Christine Schoetensack, Ruth Ogden, Katarzyna Goncikowska, Joanna Witowska, Georgina Giner-Domínguez, Sébastien Chappuis, Tereza Klegr, Rafael Valenzuela, Julie Papastamatelou, Marc Wittmann, Núria Codina, José Vicente Pestana, Mónica Fernández Boente, Quentin Meteier, Chantal Martin-Soelch, Vanda Černohorská
Despite the widespread use of digital technologies during free time and its potential benefits for wellbeing and recovery from work life, digital engagement is considered a low-quality form of free time that often results in significant regret and guilt. Given its increasing significance as an accessible source of relaxation and enjoyment in today’s post-COVID digitised society and the negative health consequences of chronic regret and guilt, the current study sought to explore the drivers of guilt and regret following digital free time across Europe. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 150 participants from Czechia, Germany, Poland, Spain, French-speaking Switzerland and the UK. A thematic analysis of the data showed that digital free time was perceived as inconsistent with the ideal of meaningful and self-determined free time and led to a spiral of guilty pleasure: Unintentional or involuntary uptake of digital activity, digital engagement beyond the desired duration and consumption of unwanted content were followed by a negative evaluation of one’s own digital behaviour as a self-regulative failure and digital free time as unproductive, passive, unhealthy and inauthentic. The perceived meaninglessness and lack of control over digital free time engendered feelings of guilt and regret, which were maintained through continued digital engagement during free time. Measures to reduce guilt and regret may require societal-level changes in the way digital technology use during free time is portrayed in media and mainstream discourse in combination with structural changes to digital entertainment apps or services.