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The Information Dividend:Can IT make you happier?

May 2010

Prepared for BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT,by Trajectory Partnership


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Can IT make you happier?

Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Background 4

3. Executive summary 5

3.1TheInformationDividend:ITmaymakeyouhappier 5

3.2TheInformationDividend:Mostimpactfulonthemostdisadvantaged 5

3.3TheInformationDividend:Womenbenetmost? 5

4. Commentary 6

4.1IT,lifesatisfactionandfreedom 7

4.2 ITandotherfactorsinuencinglifesatisfaction 8

5. What does this mean for IT? 9

6. What's next? 10

7. Technical appendix 11

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Introduction

BCS,TheCharteredInstituteforIT, isworking toenable theinformation

society. An important element of this is helping people understand how

theirlivescanbeimprovedby:

Abetterunderstandingofinformationandinformationtechnology

Improvedaccesstoinformationandinformationtechnology

Betteruseofinformationandinformationtechnology

OnewaytheInstitutedoesthisisbycreatingand/orcontributingtopublicdebates

onmajorissuesofsocial,economicorpoliticalconsequenceandinterest.

Withourlatestreport,TheInformationDividend:CanITmakeyouhappier?,

the Institutes goal is to stimulate debate about the social contribution of

informationandITtothehappinessofnationsandindividuals.

TheInstitutesviewisthatthesocialandpersonalbenetsofinformation

andIToutweighthenegativesforthemajority.Informationtechnologyand

informationmayevenmakeushappieronbalance,asthisstudysuggestsbut

wedonotpretendthattheyareinherentlybenecial.TheInformationSociety,

asweseeit,shouldbea placewhereITisusedtoimprovelifesatisfactionandsupportourindividualandcollectivegoals,nottoerodeorundermine

them.ServingthatpurposeiswhatmakesITatruepublicprofession.

Academics,policymakersandsocialscientistswanttoidentifywhatmakes

peoplehappyandapplythoseinsightstosocialandeconomicpolicy.The

relationship betweeninformation, IT and happiness has nottraditionally

been well investigated. Tracing these connections is difcult for lots of

reasons,asthisstudyshows.ButtheInstitutehopestheeffortisworthwhile,

particularlygiventhewaysin whichour livesaretouchedbyinformation

technology.Iftheunderstandingofthatrelationshipcanbeimprovedina

waythatleadstonewandimprovedthinking,strategiesorsolutionsthenwewillhavehelpedalittle.

ElizabethSparrow,President,BCS,TheCharteredInstituteforIT

I the understanding o

that relationship can

be improved in a way

that leads to new and

improved thinking,

strategies or solutions

then we will have

helped a little.

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Background

Well-beinghasbecomeahottopicinrecentyearsandhasreceivedmuchattentionfromacademics

andpoliticiansalike.(See,forexample,theworkofRichardLayard,andrecentpublicationslikethe

SocialMarketFoundationsWell-being: How to lead the good life and what government should do to help

(July 2009),amongstaplethoraofworks.IndeedthereisnowaJournal of Happiness Studies (http://

www.springer.com/sociology/well-being/journal/10902).

Generallyspeaking,thequestionwhichemergesfromthisworkis:whyispeoplessenseofwell-being

notincreasinginlinewiththegreaterwealthandopportunitiesamodernsocietycangenerate?

GivenmodernsocietysrelianceonIT,anaturalprogressiontothisquestionis:doesinformation

technologyaddto,ordetractfrom,peopleswellbeing?

SurprisinglylittleresearchhasbeendoneontheroleofITininuencingpeopleslifesatisfaction,

withtherecentpublicationof Technology and Psychological Well-beingbeinganexception.

Infact,whereITismentionedinrelationtowell-beingitisoftennegative,withastreamofmedia

reportssuggestingitcausesisolation,atomisationorrecently(andbizarrely)rickets.

Ageneralconcernisthattechnologygivesgreaterweighttothevaluesofefciency,productivity,

systemisationandspeedoverlesseasilymeasurable,butincreasinglyvaluable,issuesofqualityof life (see, for example, thewritings ofLangdonWinner). Almostby implication, technology

mustsurelyreducethequalityoflife.Butisthisreallytrue?Thisresearchprogrammesetsout

toassessthisandaskwhetherthereisan Information Dividend.

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Executive summary

Information Dividend: IT may make you happier

Ouranalysisofglobaldatasets(andthe35,000plusrespondentsanalysedintheWorldValues

Survey)showsthatIThasapositiveimpactonlifesatisfactioneven when controlling or income

and other actors known to be important in determining well-being.

