Turbulence, Turmoil, and Termination: The Dark Side of Social Networking Sites for Romantic Relationships

Excerpt: Social networking websites (SNSs) have become an integral medium for communicating within and about interpersonal relationships (boyd & Ellison, 2008; Stafford & Hillyer, 2012). SNSs have been lauded for their ability to unite distal friends, maintain relational ties, facilitate relationship development, and promote social capital (e.g., Ellison, Vitak, Gray, & Lampe, 2014; Fox, Warber, & Makstaller, 2013; McEwan, 2013). Although considerable research has elected to focus on the benefits of using SNSs, it is also important to examine the dark side of computer-mediated communication (DeAndrea, Tong, & Walther, 2011). For example, SNS use has been tied to decreases in psychological well-being (Chen & Lee, 2013), and scholars have noted negative psychological outcomes when users experience rejection on SNSs (e.g., Bevan, Ang, & Fearns, 2014; Tokunaga, 2011a, 2014)

Regrets, I\u27ve Had a Few: When Regretful Experiences Do (and Don\u27t) Compel Users to Leave Facebook

Previous work has explored regretful experiences on social media. In parallel, scholars have examined how people do not use social media. This paper aims to synthesize these two research areas and asks: Do regretful experiences on social media influence people to (consider) not using social media? How might this influence differ for different sorts of regretful experiences? We adopted a mixed methods approach, combining topic modeling, logistic regressions, and contingency analysis to analyze data from a web survey with a demographically representative sample of US internet users (n=515) focusing on their Facebook use. We found that experiences that arise because of users\u27 own actions influence actual deactivation of their Facebook account, while experiences that arise because of others\u27 actions lead to considerations of non-use. We discuss the implications of these findings for two theoretical areas of interest in HCI: individual agency in social media use and the networked dimensions of privacy

A LITERATURE ANALYSIS ABOUT SOCIAL INFORMATION CONTRIBUTION AND CONSUMPTION ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Social networking sites (SNSs) have emerged as a center for daily social interactions. Every day, millions of users contribute information about themselves, and consume information about others on SNSs. In recent years, we have witnessed a growing number of studies on the issue of social information contribution and consumption behaviors on SNSs. This paper aims to provide a systematic literature review on this topic across different disciplines to understand the current research state and shed light on controversial findings of SNS usage regarding users’ well-being. We identified 126 relevant articles published between 2008 and 2014, and provide an overview of their antecedents and associated outcomes. Our analysis reveals that a majority of existing work focused primarily on social information contribution, its antecedents and favorable outcomes. Only few studies have dealt with contribution behavior and the dark sides of SNS use. Nevertheless, we could identify different characteristics of social information determining the favorability of contribution behavior. Further, we categorized the scarce papers of consumption behavior regarding the social information characteristics and identified different underlying processes: social comparison, monitoring and browsing. These findings contribute to the Information Systems (IS) discipline by consolidating previous knowledge about SNS usage patterns and individual well-being

“We Were Not Prepared to Tell People Yet”: Confidentiality Breaches and Boundary Turbulence on Facebook

Communication Privacy Management theory provides a framework for investigating confidentiality breaches that occur on Facebook. Open-ended online questionnaires served as mechanism for collecting data about privacy violations and the resulting boundary turbulence. Privacy violations validated three a priori categories (Petronio & Reierson, 2009) of confidentiality breaches (privacy ownership violations, discrepancy breaches of privacy, and pre-emptive privacy control). Findings indicated that the lack of established explicit privacy rules led to privacy violations and boundary turbulence. Results also provided insight regarding motivations of privacy violations, reactions to privacy violations, and the role of privacy rules in the violation

Everyday Life and Everyday Communication in Coronavirus Capitalism

In 2020, the coronavirus crisis ruptured societies and their everyday life around the globe. This article is a contribution to critically theorising the changes societies have undergone in the light of the coronavirus crisis. It asks: How have everyday life and everyday communication changed in the coronavirus crisis? How does capitalism shape everyday life and everyday communication during this crisis? Section 2 focuses on how social space, everyday life, and everyday communication have changed in the coronavirus crisis. Section 3 focuses on the communication of ideology in the context of coronavirus by analysing the communication of coronavirus conspiracy stories and false coronavirus news. The coronavirus crisis is an existential crisis of humanity and society. It radically confronts humans with death and the fear of death. This collective experience can on the one hand result in new forms of solidarity and socialism or can on the other hand, if ideology and the far-right prevail, advance war and fascism. Political action and political economy are decisive factors in such a profound crisis that shatters society and everyday life

