Low mood leads to the consumption of more negative information online which in turn leads to worse mood, and so on

Kelly, Christopher A., and Tali Sharot. 2023. “Knowledge-seeking Reflects and Shapes Well-being.” PsyArXiv. February 18. doi:10.31234/osf.io/yd6j5

Abstract: Humans are spending an increasing amount of time searching for knowledge online. It is thus imperative to examine whether and how this activity impacts well-being. Here, we test the hypothesis that the affective properties of the knowledge sought effect well-being, which in turn alters knowledge-seeking, forming a self-reinforcing loop. To that end, we quantified the affective properties of text in webpages participants (N = 947) chose to browse and related these to their well-being. We find that browsing more negative information was associated with worse mental-health and mood. By manipulating the webpages browsed and measuring mood and vice versa, we reveal that the relationship is causal and bi-directional. Moreover, when participants were made aware of the affective nature of webpages before browsing, they choose to access more positive and less negative webpages. These findings provide a potential method for assessing and enhancing human welfare in the digital age.