Digital well-being

Psychology 2023/2024
 What is your
digital technology habit
that supports/harms your well-being?
Lecture topics for today

01 Impact of digital technology on our well-being

02 Terms and concepts

03 Positive technology

04 Digital wellbeing

05 Specific tools for improving well-being

06 Self-developed application
Digital technology and well-being

Superficial social relations Attention deficit

📱 Interactions are poorer because: 📱 Smartphone use can impair

the ability to maintain
📱 Reduces introspection concentration.
(observing oneself),
📱 Reduces the ability to
empathize
Concepts and terms

All the negative effects that technology has, directly or indirectly, on attitudes,
Technostress
opinions, behaviour or physically on the human system.

FOMO Fear of missing out

The nomophobe is terrified of losing his phone, running out of battery, losing
Nomophobia
reception or losing his balance
Positive technology
The trend of "positive technology" involves
designing, developing, and validating new
digital experiences and tools aimed at
fostering positive change.
It encompasses elements such as
• positive emotions,
• flow experience,
• Meaning
• competence, and
• enhancing positive relationships.

This field emerges from the integration of

1. positive psychology principles
2. with user experience design and
3. technology.
Positive psychology
 COMBINING THE OBJECTIVES AND TOOLS OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY WITH THE BENEFITS AND
ACHIEVEMENTS OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICT).

Hedonic Eudaimonic Social experience

Within the domain of the pursuit of
hedonic or pleasurable
experiences, positive technology is
a set of tools, devices and
applications that aim to accelerate
and enhance the achievement of
positive, pleasurable and joyful
experiences.
In the context of experiencing
eudaimonic or commitment-
related experiences, positive
technology supports
individuals in fulfilling their
strengths, talents, and
achieving self-actualizing
experiences.
Positive technology can be used to
support and improve social
integration, regardless of diadical
status, group membership, or
gender identity.
It can also be used to create a sense
of community and connection,
which can be beneficial for people
of all ages and backgrounds.
 Supports or
harms?
There's no consensus among
researchers regarding whether
different digital solutions and
tools can enhance well-being.
While we can certainly discuss
their impact, its nature and
direction vary; it can be both
beneficial and detrimental.
Digital well-being
1. The lack of digital well-being is not about illness or media
addiction, but rather about individuals occasionally
struggling to find and maintain a balance in their digital
functioning and habits. (Cecchinato et al., 2019)

2. Digital well-being is about how much we live and can live a life
that is good for us, alongside the powerful effects of
technology (Floridi 2014).

3. The impact of digital technologies on our well-being and

what it means for us to live a good life in an increasingly
digital society.(Burr & Floridi, 2020)
Digital psychology?
Advantages and disadvantages
Digital well-being skills

What are these skills? Example:

„… The set of skills needed to manage the For example, applying the strategy of
side effects of too much digital delaying immediate responses to stimuli
communication." (Giu et al., 2017) before making a commitment.

What else can we do to reduce the negative

effects?
Screen time
Linked to individual well-being
How can we reduce it?
To achieve sustainable behavior change:
📱 In addition to prohibitive and restrictive features, the integration of motivational features

is recommended:
📱 Such as various rewards and motivational quotes, thereby enhancing users' sense of

accomplishment and, consequently, their commitment.

📱 The focus is on building positive habits instead of eliminating harmful ones.

📱 Incorporating the supportive role of peers can also be a potential development direction

for such solutions, as social comparison and social support significantly contribute to their
effectiveness (Adams et al., 2014).
Specific tools for
improving
well-being
Factors contributing to their effectiveness
1. Timeliness: Users can avoid waiting and immediately access the support,
opportunities, and flexibility offered by technological tools to integrate them
into their daily routine.

2. Cost-effectiveness: These solutions are significantly less expensive for users

than traditional therapies (Oyebode et al., 2020).

3. Stigma avoidance: Technology allows people with mental illness to avoid the
stigma unfortunately often associated with their condition (Kornfield et al., 2020).

4. Improved mental health: Many of the solutions studied were able to effectively
support users' well-being and mental health. Mobile phone applications have also
been shown to be effective in reducing stress, managing mood disorders, and
treating eating disorders (Harith et al., 2022).
VR Self-compassion

ü Pre-instructions and practice

Valóság? opportunities related to empathy.

