Well-being in the digital world: an ethical matrix

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Lately, the internet has been connected to states of ill-being: they distract users from their purposes by instilling habits and goals that have not been deliberately chosen, spread mis- and disinformation which ultimately lead to polarization and radicalization and to a weakening of social cohesion and democracies worldwide. Clarifying what well-being is in the context of a highly technological world is an increasingly pressing task. The overall objective of this research project is to offer the first comprehensive understanding of how the internet contributes to fostering or hampering human well-being. The overall expected results are to (i) develop an account of digital well-being that could allow us to better understand the impact of digital technologies on individual and collective well-being and (ii) to develop an ethical matrix to be used by regulatory bodies and the Big Tech industry to offer practical policy and design suggestions for the development and governance of digital environments that foster individual and collective well-being. What well-being is and how it should inform public policy are essentially philosophical questions. Thus, the core methodology of this project will build on a common approach in contemporary applied philosophy: engaging in rigorous philosophical analysis, clarifying concepts, constructing and analyzing arguments. But this project will not be limited to philosophical analysis, as it will also gather relevant empirical data, as well as establishing linkages with researchers in experimental psychology, computer science or sociology which can provide expert insight into the state of the art.