Internet is good for you (unless you’re a young woman)

Using the internet has a strong link to positive wellbeing, except for young women, a global study has found.

The research, which looked at data on two million people aged 15 to 99 over 16 years in 168 countries, suggested that those who used the internet had better physical and mental health than those who avoided it. The only group who had a negative link were women aged 15 to 24, who reported worse "community wellbeing".

The researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute said they believed their work was the first study to look at internet use on a global level across the life stages. They were surprised by the links they found.

Andrew Przybylski, a professor of human behaviour and technology at Oxford University, and Matti Vuorre, an assistant professor at Tilburg University, said: “We hope our findings bring some greater context to the screen-time debate.”

Przybylski said the study did not look at social media alone but previous research by the institute on global Facebook adoption found no evidence of a link between widespread use of the platform and psychological harm.

He said proposals to ban social media for those younger than 16 could backfire. “We know, from 25 years of research that often the strategies that are least effective, especially with young people, are restrictions ... across a wide range of media and technologies. It leads to concealment, lying and rebellion.”

He cited bans in South Korea and China on children playing video games that had failed to change wellbeing.

The Oxford Internet Institute research looked at Gallup World Poll data involving two million people from 2006 to 2021 and modelled this against eight wellbeing indicators, including life satisfaction, daily experiences, social and physical wellbeing.

Across 33,792 different statistical models, they found that 84.9% of associations between internet connectivity and wellbeing were positive and statistically significant.

The pair said the finding of the negative link for young women was consistent with other research.

Kevin McConway, emeritus professor at the Open University, said the pattern of cause and effect among young women was unsure. “One possibility remains that young women who don’t have high levels of perceived wellbeing chose ... to use the internet more.”

Experts in the field welcomed the study. Candice Odgers, a professor of psychological science and informatics at the University of California, said: “We are running the real risk of generalising findings and fears from the United States across the globe – in the absence of data and careful thought as to what impacts this type of access should have.”

Those calling for stronger controls of social media and smartphones for younger people warned against reading too much into the study.

Jonathan Haidt, an American social psychologist, said the research examined the transition of people gaining access to the internet. “In the developing world, this transition surely brings enormous benefits, akin to getting running water. It is noteworthy that ... the one group that shows some signs of harm is the youngest group of girls.”