TheanalysissuggeststhatIThasanenablingandempoweringroleleadingtoagreater

senseoffreedomandcontrolwhichin turnleadstogreaterlifesatisfaction.Ifthiswerea

formula itwould be expressed asfollows:IT INCREASES the Sense of Freedom/Control

which IMPROVES Well-being.

Thus,theimpactofITis,infact,likelytobeevengreaterthanthedirectcorrelationssuggest.

Information Dividend: Most impactful on the most disadvantaged?

ITappearstoempower the disempowered.Infact,muchoftheimprovementinlifesatisfaction

thatarises frominformation technologyowsto thosewhoareless well-placedin society.

Thoseonlowerincomesorwithfewereducationalqualicationsappeartobenetmorefrom

accesstoITthanthoseonhigherincomesorwithhighereducationalbackgrounds.

IT may make you happier

Our analysis o global

datasets shows that IT has

a positive impact on lie

satisaction.

Information Dividend: Women benet most?

Alongsideincomeandeducation,genderisacriticalfactor.Ouranalysissuggestswomencan

gainmuchfromaccesstoandusageoftechnology.Onepossiblereasonistheroleplayedby

ITinmoderndaycommunications.Therefore,wewonderwhetherthendingreectsthesocial

networkingroleofwomenaroundtheworld.

Thisresultisparticularlytrueforwomenindevelopingnations.Whythisissoisnotclear.But

onereasonmightbethatinmanypartsofAfrica,Asia,andtheMiddleEastwomenhavesocially

controlledroleswhichmayleadtoalowersenseoffreedomandautonomyandhencewell-being.

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The research supports the hypothesis that IT

playsapartinimprovingwell-being.IncreasedIT

accessandusagedoesimprovelifesatisfaction.

Itdoes soin two ways,one directlythe other

indirectly.

If we consider the analysis conducted at the

individual level (individual respondents to theWorldValuesSurvey) wendthatinformation

technology has, on average, a positive

contributionacrosstheglobetolifesatisfaction

even when taking account of income (that has

previously been shown to be an important

factor in improving well-being).(Seetechnical

appendixtable1,models1to3).

Theresearchalsoshowsthathavingasenseof

freedomandbeingincontrolofoneslifehasa

crucialandparticularlyimportanteffectonwell-being(certainlyasmuchasandmaybemoreso

thanincome).(Table1,model4)

But even when taking account of this degree

of freedom and senseofcontrol, IT has a role

independent of it and makes a statistically

signicant,positiveimpactonlifesatisfaction.Put

simply,peoplewithITaccessaremoresatised

withlifeevenwhentakingaccountofincomeand

asenseoffreedomandbeingincontrol.

Infact,informationtechnologysrolemightbe

greaterthaneventhestatisticalanalysisimplies

as it is a major factor in explaininga greatersenseoffreedomandcontrol.

Aplausiblemodel,therefore,isthataccessto

andusageofIThelpstopromoteandenable

empowerment and autonomy which then

increaseswell-beinginamannerthatcouldbe

representedbythefollowingmodel:

ITINCREASEStheSense of Freedom/Control

whichIMPROVESWell-being

Intuitively,the rst part ofthismodelmakessense. For, who can argue that access to

information, knowledgeandother cultures is

notapositivedevelopmentasmanydeveloping

countrieshaveexperienced.Thesecondpartof

themodeliswellestablishedasintheworkby

Inglehartetal.

Commentary

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IT, life satisfaction and freedom

To investigatethe linkbetween IT,senseof freedom andcontrol andlife satisfaction

weconductedregressions(seetechnicalappendixforexplanation)butusingsenseof

freedomandcontrolinplaceoflifesatisfaction,andfoundastrongeffect(seetechnical

appendixtable2).

Indeed,theeffectofITaccessonsenseoffreedomseemstobegreaterthanitseffectupon

lifesatisfactiondirectly.Asthecoefcientsintable2show,ITaccessisassociatedwitha

largerincreaseinasenseoffreedomandcontrol(+0.15)thanthatobservedearlierforitseffectonthescaleoflifesatisfaction(+.10).

Itisalsointerestingthataccesstotraditionalmediahasanimportantroletooinhelpingto

createafeelingofautonomyandempowerment.

