Digital Engagement and Academic Functioning
A Developmental-Contextual Approach
Abstract
Abstract. Since the turn of the millennium, the digital revolution has opened a new layer of opportunities for adolescents to participate, create and learn. Simultaneously there has been growth in both debate and worries regarding how the intensive engagement with digital media affects students’ academic performance, engagement, and school-related well-being, that is, academic functioning. Students’ continuously evolving digital practices are not always in congruence with the more traditional ways of schoolwork. Students flourish and fulfill their potential when the informal and formal practices of learning reach congruence, but when this is not the case, frictions can emerge. Spending time with digital media can provide new avenues for learning and development, but it can equally well divert young people from their studies or increase the daily demands. In this narrative review, we address these continuities and discontinuities between engagement with digital media and academic functioning for school-aged children and young people, focusing on meta-analyses, reviews, and key studies. Following the examination of the current literature, we conclude that, in general, the field of “digital media effects” needs to move beyond screen time and utilize the research on the students’ multidimensional socio-digital engagement already conducted. Second, we conclude that the average effects of digital engagement on academic functioning are negligibly small but heterogeneous, further corroborating the claim to examine the qualitative differences in students’ digital engagement, the individual differences between students, as well as the contextual interplay.
References
2013). More than just fun and games: The longitudinal relationships between strategic video games, self-reported problem solving skills, and academic grades. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42, 1041–1052. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9913-9
(2019). Association between screen media use and academic performance among children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 173(11), 1058–1067. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.3176
(2022). Effects of media multitasking and video gaming on cognitive functions and their neural bases in adolescents and young adults. European Psychologist, 27(2), 131–140. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000477
(2014). Social media use and social connectedness in adolescents: The positives and the potential pitfalls. The Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 31, 18–31. https://doi.org/10.1017/edp.2014.2
(2018). Teens, social media & technology 2018. Pew Internet & American Life Project. http://publicservicesalliance.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/06/Teens-Social-Media-Technology-2018-PEW.pdf
(2020). Are social media ruining our lives? A review of meta-analytic evidence. Review of General Psychology, 24(1), 60–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/1089268019880891
(2017). Early adolescents’ use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for social communication in 20 countries: Examining the roles of ICT-related behavioral and motivational characteristics. Computers in Human Behavior, 73, 263–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.03.058
(2006). Interest and self-sustained learning as catalysts of development: A learning ecology perspective. Human Development, 49(4), 193–224.
(2009). Parents as learning partners in the development of technological fluency. International Journal of Learning and Media, 1, 55–77. https://doi.org/10.1162/ijlm.2009.0021
(2010). Beyond the “digital natives” debate: Towards a more nuanced understanding of students’ technology experiences. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(5), 321–331. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00360.x
(2008). The “digital natives” debate: A critical review of the evidence. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(5), 775–786.
(2020). The effect of social media on well-being differs from adolescent to adolescent. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1–11.
(2020). The negative effect of smartphone use on academic performance may be overestimated: Evidence from a 2-year panel study. Psychological Science, 31(11), 1351–1362. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620956613
(2015). Video games do indeed influence children and adolescents’ aggression, prosocial behavior, and academic performance: A clearer reading of Ferguson (2015). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(5), 671–673. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592239
(2014). Is video gaming, or video game addiction, associated with depression, academic achievement, heavy episodic drinking, or conduct problems? Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 3(1), 27–32. https://doi.org/10.1556/JBA.3.2014.002
(2013). Gaming addiction, gaming engagement, and psychological health complaints among Norwegian adolescents. Media Psychology, 16, 115–128. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2012.756374
(2020). Does time spent using social media impact mental health? An eight year longitudinal study. Computers in Human Behavior, 104, Article 106160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.106160
(2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 499–512. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.499
(2016). Interest-driven digital practices of secondary students: Cases of connected learning. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 9, 45–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2016.01.004
(2010). A longitudinal study of the relation between adolescent boys and girls’ computer use with friends and friendship quality: Support for the social compensation or the rich-get-richer hypothesis? Computers in Human Behavior, 26(5), 896–905. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.02.004
(2020). The impact of digital technology use on adolescent well-being. Dialogues in Clinical Euroscience, 22(2), 135–142. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2020.22.2/tdienlin
(2019). Are smartphones really that bad? Improving the psychological measurement of technology-related behaviors. Computers in Human Behavior, 97, 60–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.03.006
(2014). EU Kids Online: Findings, methods, recommendations (deliverable D1.6). EU Kids Online, London School of Economics.
