An Opportunity Cost Framework of Digital Well‐Being

Research on social digital technologies like smartphones and social media has grown exponentially, yet consensus on their effects on well‐being remains elusive. I introduce the Costs and Opportunities of Technology in Context (COTeC) framework, focused on defining and integrating the processes by which social technologies impact well‐being indirectly via their opportunity costs. COTeC specifies at least three such mechanisms: displacement (i.e., time reallocation: time spent on devices leaves less time for other activities), substitution (i.e., qualitative replacement: technology offers alternatives to more challenging, but often more rewarding, activities), and interference (i.e., real‐time attention reallocation: social technologies tax cognitive resources, reallocate attention, and disrupt ingrained social processes and expectations). Though evidence suggests that these mechanisms primarily undermine digital well‐being, the COTeC framework posits that their effects depend on contextual affordances: on what is being displaced, substituted, or interfered with. I consider the practical implications of the framework for policy, practice (e.g., digital detox interventions), and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). In short, COTeC aims to organize existing evidence of opportunity‐cost processes (e.g., phubbing vs. technoference), build on existing content‐focused and person‐focused approaches, and accelerate discoveries with practical implications.