Original title: Usage of Digital Technology and Its linkage with the Development of Life Skills, Mental Health, and Psychological Hardiness among university students
Dr Kadim Lovakumari, Prof Tosendra Dwivedi · September 2026
Many college students spend hours on digital screens every day, raising worries about their well-being. Researchers wanted to know how different amounts of screen time connect to daily life skills, mental health, and psychological hardiness, which is a person's ability to cope with stress and bounce back from challenges. The researchers surveyed university students and compared their daily device time to scores from standardized psychological tests. They found that screen time matters in a specific way. Students who were moderate users, spending 2-5 hrs/day on digital technology, scored significantly higher in life skills, mental health, and psychological hardiness than students who used devices for low amounts of time or for excessive amounts of more than 5 hrs. Furthermore, the data revealed that students with better mental health and greater psychological hardiness also showed stronger life skills.
Imagine you are watering a plant. If you give it too little water, it wilts. If you give it too much, the roots rot. But there is a middle amount where the plant thrives. Here, the researchers found that university students' digital technology use follows a similar pattern: too little or too much is linked to poorer life skills and mental health, while a moderate amount—2 to 5 hours a day—is linked to the best outcomes.
For university students, this study suggests that moderate daily digital use—around two to five hours—is associated with stronger life skills and better mental health, while both very low and very high use are linked to poorer outcomes. This challenges the common assumption that less screen time is always better, and offers a more nuanced target for parents, educators, and students themselves when thinking about healthy technology habits.
The study is limited to postgraduate students in Delhi-NCR, so findings may not generalize to other regions, age groups, or educational levels. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causation—it only shows associations. The Digital Technology Usage Scale was developed by the authors and may not capture all aspects of usage. Self-report measures may be subject to bias.
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Usage of Digital Technology and Its linkage with the Development of Life Skills, Mental Health, and Psychological Hardiness among university students — Dr Kadim Lovakumari, Prof Tosendra Dwivedi — PsyArXiv — doi:10.31234/osf.io/4sr2q_v1
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper. This is a preprint, so it hasn't necessarily been peer reviewed.