Research On The Micro Influence Mechanism Of Internet Use On Residents’ Subjective Well-Being

With the continuous expansion of our country’s economic,the gradual optimization of economic structure,and the steady improvement of people’s quality of life,people pay more and more attention to their own spiritual needs.At the same time,as the information technology has developed by leaps and bounds,the Internet has developed rapidly in China in recent years.Under the background of this era,it has much realistic significance to probe into the relationship between the Internet and residents’ well-being.Therefore,this article mainly studies the influence of the Internet use on the residents’subjective well-being and its influence mechanism.This paper first reviews and combs the literature on the Internet and sense of wellbeing.On account of this,this article proposes three possible micro-mechanisms that affect the subjective well-being of residents,that is,the moderating effect of personal income,the mediating effect of social interaction,and the mediating effect of social identity.Secondly,based on the data of China General Social Survey(CGSS)in 2017,this paper adopts the generalized ordered logit model,which is more applicable than the ordered logit/probit model,to conduct an empirical analysis of the Internet’s impact on residents’ subjective well-being and its impact mechanism.Finally,this paper considers possible endogenous problems and conducts a robustness test to enhance the reliability of the empirical results in this paper.The major findings of this study are summarized as below:(1)Whether or not to use the Internet and the frequency of network-using have a significant effect on the subjective well-being of residents;and the effects of whether or not to use the Internet has heterogeneity,that is to say,it has different effects on the well-being of residents with different degrees of happiness.(2)Absolute income has no significant effect on subjective well-being,while relative income can significantly improve the well-being,but the higher the well-being of residents,the smaller the effect of relative income.(3)Internet use can increase the subjective well-being of residents,but it will inhibit the promotion of relative income on subjective well-being.(4)The mediating effect of social interaction is very significant:On the one hand,the Internet use will reduce the frequency of social interaction with neighbors,thereby reducing the subjective wellbeing of residents;on the other hand,by increasing social activities with friends,residents’ subjective well-being will be improved.(5)Social identity has a negative mediating effect on the impact of network-using on residents’ subjective well-being.