Digital Addiction vs. Digital Wellbeing: The Design as a Promoter, the Design as a Deterrent

Dear Colleagues,

Recent research has shown that negative experiences can be associated with certain usage styles of social and digital media. Such experiences can be usage-related, e.g., compulsive, hasty, and addictive usage, or life-related, e.g., procrastination, preoccupation, and fear of missing out. While the range of underlying reasons for that problematic experience can be wide, we argue that digital media design can be seen as one of the contributors, e.g., through notification and interactive designs. At the same time, and unlike other mediums known for their addictive nature, such as alcohol and tobacco, digital media have an unprecedented ability to monitor usage and deliver prevention and intervention strategies in a personalised, real time and intelligent style. As such digital technologies also provide new opportunities to promote wellbeing in ways which were not previously feasible.

In this Special Issue, we are looking for both conceptual and technical papers. We welcome literature review and theoretical papers around the concepts of digital wellbeing and digital addiction and the role of digital media design in triggering problematic usage and potentially helping to regulate it. We also welcome studies around the dual role digital media design can play, both as a promoter for digital wellbeing and as a deterrent of it.

Prof. Raian Ali
Dr. John McAlaney
Guest Editors

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