Revealing the interplay between digital media use and affective well-being across developmental stages: Results of an experience sampling study with Austrian adolescents

The debate about the impact of digital media use on youths’ well-being is polarized. We provide a comprehensive examination of the relationship between digital media use and adolescents’ affective well-being, investigating both within-person and between-person associations. We also examined how age and gender moderate these relationships, considering developmental stages. Using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), we collected 3,087 responses from 343 Austrian students between September and November 2022, covering social media use, gaming, web browsing, video streaming, and audio streaming. Multilevel linear regression analyses revealed nuanced associations: Within-person associations appeared positive for social media use, gaming, and video streaming, whereas social media use was negatively related to affective well-being at the between-person level, suggesting aggregated displacement effects. The positive association of gaming with affective well-being was confined to the within-person level, yet video streaming showed a consistently positive link at both levels. The complex associations further varied by age and gender, indicating developmental variability. This study highlights the importance of considering development in media use and effects research and calls attention to how short-term influences may interplay with individual traits, fostering long-term differences. Research has largely focused on the effects of social media and gaming through cross-sectional studies. Comprehensive analyses of various digital media activities across developmental stages using in-situ methodologies are limited. This study examines multiple digital media activities, analyzes within- and between-person associations, and integrates developmental perspectives. It highlights the variability in adolescents’ responses, advancing the understanding of how media use impacts well-being across developmental stages. Findings provide insights for parents, educators, and healthcare providers by integrating developmental factors. We predict how short-term patterns of digital media use may influence long-term well-being, enabling developmentally appropriate interventions for adolescents.