TheseresultsareconsistentwithatheorythatITaccessandusagehelptoempowerpeople

andthusgivesthemasenseoffreedomandbeingincontrol.Fromthisincreasedsenseof

freedomandautonomy,peopleswell-beingisincreased.Thisisconsistentwithpreviouswork

intheareaofwell-beingasreferencedabove.Thisissueandproposedmodelneedsfurther

researchandwewillcontinuetodevelopthisthemeinthelaterstagesofthisproject.

Indeed, the effect of IT access on sense offreedom seems to be greater than its effectupon life satisfaction directly.

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IT and other factorsinuencing life satisfaction

WealsodiscoveredthatITappearstoempower the disempowered.Infact,much

oftheimprovementinlifesatisfactionthatarisesfrominformationtechnology

owstothosewhoarelesswell-placedinsociety.Thoseonlowerincomesor

withfewereducationalqualicationsappeartobenetmorefromaccesstoIT

than those on higher incomes or with higher educational backgrounds. This

appearstobethecaseacrosstheglobe.Theresearchindicatesthisrelationship,butnotthemechanism;thisisanareaforfurtherstudy.

Alongsideincomeandeducation,genderisacriticalfactor(seeTable3).

Infact,theimprovementinlifesatisfactionthatarisesfrominformationtechnology

istheresultofwomenbenettingmorethanmenfromaccesstoandusageof

technology.One possiblereasonisthatmuchITis attheheartof modern day

communications. Therefore, wewonder whether thending reects thesocial

networking role of women around the world. For example, in most cultures

aroundtheworldthefemale/maternalconnectionsarecrucialinbothfamilyand

socialnetworks.Thegeneralviewisthatwomenaremorecommunal,andindeedresearchhas shown, forexample, that manyof the intergenerationalcontacts

withinfamiliesaremanagedanddrivenbywomen.Assuch,thismayexplainthe

importanceofICTforwomenasasocialandfamilynetworksupporttool.

Butwhereastheimpactofincomeandeducationisgloballyconsistent,thegender

effectisespeciallystrong inthedeveloping world.Thefactthat itoccurs mainly

indeveloping nationspointsto other possibleexplanations aswell. Thesocially

curtailedrolesthatwomenplayinmanypartsofAfrica,Asia,andtheMiddleEastmay

leadtoalowersenseoffreedomandautonomy;havingaccesstoITallowswomen

insuchdevelopingnationstoovercomethesesociallyimposedconstraints.

Overall,theinteractiveeffectsofthesevariableswithaccesstoITshowsthatwomen in developing countries (presumably, facing discrimination and social

isolation),thoseofloweducation,andthoseonlowincomes(relativetotheir

countryaverage)acrosstheworldbenetmostfromICTaccess.Again,thisis

somethingwewillberesearchingfurtherinlaterstagesoftheproject,butthe

potentialimplicationsforpolicyandeducationareobviousintermsoftargeting

anddotendtosuggestthatthecommunicationsaspectofICT(theCofICT)isone

ofitsgreatestbenetsforwomen.

the impact o income

and education is

globally consistent,

the gender eect is

especially strong in the

developing world.

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What does this mean for IT?

Givenwhatwehavefoundinthisresearch,thechallengeistopromotetheroll-

outandcorrectusageoftechnologysothatitcontinuestoimprovelifeforas

manypeopleaspossible.Inthis,weagreewithYairAmichai-Hamburger,who

arguedinarecentarticleinNew Scientistmagazinethatwhatwasneededwas:

that autonomy [and a feeling of being in control], competence [technical

capabilities], relatedness [aiding rich and happy social relationships] and

critical thinking [the ability to analyse and interpret information received] arethe best ways to establish a balanced approach to technology, and so enhance

our well-being. [Our additions/comments in brackets]

ClearlytheITindustrymustcontinuethestruggletomakeinnovationanddesign

human centred, drawing on sophisticated insights into how technology can

bringrealbenetsinhumanterms.Thesebenetscancomethroughintended

interventionaimedataspecicproblem,orserendipity,butthekeyistorecognise

andreinforcepositiveimpactsonwell-being,ensuringthatlifesatisfactionisour

goal,notchangeforthesakeofit.

Thissuggests(atleast)threeissuesfordebateonthefutureofITandwell-being:

EnablinggreateraccesstoITandtheinternet

Empowering benecial use of information and communications technlogy

througheducation

Designandinnovationfocussedonimprovingwell-beingandlifesatisfaction

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Whats next?

