Positioning digital well-being in health information behaviour

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of research on digital well-being with the goal of identifying open questions for future research by positioning digital well-being as a health information behaviour practice. Outlining the current debate on digital well-being contributes to how we understand the health information behaviour of people who actively or passively use information through technology to maintain their health or manage illness. A scoping review was undertaken covering various domains, including library and information science (LISA), human-computer interaction (ACM digital library), philosophy, and psychology (APA PsycINFO). To map the current discussion, works that include definitions of digital well-being and/or health information behaviour were selected. In total, twenty-five papers and two monographs were included in the analysis. The analysis comprised a close reading of definitions of digital well-being and health information behaviour in the selected texts. In addition, key areas of research on digital well-being were identified by clustering them with respect to health information behaviour to provide a conceptual framework as a basis for discussion. The results show three aspects of digital well-being that are influenced by health information behaviour practices and vice versa: (1) learning digital well-being, (2) quantifying digital well-being, and (3) gaining (digital) well-being by using technology. Digital well-being practices are influenced by health information practices and vice versa, as both practices involve stimulating individuals’ interactions towards health. Individuals' behaviours towards supporting or inducing digital well-being are health information behaviours. There is a need to further empirically investigate the reciprocal causation between digital well-being and health information behaviour through the lens of health information behaviour research.