Does Internet Use Promote Subjective Well-Being? Evidence from the Different Age Groups Based on CGSS 2017 Data

Yurong Yan, Yuying Deng (), Juan-José Igartua and Xiagang Song
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Yurong Yan: School of Journalism and Communication, Northwest University of Political Science and Law, Xi’an 710122, China
Yuying Deng: Department of Sociology and Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Juan-José Igartua: Department of Sociology and Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Salamanca, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Xiagang Song: School of Law, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, China

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Mobile Internet technology has developed so rapidly that the Internet has become indispensable in everyday life. There is a continuous debate about the relationship between internet use and subjective well-being. In contrast to observing whether one has Internet access, this paper focuses on three dimensions of Internet usage: frequency of use, online relationship size, and Internet proficiency. Based on the Chinese nationwide data collected in 2017, the results of the ordinary least squares regression model demonstrate that Internet use has a significant positive association with subjective well-being. In addition, this study also discovers that the effect of Internet use on the subjective well-being of individuals of different ages is heterogeneous; middle-aged individuals benefit from more frequent Internet use and larger-scale networks; the young and older adults benefit from organizing communication in groups. The results of this study can provide targeted suggestions for improving the subjective well-being of different age groups in Internet use.

Keywords: internet use; subjective well-being; use frequency; online relationship size; internet proficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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