate how much benefit or harm can be derived from using digital technology. This would allow emerging technologies to be evaluated against an existing evidence base, rather than disregarding past research altogether and attempting to answer the same basic questions that have already been answered in the past ( Orben, 2020 ). It would also allow the field to move past the prevailing causational viewpoint, which assumes that all individuals are equally affected by the new technology ( Grimes et al, 2008 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Evidence on the Role of Digital Technology in Shaping Attention and Cognitive Control in Children

Vedechkina

Borgonovi

2021

Front. Psychol.

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The role of digital technology in shaping attention and cognitive development has been at the centre of public discourse for decades. The current review presents findings from three main bodies of literature on the implications of technology use for attention and cognitive control: television, video games, and digital multitasking. The aim is to identify key lessons from prior research that are relevant for the current generation of digital users. In particular, the lack of scientific consensus on whether digital technologies are good or bad for children reflects that effects depend on users’ characteristics, the form digital technologies take, the circumstances in which use occurs and the interaction between the three factors. Some features of digital media may be particularly problematic, but only for certain users and only in certain contexts. Similarly, individual differences mediate how, when and why individuals use technology, as well as how much benefit or harm can be derived from its use. The finding emerging from the review on the large degree of heterogeneity in associations is especially relevant due to the rapid development and diffusion of a large number of different digital technologies and contents, and the increasing variety of user experiences. We discuss the importance of leveraging existing knowledge and integrating past research findings into a broader organizing framework in order to guide emerging technology-based research and practice. We end with a discussion of some of the challenges and unaddressed issues in the literature and propose directions for future research.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Evidence on the Role of Digital Technology in Shaping Attention and Cognitive Control in Children

Vedechkina

Borgonovi

2021

Front. Psychol.

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“…Finally, in addition to having implications for how best to maintain physical and mental health under lockdown conditions, these results contribute to a broader discussion on the role of digital technologies in wellbeing. We second recent calls for a greater emphasis on nuance in this debate, in particular by focusing on longitudinal assessments, and paying greater attention to both specific populations and contexts under which phenomena are observed ( 9, 51 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social media and smartphone app use predicts maintenance of physical activity during Covid-19 enforced isolation in psychiatric outpatients

Norbury

Liu

Campaña-Montes

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Public health professionals have raised concerns that the social and physical distancing measures implemented in response to the Covid-19 pandemic may negatively impact health in other areas, via both decreased physical activity and increased social isolation. Here, we investigated whether increased engagement with digital social tools may help mitigate effects of enforced isolation on physical activity and mood, in a naturalistic study of at-risk individuals. Passively sensed smartphone app use and actigraphy data, collected from a sample of psychiatric outpatients both before and during imposition of strict lockdown conditions (N=163), were analysed using Gaussian graphical models: a form of network analysis which gives insight into the predictive relationships between measures across timepoints. Within-individuals, we found evidence of a positive predictive path between digital social engagement, general smartphone use, and physical activity - selectively under lockdown conditions. Further, we observed a positive relationship between social media use and total daily steps across individuals during (but not prior to) lockdown. We interpret these findings in terms of individuals using these digital tools to harness online social support structures, which may help guard against negative effects of in-person social deprivation and other pandemic-related stress. Monitoring of these measures is low burden and unintrusive and therefore, given appropriate consent, could potentially help identify individuals who are failing to engage this mechanism, providing a route to early intervention in this and other vulnerable populations.

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“…However, given that there is far more research focused on the negative aspects of screen time, it is worth highlighting the note of caution regarding the harm that may come from ringing the pathology alarm so persistently (points made by Orben and colleagues', this issue and Ferguson, this issue). It is these negative messages around young people's everyday digital use, with so little empirical corroboration, that may themselves stigmatize youth unnecessarily and, in turn, end up causing more harm than the actual digital activity (Odgers & Jensen, 2020;Orben, 2020). Indeed, research in communication studies suggests that people who feel more guilty about their media use (e.g., video games and television), compared to those who feel no guilt, are less likely to experience the benefits of stress recovery usually associated with entertainment media (Reinecke, Hartmann, & Eden, 2014).…”

Section: The Pathologizing Of Digital Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Young People’s Digital Interactions from a Narrative Identity Perspective: Implications for Mental Health and Wellbeing

Granic

Morita

Scholten

2020

Psychological Inquiry

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The current response article began by situating this journal volume in the current COVID-19 pandemic context which has driven young people into digital spaces for far longer periods of time than ever. Many scholars, policy makers, and the public at large are recognizing that these social digital spaces may be the only outlet by which youth and their families can remain safe (at least physically), while also participating in some important social outlets. We discussed the notion of hybrid reality and argued that young people themselves often do not experience their digital and physical contexts as functionally distinct, despite there being good scientific reasons for examining these contexts separately. We then considered whether or not digital activity (at least some) should be considered pathological or inherently unhealthy for young people. Like most of the commentators, we advocated for a nuanced approach and emphasized the importance of a functional, developmental lens. In the second half of our response, we turned to the narrative identity framework itself and clarified misconceptions about what we considered novel about our approach. We found it particularly useful to explain why self-determination theory can be regarded as a constituent of the identity development framework, but that it does not subsume it. We moved on to discuss how the new insights provided by the commentators could be synthesized and suggested directions for new research studies and methodologies. Finally, we ended with an examination of how a more elaborated narrative identity framework offers specific directions for designing new digital interventions for promoting young people's mental health and wellbeing. It is our hope that the target article with its detailed articulation of the narrative identity framework, together with the thoughtful commentaries and this response, can together inform future research, practice, and policy relevant to digital activity and its impact on young people's mental health and wellbeing.

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The Sisyphean Cycle of Technology Panics

Cited by 147 publications

References 55 publications

A Review of Evidence on the Role of Digital Technology in Shaping Attention and Cognitive Control in Children

A Review of Evidence on the Role of Digital Technology in Shaping Attention and Cognitive Control in Children

Social media and smartphone app use predicts maintenance of physical activity during Covid-19 enforced isolation in psychiatric outpatients

Young People’s Digital Interactions from a Narrative Identity Perspective: Implications for Mental Health and Wellbeing

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