Household Ecology and Recovery Among Young Adults: Digital Device Use as a Mixed Advantage

Abstract

People are increasingly spending time on digital devices, but contradictory evidence exists regarding the effect of screen time on well-being. Instead of focusing on the focal effect of screen time, we propose that time spent on digital devices may interact with other factors in predicting resource recovery outcomes—the time on digital devices itself could be a distraction that separates people from their family and household roles and obligations and thus may attenuate or amplify the negative relationship between hostile household ecology and resource recovery. In one archival study based on the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and two daily diary studies of young adults, we found a consistent pattern that the effect of hostile household ecology (e.g., large family size and high levels of home chaos) on recovery-related outcomes was smaller when screen time was higher, depending on the digital device involved. This finding points to a new perspective on screen time for recovering from household demands and can shed light on the way people cope with a variety of stressors and working from home. Please refer to the Supporting Information section to find this article's Community and Social Impact.