ABSTRACT
This chapter concretizes the challenges and opportunities to youth well-being that arise from using digital media. It begins with an overview of the concept of well-being and advances a holistic model that includes important influences (e.g., digital media, technological gadgets, mobile access). Emerging technologies have the potential to both support and challenge youth well-being. We invited 66 Canadian youth to discuss these nuanced, contradictory, and complex influences in their lives. They described opportunities and risks across seven domains of well-being (health, relatedness, equity, education/work, engagement, affordable living, and space/environment). They provided insight on the need for a new domain relating to “digital lives,” including themes of managing tensions/pressures of online lives, balancing daily use to better effect, and navigating shifting digital ecologies. They spoke about how often they use digital media, how it has affected social interactions and emotions, and problems with distraction, attention, and violence. They also speak about the physical effects, including being less active and losing the joys of nature and physical movement. We suggest a holistic model of youth well-being for the digital age that takes into consideration nuanced ways in which these young people experience and navigate online terrains.
