‘Age Matters’: A panel study investigating the influence of communicative and passive smartphone use on well-being

Anja Stevic, Desirée Schmuck, Jörg Matthes and Kathrin Karsay

Behaviour and Information Technology, 2021, vol. 40, issue 2, 176-190

Abstract: Communicative and passive online use have been shown to affect individuals’ well-being in opposite ways. While communicative use is often associated with beneficial outcomes, passive use may even harm individuals’ well-being. However, existing studies have paid insufficient attention to the influence of age on these associations. Additionally, little evidence is available regarding the impact of communicative and passive smartphone use on individuals’ well-being across the life-span. Drawing upon the theoretical approaches of Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, Social Convoy Model, and Social Compensation Hypothesis, we assumed that particularly communicative smartphone use may be beneficial for older adults’ well-being, helping them to maintain their personal relationships. Results of a two-wave panel survey (NT2 = 461) revealed a significant negative influence of passive smartphone use on well-being irrespective of age. In line with the Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and Social Compensation Hypothesis, communicative smartphone use, however, only had a positive influence on well-being for adults older than 63 years, but not for younger adults. Our findings contribute to a broader understanding of the consequences of different types of smartphone use on well-being across generations in the longitudinal context.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/0144929X.2019.1680732 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tbitxx:v:40:y:2021:i:2:p:176-190

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tbit20

DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2019.1680732

Access Statistics for this article

Behaviour and Information Technology is currently edited by Dr Panos P Markopoulos

More articles in Behaviour and Information Technology from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().