Laboratory

Population Dynamics and Sustainable Well-Being

At a Glance Projects Publications Team

Project

Technology Use and Its Effects on Time-Use Patterns, Social Relationships, and Well-Being

Robert Gordon Rinderknecht, Sophie Lohmann, Daniela Veronica Negraia, Emilio Zagheni

The use of Internet, smartphones, and social networking sites represent a major social discontinuity in recent history. We study how the digitalization of life differentially affects social relations, emotional well-being, and the way we spend our time, across demographic groups.  Detailed Description

Leisure time spent alone with technology has increased, but there is no association between how many social media platforms we use and how happy we are

(A) Means and 95% confidence intervals of self-rated happiness (1 = very happy, 0 = pretty happy, -1 = not too happy) by how many social media platforms respondents used (data: General Social Survey, 2016). (B) Figure shows average daily minutes spent in solitary leisure between 1965 and 2019, broken down by type of leisure activity (data: American Heritage Time Use Study (AHTUS), 1965 – 1998; American Time Use Survey (ATUS), 2003 – 2019. © MPIDR

(B) Figure shows average daily minutes spent in solitary leisure between 1965 and 2018, broken down by type of leisure activity (data: American Heritage Time Use Study (AHTUS)). © MPIDR

Publications

Rinderknecht, R. G.; Negraia, D. V.; Lohmann, S.; Zagheni, E.:

Understanding the growth of solitary leisure in the U.S., 1965 – 2018

MPIDR Working Paper WP-2023-025. (2023)    

Lohmann, S.; Zagheni, E.:

Multi-platform social media use: little evidence of impacts on adult well-being

MPIDR Working Paper WP-2020-023. (2020)