The impact of technology: how features, resources, and task demands shape digital wellbeing

Purpose: Despite growing awareness that digital technology has both positive and negative implications, the role of specific features in shaping users' overall wellbeing remains inadequately understood. We investigate the relationship between technology features, type of task, users’ resources and wellbeing, to address conflicting empirical evidence in the extant literature.

Design/methodology/approach: We draw on the Conservation of Resources theory and Involvement theory to analyse user experiences with the digital platforms of a local authority in England. We use an explanatory case-study, nested in a critical realist perspective, and draw on observations, document analysis and interviews with two stakeholder groups.

Findings: We find that digital wellbeing is a situated condition shaped by users’ goals, resources, and experiences. This explains why the same technology feature – e.g., self-service – supports wellbeing in low-involvement tasks but not in high-involvement ones. We also show that the hedonic and functional aspects of technology are interdependent in the production of digital wellbeing, and describe how the alignment between resources’ affordances and the users’ specific needs and goals shape wellbeing.

Originality: We address the conflicting evidence regarding the impact of digital technology on wellbeing, in the extant literature. This will support future researchers to critically analyse under what conditions technology will benefit vs harm individual wellbeing and society. It also highlights the importance of designing digital platforms that are aligned with the level of user involvement, to create digital solutions that promote user wellbeing and foster an inclusive society.