The impact of smartphone use on rural residents’ environmental quality assessment: evidence from micro-level survey data in China

The research finds that smartphone use has a significant negative impact on rural residents' satisfaction with environmental quality, and this conclusion remains valid after multiple robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that this impact exhibits obvious regional and group differences: compared with the central region, the negative effect is more moderate in the eastern and western regions; in contrast to ordinary villagers, the impact of smartphone use on the environmental quality satisfaction of rural Party members and cadres is not significant. Mechanism analysis reveals that smartphone use affects environmental satisfaction by changing rural residents' information acquisition channels and promoting the transformation of social capital forms. This study provides empirical evidence and theoretical reference for the rational use of digital tools to guide residents' environmental perception and support the construction of ecologically livable rural areas.