How can we live a good life both thanks to and despite the constant use of digital ICTs? A theoretical framework, Digital Well-Being Theory, is outlined that focuses on the mechanisms between digital ICT use and well-being by analyzing concomitant harms and benefits associated with individual’s digital behaviors, skills, and dispositions. The framework will be … Continue reading Towards a Theory of Digital Well-Being

Digital overuse and subjective well-being in a digitized society For most people in Switzerland, effective Internet use is essential for everyday life. But the constant abundance of digital communication and information options can also be difficult to manage. Not valid in all dimensions, but imo still a useful analogy: ICTs are like food. The question … Continue reading Publications on Digital Overuse and on the Chilling Effects of Algorithmic Profiling

Four new research reports on Internet use and related topics in Switzerland based on a representative sample including non-users have been published. Next to some basic figures on Internet use in Switzerland in 2019, we also explored issues such as privacy and chilling effects, users' counter practices, social digital pressure, perceived risks, and e-voting. This … Continue reading Research Reports from the World Internet Project – Switzerland 2019 Published

This is an adapted and translated presentation given following the Scientifica Warm-Up screening of Brazil (1985), 23 August 2019, KOSMOS, Zurich, Switzerland In the following, I would like to present two aspects of today’s digital surveillance situation and a consequence of this with a link to current research. The first aspect is “blind” trust in … Continue reading The Chilling Effects of Digital Surveillance

Older adults’ online information seeking and subjective well-being: The moderating role of Internet skills The Internet and online information can be a valuable resource in the process of successful aging. Self-rated health was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction among older adults (sample of 643 Swiss Internet users, average age 68). Online information seeking (advice, … Continue reading Summary of Recent Publications

The Center for Information Technology, Society, and Law (ITSL) and the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) at the University of Zurich started the "Breakfast of Ideas" podcast and event series that focuses on the challenges and opportunities connected to the digitization of society. Young scholars from different disciplines present their work in a short talk and … Continue reading Podcast Episode on Perceived Digital Overuse

The Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society published a special issue on "The Digital Divide at the Nexus of Social Justice, Media Justice, and Ethics" including a contribution by Marina Micheli, Christoph Lutz and myself. We develop the concept of the digital footprint as the aggregate of data derived from the digitally traceable … Continue reading 2018 Articles on Digital Inequality