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Psychological perspectives have long been integral to research on mobile media and communication. In this piece, we complete a high-level review of psychology-centered work published in Mobile Media & Communication (MMC). Our “flyover review” affirms that MMC represents a key watering hole for exploring – and debating – the novel psychological implications of mobile technologies. We identify 57 articles across the 10-year history of MMC that are framed around established psychological concepts. Among this sub-sample of articles, we then extract four key themes: 1) psychological predictors of general usage, 2) psychological dynamics of online/offline contexts, 3) psychological well-being and alarmism, and 4) psychological dis/connection to mobile media. Following the review, we ponder the trajectory of psychological research on mobile media, including where it is published and how it can be integrated across fields given its discipline-bending nature. We argue the body of psychological research in MMC is highly phenomenological and correlational, resulting in theoretical fragmentation and limited evidence for mobile media effects. Nonetheless, we suggest Mobile Media & Communication is best positioned to sync the scattered literature on the psychology of mobile media.

Two of the most important developmental tasks in adolescence are developing autonomy and establishing relationships (i.e., friendships and romantic relationships). Self-socialization processes are ...

Mobile messaging has been associated with guilt. Guilt about too much messaging may result from self-control failures during goal conflicts. Conversely, guilt about too little messaging may result from violating the salient norm to be available. This research considers both boundary conditions of guilt about mobile communication—goal conflicts and availability norm salience—simultaneously for the first time. We conducted two preregistered experiments to investigate their interplay. Results from a vignette experiment, but not from a laboratory experiment, support the hypotheses that goal conflicts trigger guilt about using messengers and that guilt about not using messengers arises if the availability norm is salient. In both studies, using messengers elicited more guilt than not using messengers. The boundary conditions did not interact in influencing guilt. Overall, this research emphasizes the importance of self-control, norms, and usage contexts when studying effects of mobile media use on emotional well-being.

It is our great pleasure and honor to begin this year as the new co-editors of Media Psychology. For the four of us, Media Psychology has been an intellectual home throughout our academic lives—a c...

Concerns have been expressed that permanent online connectedness might negatively affect media user’s stress levels. Most research has focused on negative effects of specific media usage patterns, such as media multitasking or communication load. In contrast, users’ cognitive orientation toward online content and communication has rarely been investigated. Against this backdrop, we examined whether this cognitive orientation (i.e., online vigilance with its three dimensions salience, reactibility, monitoring) is related to perceived stress at different timescales (person, day, and situation level), while accounting for the effects of multitasking and communication load. Results across three studies showed that, in addition to multitasking (but not communication load), especially the cognitive salience of online communication is positively related to stress. Our findings are discussed regarding mental health implications and the origins of stress.

Computer-mediated communication (CMC), and specifically social media, may affect the mental health (MH) and well-being of its users, for better or worse. Research on this topic has accumulated rapidly, accompanied by controversial public debate and numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Yet, a higher-level integration of the multiple disparate conceptual and operational approaches to CMC and MH and individual review findings is desperately needed. To this end, we first develop two organizing frameworks that systematize conceptual and operational approaches to CMC and MH. Based on these frameworks, we integrate the literature through a meta-review of 34 reviews and a content analysis of 594 publications. Meta-analytic evidence, overall, suggests a small negative association between social media use and MH. However, effects are complex and depend on the CMC and MH indicators investigated. Based on our conceptual review and the evidence synthesis, we devise an agenda for future research in this interdisciplinary field.

Internet-related disorders (IRD) are increasingly becoming a major health issue. IRD are defined as the predominant use of online content, related to a loss of control and continued use despite negative consequences. Despite findings from cross-sectional studies, the causality of pathways accelerating the development of IRD are unclear. While etiological models emphasize the role of personality as risk factor, mutual influences between IRD and personality have not been examined. A prospective study with two assessments was conducted with n = 941 adolescents (mean age of 13.1 years; 10–17 years). Our aim was to validate etiological assumptions and to examine the effects of IRD-symptoms on the maturation of personality. IRD were measured with the Scale of the Assessment of Internet and Computer game Addiction (AICA-S). Personality traits were assessed using the Brief Five Factor Inventory (BFI). Conscientiousness and neuroticism were predictive for IRD symptoms one year later, and were likewise prone to changes depending on incidence or remission of IRD. Conscientiousness and openness moderated the course of IRD symptoms. Our findings point to complex trait–pathology associations. Personality influences the risk of development and maintenance of IRD symptoms and pre-existing IRD-symptoms affect the development of personality. Adaptations to etiological models are discussed and perspectives for novel intervention strategies are suggested.

Abstract: An increasing number of studies indicate that individuals have difficulties in exerting self-control over media use, such as mobile messaging. Specifically, individuals frequently experience that their messenger use conflicts with primary goals (e.g., work tasks), which may cause negative self-conscious emotions such as guilt. At the same time, not checking and answering messages violates a now widely established availability norm, which may trigger negative self-conscious emotions as well. The current study, therefore, tests how goal conflicts and connection cues interact in influencing users’ negative self-conscious emotions about their messenger usage behavior. Drawing on self-control research in conjunction with self-determination theory and theoretical approaches to social norms, we derived hypotheses on the boundary conditions under which the frequency of messenger use causes negative self-conscious emotions. We thereby significantly extend previous research on the self-regulation of mobile media use, which largely assumes that self-control failure results from users’ intrinsic motivation to experience need satisfaction and pleasure and tends to overlook the fact that mediated communication is often extrinsically motivated due to the availability norm. The hypotheses were tested based on a preregistered laboratory experiment.

