The Impacts of Online Experience on Health and Well-Being: The Overlooked Aesthetic Dimension

It is well-recognized that online experience can carry profound impacts on health and well-being, particularly for young people. Research has already documented influences from cyberbullying, heightened feelings of inadequacy, and the relative decline of face-to-face interactions and active lifestyles. Less attention has been given to the health impacts of aesthetic experiences of online users, particularly gamers and other users of immersive virtual reality (VR) technologies. However, a significant body of research has begun to document the surprisingly strong yet previously unrecognized impacts of aesthetic experiences on health and well-being in other arenas of life. Other researchers have used both fixed laboratory and wearable sensors and, to a lesser extent, user surveys to measure indicators of activation level, mood, and stress level, which detect physiological markers for health. In this study, we assessed the evidence that online sensorial experience is no less important than in the physical world, with the capacity for both harmful effects and salutogenic benefits. We explore the implications for online design and propose an outline for further research.