Digital concerns regarding privacy, misinformation and work-life boundaries are highest among highly educated, Western European millennials, according to a major new study from University College London (UCL) and the University of British Columbia.
The research, published in Information, Communication & Society, challenges the assumption that digital literacy alleviates anxiety. Instead, it finds that individuals with advanced technical skills are often the most distressed by the technologies they use.
“Our findings call into question the assumption that greater exposure to the digital world reduces our concern about its potential harm,” said lead author Dr Yang Hu of the UCL Social Research Institute. “Rather than becoming desensitised, greater use of digital technology seems to heighten our concerns about it, particularly among people who have a high level of digital literacy.”
The researchers analysed data from 49,665 respondents across 30 countries collected between 2020 and 2022 via the European Social Survey (ESS). The team developed a “digital concern scale” ranging from 0 to 1 to measure anxiety regarding privacy loss, online misinformation, and the blurring of work-family boundaries.
Another digital divide
The results revealed a distinct “digital concern divide” that contradicts traditional measures of digital inequality. While policymakers often focus on the digital exclusion of older adults and low-income individuals, this study found that these groups were among the least concerned.
Instead, the highest levels of concern were reported by millennials (aged 25–44), who expressed significantly greater anxiety than both younger adults (15–24) and the elderly (75+). Education also played a critical role: individuals with tertiary education reported higher levels of concern than those with no or only primary education.
The study uncovered a stark geographical divide in how different nations perceive digital threats. The overall level of concern was high, averaging 0.65 across all countries.
However, Western European nations reported significantly higher anxiety levels than their Eastern European counterparts. The Netherlands topped the list with a concern score of 0.74, whilst Bulgaria reported the lowest levels at 0.47.
Interestingly, the study found that migrants consistently reported lower levels of digital concern than native-born citizens.
Exposure to threat
The researchers tested two competing theories: “exposure-desensitisation”, which suggests that frequent use makes people comfortable with technology, and “exposure-threat”, which argues that usage reveals the dangers.
The data overwhelmingly supported the latter. The study found a positive association between digital literacy and concern, which intensified with increased technology use. In countries with near-universal internet coverage, the link between high digital literacy and high anxiety was strongest.
“Our results reveal dual paradoxes: those who are supposedly most vulnerable to digital harms – young people, older adults, and those with a low level of digital literacy – appear least concerned about the harms, while those with advanced digital skills report the most concern,” said co-author Dr Yue Qian of the University of British Columbia.
The authors suggest that for tech-savvy users, extensive knowledge of digital ecosystems can foster a sense of powerlessness regarding data privacy and algorithmic control. They argue that current digital literacy programmes, which focus heavily on practical skills, are failing to address the emotional and psychological toll of digitalisation.
“As businesses, governments, and societies embrace new technologies, tech has become ubiquitous and digital literacy is essential for most people,” Dr Hu added. “The rapid development of AI is undoubtedly accelerating this process, so digital concern is not an issue that can be ignored.”