The study to date has revealed some intriguing links between access to and

useofinformationandITandthewell-beingofindividuals.Weplantotestthe

hypothesisfurtherbyconductingasimilarbutmoredetailedanalysisofalarge

Britishsurvey,theBritishHouseholdPanelStudy.Thiswillhelpinthreeways:

Allowustolookcloselyattheissueinonecountry

Createalargesamplebasetoteston

Giveustheabilitytoinvestigatespecicissuesthatwehaveidentiedaboveas beingofinterest

The relationship between empowerment and autonomy, information

technologyandwell-being

TheimpactofITonwomenswell-being

TheroleofITinempoweringthedisempowered

AnyfurthernuancesthatshedmorelightonthebroaderissueofITand

well-being

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Technical appendix

Analytic method

Theresearchprogrammestartedwithananalysisofdatafromacrosstheglobe

usingtheWorldValuesSurvey,arecognisedsourceofbehavioural,socialvalues,

cultural and well-being measures that has been used in the past for many

internationalcomparativestudies.Subsequentlywewillconductamoredetailed

analysisoftheUnitedKingdomusingalternativedatasources.

The analysis involved looking at individual responses to the survey - in total,

thismeantaround35,000respondentsacrosstheglobewereincluded.Wewere

interested in the relationship between IT usage and other factors including

well-being.Thisallowsforadetailedanalysisofarangeoffactors(suchasthe

importanceofgender,ageandeducation).

The main statistical technique used in both cases was multiple regression,

allowingtherelative,independentimportanceofeachfactortobeassessedin

contributing,ifatall,towell-being.Thus,income/wealth(oftenmeasuredata

nationallevelbyGDPpercapita)isknowntobecorrelatedtomeasuresofwell-

being.Butcanotherfactors,inadditiontothis,alsoincreaselifesatisfaction?

Researchshowsthattheycan.Forexample,Inglehartatal.haveshownthat:

Cross-sectional analysis o recent data confrms that economic development[measured by GDP] is indeed strongly linked with high levels o SWB [self-

reported well-being], but it also indicates that economic actors are only part

o the story. Pooled time-series regression analysis suggests that religion,

tolerance o outgroups, and a societys level o democracy are strong predictors

o subsequent levels o SWB, controlling or economic development and a

societys initial level o SWB.

So,byusingmultipleregression,wecanassertthatGDPisnottheonlyfactor

determiningwell-being,theseotherfactorsareimportanttoo.Indeed,Ingleharts

workshowsthatindevelopedeconomiesatleastincome/wealthisnolongerthe

mostimportantfactorinimprovingsatisfactionwithlife:

Here, our fndings support Easterlins (2005) contention that research on

happiness should not just ocus on economic growth, but also on noneconomic

aspects o well-being. Economic growth makes a positive contribution to SWB,

but it is the weakest o the three main actors.

Finally,welookedatthetwostandardmeasuresofwell-beingfromtheWorldValues

Survey:self-reportedlifesatisfactionandself-reportedhappiness.Oftenthesetwoare

combinedtoproduceaself-reportedwell-beingscore.Welookedatthecombined

scoreandbothmeasuresindependentlyandeachproducedverysimilarresults.For

simplicityssakewehavethereforefocusedonjusttheonemeasurelifesatisfaction

andinthereportusethatterminterchangeablywithwell-being.

The analysis involved

looking at individual

responses to the

survey - in total,

this meant around

35,000 respondents

across the globe wereincluded.

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Technical appendix

The Analysis

At the individual level, we found an effect upon life

satisfactionofaccesstoinformationandcommunication

technologies.

Theregressions(seetable1)controlfora widerange

ofvariablestoestimatetheeffectofinformationaccess

on quality of life. The coefcients suggest that being

connectedtoICTincreaseslifesatisfactionbyupto0.1

pointsonaten-pointscale.

Themodelsintable1showtheeffectofhavingaccessed

internetinthepastweektocheckthenewsuponreported

lifesatisfactiononascalefrom1-10.Fourmodelswere

runwithdifferentvariablebeingaddedeachtime.

Therstmodelincludescontrolsforincome,age,the

squareofage(whetherpeopleareveryold),education,

gender,andthesizeofyourtown.Country-xedeffects

arealsocontrolledfor,sothesemodelsautomatically

take account for nation-level attributes such as acountrys income per capita, degree of democratic

governance,ornationalpsychology.

Inordertocheckwhetherthisinformationdividendisa

consequenceofICT,ratherthannewsingeneral,model

2also includesavariableforwhethertherespondent

haswatchedTVnewsinthelastweek.Havingwatched

TVnewsisalso signicantly andpositively associated

withlifesatisfaction,buttheeffectappearstobeadditive

tothatofICTaccess,whoseeffectremainsthesame.

