Emotions influenced by technology

A survey of 35,000 people around the world found access to communication devices to be the most valued.

It found that women in developing countries, and people of both sexes with low incomes or poor education, were most influenced emotionally by their access to technology.

Researcher Paul Flatters said it is partly because women tend to have a more central role in family and other social networks.

“Our hypothesis is that women in developing countries benefit more because they are more socially constrained in society,” he added.

“The next phase of our research is to test that.”

Despite the efforts of various countries to get their older populations online, the study also found that the correlation does not appear to increase with age.

“Whether young or old. We’re all social beings, we all have a need for the things IT access facilitates,” said Mr Flatters.

However, Mr Amichai-Hamburger, director for Internet Psychology at the Sammy Ofer School of Communications in Israel - technology had a negative impact on people’s well-being by blurring professional and personal time.

“We need ways to help recover those increasingly large parts of our lives that we have ceded to technology, to regain mastery over technology and learn to use it in a healthy and positive way,” he said.

The results of the study are “slightly counter-intuitive, “ admitted Mr Flatters.

“A lot of things that are written about IT are negative,” he said.

“But we were puzzled by the fact that people are attached to their IT as well - how do you square that circle?”

According to Kathi Kitner, senior research scientist at Intel ownership of technology is a status symbol in many cultures.

While having a computer is considered synonymous with a good education worldwide, the emerging middle classes of India think it is also a sign of prosperity, she said.

“Whether that prosperity in terms of monetary returns actually materialises is not documented, but it is very real in terms of perception,” she said.

By Deepika Dudakia