TRENDS IN PSYCHOLOGY: Digital Psychology: Introducing a Conceptual Impact Model and the Future of Work

Apr. 21, 2025

There is a massive digital transformation occurring across our societies, which means that our lives are shifting more and more from physical to digital spheres (Bohlin, 2022; Musik & Bogner, 2019; Uygun & Aydin, 2021). Even though this has been true for the past two decades and more, the process of digitalization undertook a strong acceleration during the Corona pandemic (Amankwah-Amoah et al., 2021). Because of technological innovations like platform economies (Meijerink et al., 2021; Myriam, 2021), edge computing and the blockchain (Panda et al., 2020), and rapid developments in artificial intelligence (Fletchen, 2021; Wooldridge, 2021), it does not seem like these trends in digitalization will end anytime soon. This creates new spaces for humans to develop themselves, to get in contact with each other, and to interact with their environment. The emerging digital spaces in fact are not only new tools that can be used to foster productivity; instead, they provide completely new places for people to inhabit. It is a mental inhabitation, since, for example, a person immersed in the metaverse or an augmented reality game is not physically somewhere else but is mentally present in a very different space than his or her physical location. In this space, there is the possibility to do other things, learn different information, and meet other people than would be possible in a purely physical fashion (Mukherjee, 2020; Youngs, 2013).

There are natural impacts of “the digital” on human psychology, and there are also psychological influences on digital change, both occurring on several levels. In the current paper, we discuss these dynamics and eventually formulate a preliminary conceptual bidirectional impact model. This is followed up with a brief discussion of how these insights concerning digital psychology affect one of the most pertinent domains of the modern economy and current business development pressures—the future of work.

This bidirectional relationship between technology and psychology was described as a key characteristic of digital psychology, which becomes evident in a quote by Sarkar (2022, paras. 4–5):

Digital psychology is an arena of study that examines the impact of digital technology and media on psychological aspects of human lives, such as human behaviors, actions, attitudes, motivation, learning, and others.

Interestingly, human psychology also influences the development and evolution of digital media and technology, such as its influence on business performance, growth, and economic landscape. Digital psychology explores the bidirectional relationship between human psychology and digital technology and media that have tremendous influences on each other.

GO FURTHER:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43076-024-00408-w?utm_source=chatgpt.com