Mobile connectivity can negatively affect smartphone users by eliciting stress. Past research focused on stress-inducing potentials of smartphone use behaviors and, recently, on the cognitive-motivational engagement with online interactions. However, theoretical perspectives as the mobile connectivity paradox and the IM³UNE model further suggest that digital stress effects may be conditional. A preregistered experience sampling study ( n = 123; 1,427 use episodes) investigated relationships of cognitive-motivational (online vigilance) and behavioral (communication load, media multitasking) smartphone use patterns with perceived stress and introduced two situational boundary conditions (goal conflict, autonomy need dissatisfaction). Results demonstrate that online vigilance can induce stress directly and via increasing communication load. Goal conflict and autonomy need dissatisfaction moderated the influence of online vigilance and media multitasking on stress. Findings are discussed in the context of effect directionality and the need to further investigate boundary conditions in digital well-being research.

© 2019, © 2019 Mass Communication & Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Sleep experts have raised concern over the effects of electronic media use on sleep. To date, few studies have looked beyond the effects of duration and frequency of media exposure or examined the underlying mechanisms of this association. As procrastinatory media use has been related to lower well-being, we used data from two survey studies (N1 = 821, N2 = 584) to investigate (a) predictors of procrastinatory TV viewing and (b) the link between procrastinatory TV viewing and sleep quality. Findings from both studies indicate that those with a stronger viewing habit, higher TV involvement, and an eveningness preference reported more procrastinatory TV viewing. Procrastinatory TV viewing was related to subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep efficiency, and daytime dysfunction. This association was fully mediated by perceived stress. As sleep is key for the replenishment of self-control, procrastinators may be setting themselves up to fail at self-regulating, a situation exacerbated by the omnipresence of media in today’s society. ispartof: Mass Communication And Society vol:22 issue:5 pages:654-685 status: Published online

Using mobile media can be both detrimental and beneficial for well-being. Thus, explaining how and when they elicit such effects is of crucial importance. To explicate boundary conditions and processes for digital well-being, this article introduces the Integrative Model of Mobile Media Use and Need Experiences (IM³UNE). Instead of assuming mobile media to be pathogenic, the IM³UNE offers a salutogenic perspective—it focuses on how we can stay healthy when using mobile media ubiquitously in daily life. More specifically, the model assumes that both the satisfaction and the frustration of basic psychological needs are key underlying mechanisms linking demanding mobile media use to well-being. However, the impact of these mechanisms is contingent on how users perceive, appraise, act on, and make sense of mobile media demands according to their global orientation to life (i.e., their sense of coherence; SOC). Integrating prior work, we theoretically link mindfulness, self-control, and meaningfulness to SOC’s central facets, arguing that they represent crucial personal resources required to cope with mobile media demands. Thus, the IM³UNE offers an integrative framework, guiding further research towards a more nuanced, less technologically deterministic study of mobile media’s well-being effects.

Self-presentation on social network sites (SNS) such as Instagram is often assumed to be inauthentic or even fake. While authenticity on SNS has been linked to increased well-being, most research has investigated it either monolithically (e.g., via screen time measures) or with regard to stable self-presentations (e.g., in Facebook profiles). In contrast, this study compares subjective authenticity perceptions within users and between self-presentations via two SNS features—Stories vs Posts. Drawing on the affordances approach, we theorize and test whether and how Stories produce greater state authenticity than Posts. Results from a preregistered within-subjects study comparing self-reports on N = 489 Posts and N = 546 Stories from N = 202 Instagram users show that by allowing more spontaneous self-presentation, Stories indeed produced (slightly) higher authenticity perceptions than Posts. However, subjective authenticity was high in both features, indicating that they similarly offer a space for authentic online self-presentation.

Using media, specifically those that offer entertainment, frequently conflicts with other goals and obligations in daily life. Users can manage these conflicts either by applying self-control and upholding their goals, or by giving in to media temptations, which elicits negative emotional appraisals such as guilt that potentially spoil entertainment experiences. Currently, a systematic integration of self-control and entertainment theory is direly needed to guide future work in this area. The goals of the present chapter are thus threefold: (1) It provides a theoretical explication of the central components of self-control and subsequently (2) introduces the appraisal of media use, self-control, and entertainment (AMUSE) model. The AMUSE model systematizes the available empirical evidence on the role of self-control for the selection, processing, and effects of (entertaining) media content and, on this basis, the chapter (3) provides testable propositions for future research.

Although the concept of escapism is widely used in entertainment research, it lacks theoretical and empirical differentiation. Based on the transactional model of stress and coping, we extend previous attempts to conceptualize escapism as a form of emotion-focused avoidance coping. In contrast to the primarily negative connotation of escapism found in prior research, we propose that escapist entertainment use may be a functional coping strategy in some situations and may thus have beneficial effects on the well-being of media users. To develop and illustrate our perspective, we turn to binge-watching as a prominent example of escapist entertainment use. We show exemplarily how escapist binge-watching can contribute to recovery from stress and close our chapter with reflections on how to further develop escapism research.

In recent years, the perspective on media use and its contribution to positive outcomes for its users has been expanded toward the media’s potential to facilitate recovery from stress and strain and to support the replenishment of physical and psychological resources. The accumulation of empirical findings in this area calls for a systematization and theoretical integration. The present chapter therefore reviews latest developments in recovery theory and systematically summarizes previous research on the effects of recreational media use. It then presents a new model, the recovery and resilience in entertaining media use model (R²EM-model), linking entertainment use to the short-term experience of recovery and to the contribution to long-term development of resilience-enhancing factors. The chapter concludes with a discussion of open questions and future challenges in this field of research.