A basic model of human behavior with technologies

Abstract

How modern humans behave with digital technologies? This is a basic science question that is both important and complex. To answer this question with a top-down approach, this article outlines a basic model with four elements and three pathways. As demonstrated in the discussion of five theoretical and empirical research examples, the basic model offers a meta-explanation, explaining major contributions of these studies to the current understanding of human behavior with technologies. It provides a simple yet flexible framework, integrating various theoretical and empirical works into a coherent intellectual structure with complexity and parsimony in order to develop a scientific answer to the basic question. It is included with a brief discussion of future research directions.