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Feeling ostracised, that is, feeling ignored and excluded, in a social media environment causes negative affect and threatens fundamental human needs. Socially anxious people are especially fearful of social exclusion and may—if they feel ostracised—suffer even more when they do not have low-risk coping options such as using the Like button. Using the Online Ostracism tool, in a 2 (Ostracism vs. Inclusion) × 2 (Coping Deprivation vs. Control) experimental design, individuals with various social anxiety levels (N = 131) engaged in an online group task. Coping deprivation was operationalised via a disabled Like button. Compared to included participants, those who were ostracised reported significantly more threatened needs and worse mood. Needs were mostly threatened when ostracised ones encountered a disabled Like button. Social anxiety did not moderate this Ostracism × Coping interaction effect. However, the more socially anxious ostracised individuals were, the more they used the Like button. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile phones, television, internet services, games, and social media offer diverse and numerous opportunities for coping with stress in everyday life. Different disciplines have contributed to answering how these media are used for coping. Consequently, fragmented and disconnected research perspectives have evolved. To improve integration, we conducted a scoping review. A total of 318 articles met the inclusion criteria. Three main perspectives on media use for coping were identified: (1) stress and coping, (2) mood management and emotion regulation, and (3) media addiction and problematic media use. Each perspective has contributed to different aspects of the use of media for coping. Six advancements are proposed, which attempt to integrate perspectives and to guide future research on coping using media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When posting content in social media, users can feel excluded due to lacking (cyber-ostracism) or negative (cyber-rejection) feedback. Referring to the temporal need-threat model, this study examined the impact that both exclusion experiences have on social media users' need threat and on their online coping behavior to fortify threatened needs. For this purpose, a pre-registered between-subjects experiment (N = 211) was conducted by manipulating the type of social exclusion on three levels (ostracism; rejection; inclusion). Results indicated that both types of exclusion threatened media users' needs for belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence, and control. Compared to ostracized users, rejected ones were more threatened in their needs for belonging and self-esteem, but equally threatened in their needs for meaningful existence and control. Regarding social media users' coping behavior, ostracized users showed more prosocial behavior, whereas rejected ones rather withdrew from social interactions. Material, code, and data can be found at . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background With the availability of mobile smart devices, many adolescents have developed the habit of being online and connected with other users almost all the time. Objective The aim of this paper is to provide a definition of being permanently online (PO) and permanently connected (PC) and to explore students’ current PO/PC behaviors. Methods An online survey was conducted with 178 university students in Germany to explore the intensity of their PO/PC behaviors in various social situations, the differences in being PO and being PC, students’ feelings about a possible loss of Internet access, and their online responding behaviors. We also shed some light on the associations between being PO/PC and various aspects of well-being, as well as between PO/PC and demographics and lifestyle. Results Smart device usage behaviors at night and behaviors in various social situations during the day indicate that PO and PC behaviors are occurring frequently. The results show that being connected to others (PC) seems to be more relevant to the participants than browsing the web (PO). Moreover, the participants expressed strong emotional responses about a temporary loss of Internet access. Coping behaviors in response to increasing number of incoming messages and permanent availability are reported. Conclusion This exploratory study demonstrates the relevance of the concepts of being PO and PC to students, and points out further research gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]