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Abstract
Due to continued groundbreaking digital advancements, internet use has increased significantly.
This has led a heated debate in relation to weighing the many advantages of the technology against its
potentially deleterious effects. To address such questions, experts converge on the need for greater
knowledge around the way individual differences, partly shaped by an individual’s unique experiences of
engaging with the medium, and partly by other real-life experiences, lead to different developmental
trajectories. Consequently, the goals of the present review are to: (i) broadly describe differences in digital
media applications, users and usage; (ii) introduce the Cyber-Developmental Framework (CDF), as an
overarching framework for understanding individual differences in adaptive and maladaptive digital media
use among youth; (iii) delineate the cyber-component of this framework in relation to users’ experience of
the digital context, their activity within it, as well as their digital self-presence, which may have an impact
on their digital media use; and (iv) summarize priorities and future directions through the lens of this CDF.
Within this context, this review particularly emphasizes the effect of digital media use on youth’s
psychological well-being. It is argued that the trajectory youth will follow in their use of the internet is a
function of the interplay between their own characteristics, their proximate and distal contexts, and the
particular features of the digital application(s) that the individual is engaged in. The review points to the
need to conduct research focusing on better understanding the developmental and digital-context related
influences on youth’s trajectories of internet use.
Keywords: Internet use and abuse; Youth; Mental health; development; human-computer interaction,
digital media
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Risks and Opportunities for Youth in the Digital Era:
A Cyber-Developmental Approach to Mental Health
The ‘digital’ or ‘third industrial revolution’ initiated approximately 50 years ago, signifying a
massive transition from mechanical and analogic communication to digital media (Schoenherr, 2004).
These media include all forms of audiovisual, application-software and/or other types of content, which
may be generated, modified, saved or sourced via a digital channel, using a code that encrypts and translates
data (Smith, 2013). As the major volume of digital media employs the internet, the terms are often utilized
interchangeably (Chayko, 2020). Due to the growth of such technologies, many define the most recent years
as the beginning of the ‘fourth industrial revolution’, also known as the ‘digital era’ or the ‘second coming’
(Coldwell, 2019). This embraces the life changing innovations in information technology (IT), computer-
mediated communication (CMC), and new media applications accommodated by the internet (Coldwell,
2019; PEW, 2020). Consequently, the term ‘digital natives’ emerged to describe those who have become
familiar with new technologies early in life and distinguish them from ‘digital immigrants’, who were
exposed to digital means in adulthood (Prensky, 2009).
The present review focuses on the impact of such changes on the development and the mental health
particularly of digital natives. It is organized in four sections. Firstly, different digital media applications,
users and usage behaviors will be briefly introduced. Secondly, theoretical milestones in understanding
digital media use and abuse will be illustrated. Thirdly, a dialectical discourse between digital media and
developmental science will be promoted via the introduction of a hybrid, integrative, Cyber-Developmental
Framework (CDF). Fourthly, priorities and future directions will be highlighted.
Digital media applications, users and usage behaviors
Contemporary digital media accommodate a range of instrumental, socialization and entertainment
aspects (Smith, 2013). Instrumental aspects involve uses dictated by an individual’s real-life needs across
life-domains such as education, employment and health (Gomes & Dias, 2019). Socialization applications,
broadly called social media, involve the generation and distribution of information, opinions, interests and
ideas, using online communities and networks (Beyens, Pouwels, van Driel, Keijsers, & Valkenburg, 2020).
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They occupy a range of areas including career and employment (e.g., LinkedIn), research (e.g.,
ResearchGate), romantic and/or sexual relationships (e.g., Tinder), friendships (e.g., Facebook), and even
political activation (e.g., Twitter, Reddit; Kemp, 2019). Social media present with a 45% level of global
penetration, reaching 98% among developed nations (Kemp, 2019).
Entertainment applications involve various digital portals providing individuals with
amusement/enjoyment, such as digital games and audio-visual recordings (Chayko, 2020). Internet/digital
games maybe enhanced by naturalistic animations and augmented reality features, which mix online and
offline world (e. g. game objects in real locations, such as in videogames like Pokemon Go; Hamari, Malik,
Koski & Johri, 2019). Games can be played exclusively by one gamer or to allow multiple players (i.e.,
massively multiplayer online games [MMOs]). Some games require the development and customization
of an in-game representation role/persona, known as the avatar (i.e., role playing games; [RPGs]). The latter
might be also combined with the multiplayer feature resulting to massively multiplayer online role-playing
games (MMORPGs; Jones, Scholes, Katsikitis, & Carras, 2014). Most games converge on a levelled
structure with progressively higher demands and rewards, while they may have different themes (e.g.,
action, real-life simulation, adventure, sports, racing, etc.) to appeal different audiences (Gough, 2020).
