Are You Digitally Happy?

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Mexico has reached a significant milestone, by ranking among the Top Ten Happiest countries in the world, according to the World Happiness Report 2025, a recognition that underscores the importance of well-being in our society. In this context, the concept of “digital happiness” takes on special relevance, as it describes how digital technologies influence people's happiness and well-being.

Individual perceptions of digital happiness depend on how strongly technology contributes favorably to positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement. Its impact is undeniable: it facilitates instant gratification, optimizes time, and expands access to social networks. However, recent research also shows negative effects of digital tech, such as social disconnection and decreased concentration.

For this reason, Mexico's ranking on the global happiness index reinforces the need to further explore the emerging field of Positive Technology, ensuring that digitalization contributes to people's well-being rather than compromising it.

A new research field

Digital technology has a wide-ranging impact on our lives, from personal computers to mobile devices, from social media to streaming, and from the creation of the internet to emerging technologies such as metaverse and artificial intelligence.

Therefore, studies seeking to measure how digitally happy we are and how this influences our personal and professional performance have multiplied. Authors such as Anabel Quan-Haase and José Van Dijck have studied the effect of technology on social connectivity and access to information. Meanwhile, Mo Gawdat, one of the brilliant minds at Google, argues that a conscious and controlled use of digital technology can enhance happiness and well-being.

Conversely, other researchers have found that excessive or inappropriate use of digital tech can produce negative effects on mental health and well-being, including a reduced attention span and/or social disconnection, addiction, or negative social comparison.

In the education sector, specifically in the teaching-learning process, contradictory effects are also perceived. A 2021 study conducted among those who attended virtual and in-person classes during the pandemic by JISC, the UK's digital services agency, found that 83% of respondents thought the use of technology in learning made them more comfortable, but only 44% thought it made them feel part of the student community.

What this finding suggests is that while technology improves access to learning, it can also distance students and negatively impact their experience of community and overall well-being.

What does it mean to be happy?

Happiness has been studied in multiple disciplines: philosophy, psychology, sociology, physiology, and even neurology. When approached from different perspectives, there is a certain consensus that happiness is a state of well-being characterized by satisfaction and contentment.

When it comes to measuring the happiness produced or diminished by digital technology, researchers are only just beginning to explore the many variables that would need to be addressed for a definitive diagnosis. For example, not enough studies have yet been conducted to measure digital happiness across diverse cultures, ages, and socioeconomic levels.

Simultaneously, factors such as platform usability, the quality of social media interaction, digital autonomy, access to information, and technological overload must be considered.

In this way, we can speak of the emergence of Positive Technology, which borrows some elements from Positive Psychology to focus on the beneficial effects that technological advancement can have on humanity. In this regard, the Sogeti Research Institute for the

Analysis of New Technology (VINT) identifies six determining factors of digital happiness:

•        Autonomy: Feeling in control of one’s life and actions.

•        Compassion: Concern and care for the well-being of others.

•        Competence: Feeling effective in interactions with the environment.

•        Engagement: Being fully immersed and focused on the activity being performed.

•        Meaning: Belonging to and serving something that transcends self.

•        Relationship: Having meaningful and supportive social relationships.

Several other studies indicate that the level of digital happiness is related to job satisfaction and performance. This makes the topic even more attractive, as it potentially leads to better and more effective professionals.

It is in this context that CETYS University is launching a joint research project with the University of Guadalajara, both in Mexico, which will seek to measure the relationship between the technological happiness of two samples of their respective student populations and the learning and mastery of management skills taught during their studies.

This research will not only measure this relationship between happiness and skill but also compare it in their different contexts: two prominent universities, one private on the country's northern border, and the other a main public institution in western Mexico.

The results of this research are expected to shed light on the adoption of recent technologies to achieve more effective, efficient, and accessible higher education. Leveraging what works with digital technology and mitigating its negative effects is a mission for researchers who are experiencing rapid technological change.

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Dr. Alejandra Rosales Soto is a professor at the School of Business and Administration at CETYS University, Tijuana Campus.