Social Cohesion, Mental Well-Being, and the Role of Smart Technology and Pet Ownership Among Social Housing Residents: Cross-Sectional Cohort Study

Previous research suggests that the beneficial effects of smart technology are context-dependent, and our results support that. While we did not observe significant effects on social cohesion, owning any smart technology or a games console specifically was associated with well-being benefits. There are limited data on pet ownership and social cohesion or mental well-being: our data suggest there is no strong relationship with social cohesion but owning multiple dogs can have negative effects.