Furthermore, innovative gaming-type platforms integrating physical and/or social media activities
emerge. The application STRAVA uses geocoded data to track an individual’s cycling and running and
report them on a multi-user portal. STRAVA allocates trophies to reward users’ performance, cultivating
competition, such that users’ fitness motivation increases (Westlake, 2020). Similarly, the Virtual Reality
[VR] Chat enables users to socialize with others via avatars, without entailing competition and/or
challenges (e.g., going to virtual gatherings, situated within a virtual context via an avatar; Saffo, Yildirim,
Di Bartolomeo, & Dunne, 2020). Such features underpin the expansion of digital games, currently played
by over 2.7 billion people (WePC, 2020). Alongside, other entertainment applications, such as virtual
pornography, expand annually at over 10%, with 25% of children between 7 to 12 years having accessed
online porn on a monthly basis (Absolute Market Insights, 2020; Lewczuk, Wojcik, & Gola, 2019).
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These differences are combined with geographical variations in digital media usage. The prevalence
of digital media usage in Northern America and Northern Europe is 95% compared to just 12% in Middle
Africa (Kemp, 2019). Geographical differences occur also regarding the types of digital media applications
used. In Middle Africa just 7% of the general population are social media users, compared to over 70% in
North America (PEW, 2019). A digital gender divide has been additionally observed, with males using the
internet 12% more than females, and such differences hiking to 25% in Africa (International
Telecommunications Union, 2017). Gender differences expand to one’s applications of use, with gaming
being male dominated (15% - 24%; Gough, 2020). These internet use trends are skewed towards younger
populations, with 91% of young individuals, vs. 71% of the general population, using the internet daily
within the EU (Eurostat, 2020). Overall, digital natives appear to use social media (e.g., Instagram, 72%;
Snapchat, 69%), digital games (84%), internet forums (e.g., reddit, 7%) and online video channels (e.g.,
YouTube, 85%; PEW, 2018).
The aforementioned differences are combined with variability in use patterns. Abstinence from
digital media, as well as moderate and excessive levels of use lie on a continuum, (Anderson, Steen &
Stavropoulos, 2017). Those who abstain from digital media use, either because they are lacking skills (e.g.,
digital illiteracy), or access, are likely to suffer lower employability, lower income and lower time resources
(Hernandez & Roberts, 2018). Moderate users, who may use the internet for their real-life needs appear to
benefit across domains such as employment, relationships and health (Gomes & Dias, 2019). In contrast,
excessive users may find their lives being compromised by their internet absorbance (Stavropoulos, Kuss,
Griffiths, Wilson & Motti-Stefanidi, 2017). Interestingly, the rates of those who problematically use the
internet appear to vary between 2.6% and 10.9%, depending on the population examined and the definition
adopted (Cheng & Li, 2014).
Such differences coexist with variations considering digital media impact on one’s psychological
well-being and mental health (PEW, 2018). For instance, US teens report that social media helped them (i)
connecting with family and friends (40%), (ii) meeting others with similar interests (15%), (iii) having
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easier access to information/news (16%), (iv) entertaining (9%), and (v) expressing themselves (7%). The
same adolescents though reported that social media had negatively impacted them via (i) bullying and rumor
spreading (27%), (ii) harming relationships (17%), (iii) cultivating unrealistic views for life (15%), (iv)
causing addictions/distractions (14%), and (v) enhancing peer pressure (12%; PEW, 2018). Similarly, while
gaming participation may produce positive emotions, enhance relationships when played in groups, and
give a sense of meaning and achievement to youth (Jones et al., 2014), excessive gaming can significantly
compromise gamers’ health and wellbeing (Brand et al., 2020). Likewise, online pornography may promote
the exploration of young people’s sexual identity but can also accommodate the projection of idealized
sexual expectations considering appearance and/or activity (Litsou et al., 2020).
Theoretical milestones in understanding digital media use and abuse
Different conceptualizations have been proposed to account for individual differences in the use of
digital media. Initially researchers focused on explaining internet abuse, whereas more recent approaches
focus on the full range of functioning, ranging from normative to problematic internet use, and examining
it in social context.
The Cognitive-Behavioral Model for Pathological Internet Use (PIU; Davis, 2001), emphasizes
excessive internet use. This may be generalized, referring to over-engagement in a range of internet
applications, or specific, referring to exclusively one type of internet activity. As is the case with other
problematic behaviors, pathological internet use is according to Davis (2001) the result of “who” the user
is (e.g., pre-existing vulnerabilities, diathesis) and “what” they are experiencing in their lives (e.g., stress).
The interaction between “who” and “what” is co-defined by distal and proximal individual-level factors.
Distal factors may involve psychopathological tendencies, such as depression. Proximal factors entail
maladaptive cognitions about the self and/or the world, which may become enhanced by cognitive
distortions and ruminating processes (e. g. an individual recycling negative views of themselves and the
future).