Life satisfaction in the digital age
Summary
Digitalisation has a major impact on today's society in everyday life. Technological developments bring many opportunities but are also accompanied by disadvantages. Previous studies find diverging results of digitalisation on life satisfaction, often referring to digital divide between those who are digitally competent and those who are not, that arises as a result of digitalisation. This study answers the question whether being digitally competent affects life satisfaction and whether this effect is mediated by social capital. Based on several theories, including the modernity theory, digital divide theory, digital capital theory, constant presence theory, time displacement theory and hierarchy of needs theory, hypotheses were derived. After conducting multiple regression analyses with European Social Survey data, the results showed a significant positive effect of digital competence on life satisfaction. This positive effect is partly mediated by social capital. The effects remained significant after adding control variables (income, health, age, etc.). In addition, the descriptive results show that the difference in digital competence levels between European countries is large, with frontrunner countries also having room for improvement. This study demonstrates the urgency of improving digital competence levels in Europe, in order to increase the life satisfaction of European citizens. A more unified vision and standardised training program from the European Commission regarding increasing digital competence is therefore advised.