. (2020). The four phases of the digital natives debate. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2(3), 269–277.
(2020). Investigating the relation among disturbed sleep due to social media use, school burnout, and academic performance. Journal of Adolescence, 84, 156–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.08.011
(2011). A typology of young people’s Internet use: Implications for education. Computers & Education, 56, 585–595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.09.020
(2017). Healthy lifestyle behaviours are positively and independently associated with academic achievement: An analysis of self-reported data from a nationally representative sample of Canadian early adolescents. PLoS One, 12(7), Article e0181938. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181938
(2018). Cell phone usage and academic performance: An experiment. Computers & Education, 117, 175–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.10.006
(2015a). Do angry birds make for angry children? A meta-analysis of video game influences on children’s and adolescents’ aggression, mental health, prosocial behavior, and academic performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10, 646–666. https://doi.org/.1177/1745691615592234
(2015b). Pay no attention to that data behind the curtain: On angry birds, happy children, scholarly squabbles, publication bias, and why betas rule metas. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(5), 683–691.
(2011). A meta-analysis of pathological gaming prevalence and comorbidity with mental health, academic and social problems. Journal of psychiatric research, 45(12), 1573–1578. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.09.005
(2019). The “online brain”: How the Internet may be changing our cognition. World Psychiatry, 18(2), 119–129. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20617
(2016). Angry birds, angry children, and angry meta-analysts: A reanalysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(3), 408–414. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616635599
(2019). Global Kids Online: Comparative report. UNICEF Office of Research–Innocenti.
. (2014). The benefits of playing video games. American Psychologist, 69, 66–78. https://doi.org/1.1037/a0034857
(2018). Conceptual issues concerning Internet addiction and Internet gaming disorder: Further critique on Ryding and Kaye (2017). International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 16(1), 233–239. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-017-9818-z
(2014). Digital learners and the overlapping of their personal and educational digital engagement. Computers & Education, 77, 91–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.04.012
(2020). Children’s and young people’s digital skills: A systematic evidence review. ySKILLS, KU Leuven. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4274654
(2015).
(Socio-digital revolution: Digital natives vs. digital immigrants . In J. D. WrightEd., International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (2nd ed., Vol. 22, pp. 918–923). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.26094-72015). Screen time and sleep among school-aged children and adolescents: A systematic literature review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 21, 50–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2014.07.007
(2016). Sixth graders’ use of technologies in learning, technology attitudes and school wellbeing. The European Journal of Social & Behavioural Sciences, 18, 2307–2324. https://doi.org/10.15405/ejsbs.205
(2019). The longitudinal association between social-media use and depressive symptoms among adolescents and young adults: An empirical reply to Twenge et al. (2018). Clinical Psychological Science, 7(3), 462–470. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702618812727
(2019). Adolescents’ socio-digital engagement and its relation to academic well-being, motivation, and achievement (Doctoral dissertation). University of Helsinki.
(2020). Are schools alienating digitally engaged students? Longitudinal relations between digital engagement and school engagement. Frontline Learning Research, 8(1), 33–55. https://doi.org/10.14786/flr.v8i1.437
(2019). Beyond screen time: Multidimensionality of socio-digital participation and relations to academic well-being in three educational phases. Computers in Human Behavior, 93, 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.11.049
(2016). Dimensions of adolescents’ socio-digital participation. Qwerty – Open and Interdisciplinary Journal of Technology, Culture and Education, 11, 79–98.
(2015). Is student motivation related to socio-digital participation? A person-oriented approach. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 171, 1156–1167. https://doi.org/.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.226
(2016). Are mental health effects of Internet use attributable to the web-based content or perceived consequences of usage? A longitudinal study of European adolescents. JMIR Mental Health, 3(3), Article e31. https://doi.org/10.2196/mental.5925
(2020). The role of digital technology in children and young people’s mental health – A triple-edged sword? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(8), 837–841. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13302
(2016). Student rules: Exploring patterns of students’ computer-efficacy and engagement with digital technologies in learning. Computers & Education, 101, 29–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.05.008
(2017). Time spent on social network sites and psychological well-being: A meta-analysis. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20(6), 346–354. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2016.0758
(2018). Social network site use and academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 119, 76–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.12.010
(2013). Growing up in the web of social networking: Adolescent development and social media. Adolescent Psychiatry, 3(3), 233–244. https://doi.org/10.2174/2210676611303030004
(2020). The connected learning research network: Reflections on a decade of engaged scholarship. Connected Learning Alliance.