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but Words Will Never Hurt Me...Until I See Them: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Trolls in Relation to the Gricean Maxims and (IM)Polite Virtual Speech Acts

The troll is one of the most obtrusive and disruptive bad actors on the internet. Unlike other bad actors, the troll interacts on a more personal and intimate level with other internet users. Social media platforms, online communities, comment boards, and chatroom forums provide them with this opportunity. What distinguishes these social provocateurs from other bad actors are their virtual speech acts and online behaviors. These acts aim to incite anger, shame, or frustration in others through the weaponization of words, phrases, and other rhetoric. Online trolls come in all forms and use various speech tactics to insult and demean their target audiences. The goal of this research is to investigate trolls\u27 virtual speech acts and the impact of troll-like behaviors on online communities. Using Gricean maxims and politeness theory, this study seeks to identify common vernacular, word usage, and other language behaviors that trolls use to divert the conversation, insult others, and possibly affect fellow internet users’ mental health and well-being

Cyber Pox: A Look at Female Adolescent Cyber Bullying

Bullying can be verbal, physical, or virtual. Researchers and the media have increasingly publicized negative consequences of electronic bullying in schools. The complexity of cyber bullying presents even more diffi cult issues than schoolyard bullying. Combating the bully, assisting the victim, and empowering the bystander are constant challenges for school counselors and school personnel. This article discusses aspects of cyber bullying and presents some prevention and intervention strategies for school counselors and parents

The Role of Online Communities in Vaccine Controversies

Vaccines play a key role in public health intervention, contributing to dramatic declines in morbidity and mortality rates. While medical knowledge delivery has been traditionally made by physicians (traditionally considered the best source of credible knowledge), patients can now widely access scientific and non-scientific information resources. There has been considerable research on knowledge delivery. However, we currently know little about healthcare knowledge delivery in online communities. In this research, we draw on material-discursive practices to conduct a qualitative study on knowledge delivery, with a focus on pro- and anti-vaccination movements. Our findings show that as knowledge delivery practices in offline settings and in online communities have different materializations, they can influence each other via their performative outcomes. We created a timeline to show important events regarding the influence of offline and online knowledge delivery practices on each other. We finally highlight the study contributions for research and practice

Developing the cyber victimisation experiences and cyber bullying behaviours scales

The reported prevalence rates of cyber victimisation experiences and cyber bullying behaviours vary. Part of this variation is likely due to the diverse definitions and operationalisations of the constructs adopted in previous research and the lack of psychometrically robust measures. Through two studies, the current research developed (Study 1) and evaluated (Study 2) the cyber victimisation experiences and cyber bullying behaviours scales. In Study 1 393 (122 male, 171 female), and in Study 2 345 (153 male and 192 female), 11- to 15-year-olds completed measures of cyber victimisation experiences, cyber bullying behaviours, face-to-face victimisation experiences, face-to-face bullying behaviours, and social desirability. The three factor cyber victimisation experiences scale comprised: threat, shared images, and personal attack. The three factor cyber bullying behaviours scale comprised: sharing images, gossip, and personal attack. Both scales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and convergent validity

The social and cultural psychology of honour: What have we learned from researching honour in Turkey?

A growing literature in social and cultural psychology has examined cultures of honour primarily focusing on southern states in the US and on Mediterranean countries of southern Europe. In this article, we review a programme of research that has extended theories of cultures of honour to an under-researched context: Turkey. We first describe research that assessed lay reports of the situations that enhance or attack a person’s honour and lay prototypes of honour. Next, we review research that built on this foundation and examined emotional implications, actual retaliatory responses, and preferences for different types of actions (e.g., attack vs. withdrawal) in the face of honour threats. We then briefly comment on our current research focused on the ways that honour threats can impede goal pursuit, on the distinction between different types of honour threats, and on acculturation processes in immigrant groups from cultures of honour. We conclude by highlighting the contributions of this programme of research to the literature on cultures of honour and discuss future directions. (167 words