Wellbeing skills strengthening as a model for healthy adolescent digital technology use

Abstract

Digital technologies (DTs) have become ubiquitous. Adolescents are avid users of DTs. As access to and use of DTs has increased among adolescents, daily life and adolescent social interaction patterns have shifted in profound ways. Although the causal relationship between DT use and adolescent wellbeing is not clear, it is clear that the economy driving DT innovation is not designed to promote adolescent wellbeing. Yet, DTs possess characteristics that make them promising avenues for wellbeing promotion because of their accessibility, ability to scale up, and the potential for personalization. In this essay, we propose that strengthening adolescent wellbeing skills through DT interventions may provide the necessary conditions for adaptive adolescent DT use at a public health scale, leading to improved adolescent wellbeing.

Keywords: adolescent; digital technologies; mental health; mobile health; personalization; social media; wellbeing.