Different generations, different digital traps

DIGITAL media consumption across generations is evolving from routine communication and entertainment into complex psychological habits that can shape emotional regulation, identity, relationships and how people process information.

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam political and social media analyst Associate Professor Dr Sara Chinnasamy said being “chronically online” and compulsive digital behaviour manifested differently across age groups, driven by algorithmic feedback loops and underlying psychological vulnerabilities.

She said understanding these behaviours required looking beyond how much time people spent online to examine why they used digital platforms and the psychological needs they were trying to fulfil.

For teenagers and Generation Z, platforms such as TikTok and Instagram have become important spaces for identity formation, peer comparison and social validation.

Sara said curating an online identity was a normal part of adolescent development, but could become problematic when self-presentation became rigid, compulsive or distressing.

“This is a strong research question because it connects social-media self-presentation, identity formation, peer comparison, emotional regulation, and adolescent mental health.

“The key distinction is that curating an idealised online identity is not inherently pathological; concern arises when it becomes rigid, compulsive, distressing, or significantly impairing,” she said.

The pressure to maintain a particular online image can also make social media feel less like a space for casual interaction and more like a continuous performance, particularly when young users measure themselves against carefully curated versions of their peers.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) runs the Kempen Internet Selamat to promote digital literacy and online safety nationwide.

Its child protection push includes the 'Devices are not caregivers' message, which encourages parents to use parental controls and active monitoring. The campaign also educates the public on financial scams, online gambling and promoting resources like the National Scam Response Centre hotline.

Among older adults, the risks can be different, with algorithm-driven feeds potentially exposing them repeatedly to hyper-partisan news and radicalising political content.

Sara said platforms typically prioritised content based on engagement signals such as clicks, watch time, comments, shares and repeated viewing.

“Emotionally arousing political material, particularly fear, anger, outrage, or moral condemnation, can therefore receive repeated exposure,” she said.

She said repeated exposure could gradually narrow a person's information environment rather than deliberately exposing them to diverse viewpoints.

This can be particularly significant when users repeatedly engage with content that reinforces their existing beliefs, as recommendation systems may continue serving similar material.

For working adults and middle-aged users, meanwhile, digital platforms increasingly combine entertainment with commerce, potentially encouraging impulsive purchasing through live-stream shopping and targeted advertising.

Sara said live commerce used entertainment, social interaction and purchasing in the same environment, with countdowns, limited-time offers, giveaways and influencer demonstrations creating a sense of urgency.

Dr Sara Chinnasamy.

“Live commerce combines entertainment, social interaction and purchasing in the same environment,” she said.

“If other viewers appear to be buying, the individual may perceive purchasing as normal or necessary,” she added.

Advertising systems could then reinforce the behaviour by using browsing, search, purchase and engagement data to serve increasingly targeted commercial content.

A user who repeatedly searches for fashion, cosmetics, electronics or lifestyle products, for example, may subsequently encounter increasingly relevant commercial content, making it harder to disengage from the purchasing cycle.

Across generations, however, digital platforms can also become emotional coping mechanisms.

“The key is therefore not simply how much someone uses a platform, but why they use it, what psychological function it serves, and what happens when they cannot access it,” Sara said.

She said excessive screen use should not automatically be equated with behavioural addiction, as screen-time figures alone could not establish whether someone had a problem.

“A useful approach is to distinguish frequency of use from loss of control and functional impairment. High screen time alone does not establish behavioural addiction,” she said.

The effects can also extend beyond the individual, affecting relationships between parents and teenagers as well as adult children and ageing parents.

Families may attempt to regulate a young person's screen use, for instance, while parents may struggle to address excessive digital engagement among older family members without creating conflict or undermining their autonomy.

Sara said this showed why interventions should not focus solely on changing an individual's digital habits.

“The particularly valuable contribution would be to show that behavioural addiction is not only an individual-level phenomenon,” she said.

“Its effects are relational: the family's attempt to manage problematic behaviour can itself reshape trust, autonomy, communication and emotional coping.”

Ultimately, she said, the challenge was not simply to reduce screen time but to understand the role digital platforms played in people's emotional and social lives, and when those habits began interfering with everyday functioning and relationships.