(2010). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out. The MIT Press.
(2013). Connected learning: An agenda for research and design. Digital Media and Learning Research Hub.
(2020). Handbook of adolescent development. Psychology Press.
(2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. MIT Press.
(2019). Young adolescents’ digital technology use and mental health symptoms: Little evidence of longitudinal or daily linkages. Clinical Psychological Science, 7(6), 1416–1433. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702619859336
(2012a). Too much face and not enough books: The relationship between multiple indices of Facebook use and academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 187–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.08.026
(2012b). The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Computers & Education, 58, 162–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.08.004
(2017). How can we conceptualize behavioural addiction without pathologizing common behaviours? Addiction, 112, 1709–1715. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.13763
(2016). United States and European students’ social-networking site activities and academic performance. International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 6(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJCBPL.2016010101
(2019). Associations between adolescents’ interpersonal relationships, school well-being, and academic achievement during educational transitions. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49, 1057–1072. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01184-y
(2020, March). The human energy and fatigue constructs in relation to information and communication technologies: A conceptual framework [Paper]. WU Vienna University of Economics and Business. https://epub.wu.ac.at/7472/
(2018). A cross-lagged study of developmental trajectories of video game engagement, addiction, and mental health. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 2239. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02239
(2021). Lessons learned on student engagement from the nature of pervasive socio‐digital interests and related network participation of adolescents. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 37(2), 521–541.
(2014). What is connected learning and how to research it? International Journal of Learning, 4, 7–18. https://doi.org/10.1162/IJLM_a_00091
(2017). Effects of social media usage and social media multitasking on the academic performance of university students. Computers in Human Behavior, 68, 286–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.043
(2017). A meta-analysis of the relationship of academic performance and Social Network Site use among adolescents and young adults. Computers in Human Behavior, 77, 148–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.08.039
(2012).
(Theoretical framework for children’s Internet use . In S. LivingstoneL. HaddonA. GörzigEds., Children, risk and safety on the Internet: Research and policy challenges in comparative perspective (pp. 1–14). Policy Press.2018). Phenomenal learning from Finland. Edita.
(2021). Adolescent students’ digital engagement and achievement goal orientation profiles. Computers & Education, 161, Article 104058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2020.104058
(2022). Intraindividual associations between active social media use, exhaustion and bedtime vary according to age – A longitudinal study across adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12033
(2020). Correlates of social media fatigue and academic performance decrement: A large cross-sectional study. Information Technology & People, 34(2), 557–580. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-06-2019-0289
(2018). Identity profiles and digital engagement among Finnish high school students. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 12, Article 2. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2018-1-2
(2018). Active on Facebook and failing at school? Meta-analytic findings on the relationship between online social networking activities and academic achievement. Educational Psychology Review, 30(3), 651–677. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-017-9430-6
(2020). Multisystem resilience for children and youth in disaster: Reflections in the context of COVID-19. Adversity and Resilience Science, 1(2), 95–106. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-020-00010-w
(2010). Is spending time in screen-based sedentary behaviors associated with less physical activity: A cross national investigation. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 7, Article 46. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-7-46
(2016). Gaming is related to enhanced working memory performance and task-related cortical activity. Brain Research, 1655, 204–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2016.10.027
(2016). Media multitasking is associated with distractibility and increased prefrontal activity in adolescents and young adults. NeuroImage, 134, 113–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.04.011
(2017). To Facebook or to Face Book? An investigation of how academic performance of different personalities is affected through the intervention of Facebook usage. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, 167–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.05.012
(2000). Information ecologies: Using technology with heart. MIT Press.
(2020). Annual research review: Adolescent mental health in the digital age: Facts, fears, and future directions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61, 336–348. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13190
(2018). Cyberpsychology: A field lacking theoretical foundations. PsyPAG Quarterly, 107, 12–14.
(2020a). The sisyphean cycle of technology panics. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(5), 1143–1157.
(2020b). Teenagers, screens and social media: A narrative review of reviews and key studies. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 55, 407–414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-019-01825-4
(2019). The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(2), 173–182. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1
(2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the Horizon, 9, 1–6.