ü In the virtually constructed space,

participants were tasked with
comforting a crying virtual child within
a virtual adult body.

ü Then, the program provided them with

the opportunity to take on the role of
the child and thus experience the
beneficial effects of comfort and
support received from themselves

Among technological solutions, this one offers

the most authentic experience like reality.
Big
Builds on our data
Data
Valóság?
ü In the near future, these solutions are
expected to be able, for example, to
recognize which conversations bring
joy or stress to the user when speaking
with certain individuals, and they will
be able to inform them accordingly
(Yaden et al., 2018).

IoT – Internet of things

Technology devices that can communicate with
each other via the internet
AI kai

ü Goal: Supporting the well-being of

Valóság? adolescents
ü How?: Initiates daily contact with the

user and suggests short, simple

Within the domain of artificial intelligence,
chatbots are often imbued with psychological
methodologies
interventions based on the principles
of Acceptance and Commitment
Therapy (ACT), employing positive
psychological approaches.
(Verstberger et al., 2022)
Mobile applications advantage
Do they really help? ü Compared to traditional treatment

approaches, users experience less

stigma related to their illness due to
ü Lau and colleagues (2020) examined a total of 1009 freely
the discreet application options
available mHealth (mobile health) applications related to
provided by the app (Kornfield et al.,
mindfulness and positive psychology themes.
2020).
ü Their research revealed that only 2% of these applications

had undergone scientific efficacy testing, with just one

application, the "Headspace" mindfulness app, having
more than one such study associated with it.
Mobile florescer
app ü The application offers users an eight-week
Valóság? program comprising four lessons per week.
ü Each lesson includes a brief theoretical
section followed by a 15-minute guided
practice, such as kindness and empathy
meditations, as well as breathing techniques
(Coelhoso et al., 2019).
ü Additionally, the app encourages users to
Similar tools have shown an increase in user utilize the gratitude journal embedded
engagement frequency.
(Coelhoso et al., 2020) within the application twice a week.
What mobile application would
help for young adults?
problem solution
 An application tailored for young adults (aged 18-30) that
effectively enhances well-being and fosters experiences
of social support through the implementation of positive P
Positive emotions
psychological interventions. pozitív

H E
érzelmek

Health Engagement
egészség elmélyülés

PERMAH
modell

Conception A
Accomplishments
teljesítmény
R
Positive relationships
kapcsolatok

M
of self-developed Meaning
értelem

application
PERMA model (Seligman, 2011)
PERMAH model (Butler, Kern 2016)
 What did you do last when
you were incredibly happy?

For great friendships

Let's thrive in the
digital
environment as
well!
References
• Cecchinato, M. E., Rooksby, J., Hiniker, A., Munson, S., Lukoff, K., Ciolfi, L., Thieme, A., & Harrison, D. (2019). Designing for Digital
Wellbeing. Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3298998
• Floridi, L. (2012). The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics. Cambridge University Press.
• Burr, C., & Floridi, L. (2020). The ethics of digital well-being: A multidisciplinary perspective. Philosophical Studies Series, 1–29.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50585-1_1
• Kornfield, R., Zhang, R., Nicholas, J., Schueller, S. M., Cambo, S. A., Mohr, D. C., & Reddy, M. (2020). “energy is a finite resource”: Designing
technology to support individuals across fluctuating symptoms of depression. Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems. https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376309
• Harith, S., Backhaus, I., Mohbin, N., Ngo, H., & Khoo, S. (2022). Effectiveness of digital mental health interventions for university
students: an umbrella review. PeerJ, 10, e13111. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13111
• Oyebode, O., Alqahtani, F., & Orji, R. (2020). Using machine learning and thematic analysis methods to evaluate mental health apps
based on user reviews. IEEE Access, 8, 111141–111158. https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2020.3002176
• Coelhoso, C. C., Tobo, P. R., Lacerda, S. N. B., Lima, A. H., Barrichello, C., Amaro, E., & Kozasa, E. H. (2019). A new Mental Health Mobile App
for Well-Being and Stress Reduction in Working Women: randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(11),
e14269. https://doi.org/10.2196/14269
• Vertsberger, D., Naor, N., & Lo, M. (2022). Adolescents’ well-being while using a mobile Artificial Intelligence–Powered Acceptance
Commitment therapy tool: evidence from a longitudinal study. JMIR AI, 1(1), e38171. https://doi.org/10.2196/38171