Chigarkova, S.V.

Background. Digital transformations have significantly changed the everyday life of modern man, which has determined the ever-increasing attention of society and researchers to the role of digital technologies in the psychological well-being of an individual, various groups, and entire generations, primarily young people — the most active Internet users.

Objectives. The paper examines the role of access to technology, user activity, attitudes towards technology, digital competence, self-management of digital tools and resilience in life satisfaction in the virtual and real worlds among young people.

Study Participants. The sample comprised 368 respondents aged between 18 and 39 years old (M = 23.6 ± 4.9 years), of whom 66.6% were female.

Methods. The following methods were used: Digital Competence Index (screening), Self-Management of Digital Everyday Life, Attitudes towards technology, Psychological Hardiness Scale (screening), Satisfaction with Life Scale and its modification for virtual life, as well as self-assessment of user activity and satisfaction with access to technology. Data were processed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, regression analysis, and mediation analysis.

Results. Satisfaction with life in the real world is strongly related to satisfaction with digital life. At the same time, satisfaction with life in both the real and virtual worlds is moderately associated with digital device management, satisfaction with access to technology, technophilia and techno-rationalism, and weakly associated with digital competence. Satisfaction with life in the real world is also weakly associated with technopessimism. Predictors of satisfaction with online life were digital device management, technopessimism and satisfaction with real life. Predictors of satisfaction with real life included digital life involvement and satisfaction, as well as user activity, satisfaction with access to digital technology and technopessimism. The results are refined based on mediation analysis.

Conclusions. Life satisfaction among young people in the virtual and real worlds are interrelated, providing further evidence of the convergence of these worlds within a single individual’s experience of a mixed online-offline reality. At the same time, the specificity of predictors of life satisfaction shows the need for a comprehensive analysis of psychological well-being in digital and real life spaces.

Background. The explosion of digital technologies and gadgets acting as sociocultural tools, forming a new technologically rich ecosystem, raises more and more questions in the scientific community about considering technologies not only as tools, but as external extensions or additions of a person.

Objectives. The aim of the work is to develop and validate the Self-Management of Digital Daily Life (SMDDL) scale for digital extended personality.

Study Participants. The study sample consisted of 1,797 adolescents and youth aged 14–35 years.

Methods. The study utilized the SMDDL scale developed by the authors. The scale includes 3 subscales. To assess convergent and discriminant validity we used the self-assessment of user activity and online social capital, the Digital Competence Index, the Internet Addiction Scale, technique for assessing changes in psychological boundaries when using technical means MIG-TS-2, and the Attitude Towards Technology questionnaire.

Results. The structure of the scale was refined based on the results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (subscales Digital Device Management, Digital Sociality, Experiencing Digital Daily Life, α = 0.80–0.88). Compared to youth, adolescents scored lower; males scored higher than females on the three subscales of the SMDDL. All of the SMDDL subscales are positively related to the user activity, technophilia, and a number of MIG-TS-2 scales. Of the three subscales, only Digital Device Management did not show a positive relationship with Internet addiction, but was positively related to digital competence and technorationalism.

Conclusions. Based on the data obtained, a conclusion was made about the reliability, consistency, and validity of the developed SMDDL scale. User activity and technophilia are the conditions for the formation of an extended digital personality, while digital competence and technorationalism become the tools of self-management of the diversity of digital extensions. Internet addiction as one of the risks for a technologically extended personality can be offset by the ability to self-manage one’s digital extensions.