Inmodel3wecontrolforvariousoccupationalattributes,

in case accessing ICT frequently is a consequence

of having a regular job, or being a student. While

unemployment, part-time work, and also being a

housewifeareallfoundtoberelatedtolifesatisfaction,

theeffectofICTaccessremainsthesame.

Inmodel4,andinresponsetoacross-nationalanalysis

suggestingitsimportance,weaddthequestionofsense

of freedom and control which is immediately highly

signicant and reduces the impact of IT and media,

althoughtheystillremainsignicant.

WhatthisshowedisthatITaccessandusageareafactor

inimprovingwell-beingevenwhentakingaccountofarangeofothervariablesthathavepreviouslybeenshown

tohaveapositiveeffectonlifesatisfaction.Second,it

raised thequestionofwhether IT itselfassists inthe

promotionofasenseoffreedomandbeingincontrol

which,onthefaceofit,seemsaplausibleproposition.

ThiswouldimplyanevengreaterimportanceforIT in

lifesatisfactionthroughtheindirectrouteofenhancing

empowermentandautonomy.

Thus,intable2weshowtheresultsoflookingatthe

roleofITinpromotingasenseoffreedomandcontrol.It shows that there is an important and statistically

signicanteffectofITonthis factor.WatchingTVand

someotherfactorsarealsostatisticallysignicant.

Finally, we observed that some effects were only

apparentindevelopingnationssototestthisweadded

someinteractiveterms(table3).Ofthetermsincluded,

agedidnotcomeoutasasignicantinteractiveterm

whencombinedwithIT.So,forexample,ageisimportant

indeterminingwell-beingbutnotagewhencombined

withinternetaccess(inotherwords,olderpeopledonot

benetinlifesatisfactionterms-anymorefromITaccessthanotheragegroups).

Gender, on the other hand was signicant, that isto

saywomenbenetfromITaccessdisproportionatelyto

men.Also,ofthevariablestested,educationandincome

wereimportantthoseonlowerincomesandwithlower

educationalachievementsbenetmostfromIT.

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Model

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Senseoffreedomandcontrol - - - 0.291***(0.004)

Accessedinternet 0.1***(0.027) 0.096***(0.027) 0.094**(0.028) 0.056*(0.026)

WatchedTV - 0.185***(0.038) 0.178***(0.039) 0.099**(0.037)

Gender 0.061**(0.022) 0.061**(0.022) 0.029(0.023) 0.004(0.021)

Age -0.029***(0.003) -0.029***(0.004) -0.035***(0.004) -0.030***(0.003)

Age2 0.297***(0.037) 0.301***(0.037) 0.348***(0.044) 0.311***(0.046)

Education(years) 0.004*(0.002) 0.004*(0.002) 0.004*(0.002) 0.001(0.002)

Income 0.233***(0.005) 0.232***(0.005) 0.225***(0.005) 0.188***(0.005)

SizeofTown -0.007(0.005) -0.007(0.005) -0.007(0.005) -0.008(0.005)

WorkPartTime - - -0.097*(0.045) -0.076*(0.040)

Self-employed - - -0.045(0.038) -0.035(0.032)

Retired - - -0.059(0.048) -0.041(0.046)

Housewife - - 0.168***(0.044) 0.135***(0.042)

Student - - -0.079(0.048) -0.068(0.044)

Unemployed - - -0.396***(0.042) -0.321***(0.038)

Other - - -0.259***(0.071) -0.188***(0.067)

Constant 5.598***(0.394) 4.874***(0.129) 5.801***(0.397) 4.401***(0.241)

n 33675 33632 33159 31359

r2 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.32

Note: The asterisks represent statistical signicance and are used in the conventional way

* p 0.1, ** p 0.05, *** p0.01 where p is the probability of getting this result by statistical accident

The models

Table 1 Effect of IT on Life Satisfaction, Individual Level

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The models

Table 2 Effect of ICT on Sense of Freedom and Control, Individual Level

Model

(1) (2) (3)

Accessedinternet 0.158***(0.029) 0.153***(0.029) 0.148***(0.029)

WatchedTV - 0.252***(0.041) 0.238***(0.041)

Gender -0.06**(0.023) -0.058*(0.023) -0.029(0.024)

Age -0.007(0.004) -0.008*(0.004) -0.015***(0.004)

Age2 0.061(0.04) 0.068(0.04) 0.133**(0.048)

Education(years) 0.011***(0.002) 0.011***(0.002) 0.01***(0.002)