(2016). How the quantity and quality of electronic gaming relates to adolescents’ academic engagement and psychosocial adjustment. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 5(2), 145–156. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000070
(2017). A large-scale test of the Goldilocks Hypothesis: Quantifying the relations between digital-screen use and the mental well-being of adolescents. Psychological Science, 28, 204–215. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616678438
(2020). Social media use and depressive symptoms–A longitudinal study from early to late adolescence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(16), Article 5921. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17165921
(2015).
(Connecting learning across school and out-of-school contexts: A review of pedagogical approaches . In O. ErstadK. KumpulainenÅ. MäkitaloK. P. Pruulmann-VengerfeldtT. JóhannsdóttirEds., Learning across contexts in the knowledge society (pp. 15–35). Sense.2016). Technology use, self-directed learning, student engagement and academic performance: Examining the interrelations. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 604–612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.084
(2020). Time for the human screenome project. Nature, 577, 314–317. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00032-5
(2018). A latent growth curve model to estimate electronic screen use patterns amongst adolescents aged 10 to 17 years. BMC Public Health, 18, Article 332. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5240-0
(2016). School burnout and engagement profiles among digital natives in Finland: A person-oriented approach. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 13, 704–718. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2015.1107542
(2014). School burnout and engagement in the context of demands–resources model. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 137–151. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12018
(2017). The dark side of Internet use: Two longitudinal studies of excessive Internet use, depressive symptoms, school burnout and engagement among Finnish early and late adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(2), 343–357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0494-2
(2019). Social media use, school connectedness, and academic performance among adolescents. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 40(2), 189–211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-019-00543-6
(2015). Video game addiction and college performance among males: Results from a 1 year longitudinal study. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(1), 25–29. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2014.0403
(2020). EU Kids Online 2020: Survey results from 19 countries. EU Kids Online. https://doi.org/10.21953/lse.47fdeqj01ofo
(2022). Risks and opportunities for youth in the digital era. European Psychologist, 27(2), 86–101. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000451
(2019). Effects of screen time on the health and well-being of children and adolescents: A systematic review of reviews. BMJ Open, 9(1), Article e023191. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023191
(2012). Consequences of play: A systematic review of the effects of online gaming. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 10(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-010-9304-3
(2011). What forty years of research says about the impact of technology on learning: A second-order meta-analysis and validation study. Review of Educational Research, 81, 4–28. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654310393361
(2021). Longitudinal trajectories, social and individual antecedents, and outcomes of problematic Internet use among late adolescents. Child Development, 92, e653–e673. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13525
(2017). IGen: Why today’s super-connected kids are growing up less rebellious, more tolerant, less happy – And completely unprepared for adulthood and what that means for the rest of us. Simon and Schuster.
(2018). Minds and brains of media multitaskers: Current findings and future directions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(40), 9889–9896. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1611612115
(2013). Development of school engagement in association with academic success and well-being in varying social contexts: A review of empirical research. European Psychologist, 18(2), 136–147. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000143
(2015). The limited informativeness of meta-analyses of media effects. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(5), 680–682. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615592237
(2022). Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 58–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.017
(2013). The differential susceptibility to media effects model. Journal of Communication, 63(2), 221–243.
(2016). Media effects: Theory and research. Annual Review of Psychology, 67, 315–338. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033608
(2015). The consequences of media multitasking for youth: A review. Computers in Human Behavior, 53, 204–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.06.035
(2020). Exploring the long-term relationship between academic-media multitasking and adolescents’ academic achievement. New Media & Society, 22(1), 140–158. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819861956
(2012). Video gameplay, personality and academic performance. Computers & Education, 58(4), 1260–1266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2011.11.022
(2016). Does school-related burnout influence problematic Facebook use? Children and Youth Services Review, 61, 327–331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.01.009
(2014). An investigation of middle school science teachers and students use of technology inside and outside of classrooms: considering whether digital natives are more technology savvy than their teachers. Educational Technology Research and Development, 62(6), 637–662. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-014-9355-4
(2016). A systematic review of recent research on adolescent social connectedness and mental health with Internet technology use. Adolescent Research Review, 1(2), 153–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-015-0013-9
(2021). A comprehensive review of educational technology on objective learning outcomes in academic contexts. Educational Psychology Review, 33(4), 1583–1630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09592-4
(