SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1560516
Psychological "Effects" of Digital Technology: A meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted
- West University of Timișoara, Timișoara, Romania
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The digital “revolution” brings along consequences at the individual level, consequences in terms of mental health, both positive and negative. Therefore, the purpose of the meta-analysis presented in this work is to investigate, in the adult population, the associated factors (psychological distress, anxiety, depression, stress, burnout, loneliness and social isolation, insomnia, and psychological well-being (PWB)) by means of digital technology represented by Artificial Intelligence (AI), remote work (RW), smartphone, social media (SM), and smart technologies used in tourism (STT). The meta-analysis was performed between June 2020-June 2024, and the protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42024560285). Forty-seven papers involving a total of 36,100 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The highest positive value of the effect was obtained for the association between PWB and the use of the digital environment (AI, RW, and STT) r=0.435, and the highest negative effect value was obtained for the association between burnout and the use of the digital environment (AI and RW) r=-0.478. The study also included moderation analysis.
Keywords: digital transformation, Digital revolution, Digital era, Mental Health, Meta-analysis
Received: 14 Jan 2025; Accepted: 19 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Litan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Daniela Elena Litan, litan_daniela@yahoo.com
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