Income 0.127***(0.006) 0.126***(0.006) 0.119***(0.006)

SizeofTown 0.003(0.006) 0.003(0.006) 0.002(0.006)

WorkPartTime - - -0.065(0.048)

Self-employed - - 0.063(0.041)

Retired - - -0.049(0.051)

Housewife - - -0.104*(0.047)

Student - - -0.173**(0.051)

Unemployed - - -0.287***(0.045)

Other - - -0.161*(0.076)

Constant 5.329***(0.135) 5.631***(0.427) 5.93***(0.43)

n 33446 33406 32938

r2 0.09 0.1 0.1

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The models

Table 3 Effect of IT on Life Satisfaction with various variable/IT interaction terms

Model

(1) (2) (3) (4)

Accessedinternet 0.052(0.069) 0.335***(0.081) 0.583***(0.064)

WatchedTV 0.177***(0.039) 0.178***(0.039) 0.175***(0.039) 0.172***(0.038)

Gender -0.02(0.027) 0.029(0.023) 0.03(0.023) 0.029(0.023)

Gender*Accessedinternet 0.15**(0.047) - - -

Age*Accessedinternet - 0.001(0.002) - -

Education*Accessed

internet

- - -0.012**(0.004) -

Income*Accessedinternet - - - -0.09***(0.011)

Age -0.035***(0.004) -0.035***(0.004) -0.034***(0.004) -0.034***(0.004)

Age2 0.348***(0.044) 0.353***(0.045) 0.347***(0.044) 0.347***(0.044)

Education(years) 0.004*(0.002) 0.004*(0.002) 0.008***(0.002) 0.004*(0.002)

Income 0.225***(0.005) 0.224***(0.005) 0.224***(0.005) 0.255***(0.006)SizeofTown -0.007(0.005) -0.007(0.005) -0.008(0.005) -0.008(0.005)

WorkPartTime -0.102*(0.045) -0.097*(0.045) -0.095*(0.045) -0.103*(0.045)

Self-employed -0.047(0.038) -0.045(0.038) -0.041(0.038) -0.045(0.038)

Retired -0.057(0.048) -0.058(0.048) -0.059(0.048) -0.059(0.048)

Housewife 0.18***(0.044) 0.167***(0.044) 0.172***(0.044) 0.167***(0.044)

Student -0.079(0.048) -0.077(0.048) -0.077(0.048) -0.085(0.048)

Unemployed -0.395***(0.042) -0.397***(0.042) -0.395***(0.042) -0.396***(0.042)

Other -0.261***(0.071) -0.259***(0.071) -0.254***(0.071) -0.259***(0.071)

Constant 5.881***(0.398) 5.826***(0.399) 5.698***(0.398) 5.638***(0.397)

n 33159 33159 33159 33159

r2 0.19 0.19 0.19 0.19

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Bibliography

Mentioned in the report

RichardLayard,Happiness: Lessons from a New Science,Penguin,6April2006.

Social MarketFoundation. Well-being: How to lead the good life and what government

should do to help(July2009),amongstaplethoraofworks.

Journal of Happiness Studies(http://www.springer.com/sociology/well-being/journal/10902).

Technology and Psychological Well-being, Yair Amichai-Hamburger et al., Cambridge

UniversityPress,2009LangdonWinner, Autonomous Technology: Technics out of Control in Political Thought,

Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1977.

Free yourself from oppression by technology,YairAmichai,NewScientist,27December2009

Other writers on the potential negative aspects of technology include:

JamesGleick,Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything,London:Abacus,2000

NeilPostmanhaswrittenforyearsontechnologyandsociety. See Amusing Ourselves

to Death,MethuenPublishingLtd;newedition(12Feb1987).Seealsohislastbook,

Building a Bridge to the 18th Century,VintageBooks,1999.

JohnKennethGalbraith,the New Industrial State,NewYork:TheNewAmericanLibrary,1968

On IT and technology

WillmottandNelson,ComplicatedLives:theMalaiseofModernity,JohnWileyandSon,2005

On a sense of freedom and control:

Development, Freedom, and Rising Happiness:AGlobalPerspective(19812007),Ronald

Inglehart,RobertoFoa,ChristopherPeterson,andChristianWelzel,Perspectiveson

PsychologicalScience,Vol.3,No.4

Easterlin,R.A.(2005).Feeding the illusion of growth and happiness: AreplytoHagertyand

Veenhoven.SocialIndicatorsResearch,75,429443.

Research source

WorldValuesSurvey:www.worldvaluessurvey.org

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