Goal

Overstating today's concern with digital well-being (DWB)is hard. Over the last 3 years there has been fervid interest in this topic, both from the general public and from the tech industry. Developing online products with a focus on our well-being was a major theme of Google's influential I/O annual showcase this year (2019), and over the last 24 months each of the so called 'big-five' social networking companies have launched a dedicated page detailing how their products can be used to create a healthy digital life. This means that formulating a comprehensive theory of DWB has never been so important. COVID-19 and future ecological challenges will increase our use of social media technologies, so we must now think about how they could be better integrated into our practical lives. My aim is to to develop a comprehensive theory of digital well-being. To do this I propose combining cutting-edge empirical evidence with value-sensitive design, character-based theory, and multidisciplinary approaches.

Opportunity

Ethicists are split on how to tackle digital well-being (DWB). Value-sensitive design (VSD) theorists argue that we can design for well-being in general (Brey 2015, Brey et al. 2012; van de Poel 2012; Swierstra & Waelbers 2012; Oosterlaken 2015; van den Hoven 2015). Some argue that DWB is best promoted by cultivating character traits that align with online flourishing (Vallor 2016, Harrison 2016. Cf. Dennis & Harrison 2020). Other researchers (Burr, Taddeo, Floridi 2020; Burr et al. 2020) have argued that the complexity of DWB requires a multidisciplinary approach. Nevertheless, these three different approaches have not yet been combined.

Roadblocks

Measurement: How can we measure digital well-being?
Design: How can we find practical ways to improve it?

Breakthroughs Needed

Researchers need to use innovative research methods to examine digital well-being, which needs to move from the book, edited collection, and peer-reviewed article model. I have developed an empirical method that uses online tools to track digital well-being in real time. Combined with philosophical insights this offers the possibility to create a theory of digital well-being that is able to ground future research in this area. I anticipate this will be a major theme in the post-COVID 21st century world.

Key Indicators of Success

Practical improvements in terms of long-term cultural shifts, especially user pressure on corporations to redesign current online platforms.

Additional Information

Matthew J. Dennis is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow in the Department of Values, Technology, and Innovation at TU Delft. He specialises in digital well-being, focusing on how technology can increase human flourishing. He writes on how we can improve the design of emerging technologies (social robots, virtual assistants, self-care apps, etc.), as well as how digital well-being is affected by gender, education, and intercultural factors. Prior to TU Delft, he was an Early Career Research Fellow in Innovation at Institute for Advanced Study, University of Warwick, where he completed his PhD in 2019.