Privacy, self-disclosure, social support, and social network site use : research report of a three-year panel study

This research report presents data from a study conducted in Germany based on a 3-year panel design. From October 2009 to April 2012, five waves of data collection were established. N = 327 participants from a convenience sample gave answers to questions regarding media use, privacy behaviors, well-being, social support, authenticity, and specific online experiences with a particular emphasis on social network sites (SNSs). It was found that across the 3 years of the study, people increasingly gained online social capital, developed a greater need for privacy, started to disclose more personal information online, and continually spent more time on SNSs. At the same time, people's willingness to disclose information in offline settings as well as their risk assessment of SNSs significantly decreased over time. Furthermore, frequent users of SNSs had more online social capital than less frequent users, disclosed more personal information online, knew more ways to restrict the access to their profiles, and were more authentic in their online profiles. People who had a higher need for privacy were less satisfied with their lives, less authentic in both their personal relationships and their online profiles, and generally showed more negative effects on different psychological variables. Respondents who had more online social capital also reported having more general positive affect and more offline social support. In the research report, further results are reported: Each variable is presented both individually and in context with other measures. The study is the first longitudinal study on online privacy and as such the first to be able to report mutual causalities between online experiences and privacy behaviors

Social Comparison on Social Media and Mental Health: A Scoping Review

Soziale Medien bieten ihren Nutzer*innen eine Vielzahl von Möglichkeiten zur Online-Selbstdarstellung und stellen somit ein optimales Umfeld für soziale Vergleiche dar. Mit zunehmender Beliebtheit sozialer Medien wächst in der Öffentlichkeit und in der Wissenschaft die Sorge über negative Auswirkungen sozialer Online-Vergleiche auf die psychische Gesundheit der Nutzer*innen. Die wissenschaftliche Forschung zu diesem Thema nimmt rapide zu, wodurch das Feld heterogener und schwieriger zu überblicken wird. Ziel dieses Scoping Reviews ist es daher, eine systematische Übersicht über das fragmentierte Forschungsfeld zu sozialen Vergleichen in sozialen Medien und psychischer Gesundheit zu bieten. Anhand vordefinierter Einschlusskriterien wurden 131 quantitative Studien systematisch identifiziert, um das Forschungsfeld zu kartieren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Zahl der Studien seit 2011 zugenommen hat und dass Erstautoren aus den Vereinigten Staaten und aus dem Fachbereich Psychologie die meisten Beiträge lieferten. In Bezug auf die untersuchten Vergleichsrichtungen, Vergleichsdimensionen und Indikatoren für psychische Gesundheit zeigen die Analysen, dass sich die Studien vor allem auf Aufwärtsvergleiche hinsichtlich verschiedener Vergleichsdimensionen sowie hedonisches Wohlbefinden konzentrierten, während Abwärtsvergleiche und andere Facetten der psychischen Gesundheit im Feld derzeit unterrepräsentiert sind.Social media offer their users a variety of opportunities for online self-presentation and thus represent an optimal environment for social comparisons. With the increasing popularity of social media, there is growing concern in public and scientific discourse about negative effects of online social comparisons on users' mental health. Research output on this topic is increasing rapidly, making the field more heterogeneous and difficult to oversee. This scoping review therefore aims to provide a systematic mapping of the fragmented research field on social media comparisons and mental health. Using predefined inclusion criteria, 131 quantitative studies were systematically identified to map the research field. The results showed that the number of studies has grown since 2011 and that first authors from the United States and Psychology departments were the main contributors. With regard to the comparison directions, comparison dimensions, and indicators of mental health examined, the analyses demonstrate that the studies primarily focused on upward comparisons on diverse dimensions and hedonic well-being, whereas downward comparisons and other facets of mental health are currently under-represented in the field

Why girls play: results of a qualitative interview study with female video game players

"Qualitative interviews with 7 female players were conducted to gather information on the motives and attitudes of female users of video and computer games. Participants were asked about the importance of different gratifications of game play, critical incidents that initiated their interest in games and their perceived competence in the use of computer technology. Special attention was paid to potential shortcomings of contemporary video and computer games in addressing female players specific needs and the question whether female users can identify with in-game characters of today's computer games. The results indicate that the motive to win is of minor importance for female players. Additionally, many interviewees reported a lack of support for their hobby, especially from same-sex friends. Identification with the avatar is an important component of the gaming experience for the female players in this study. At the same time, contemporary computer games that are often situated in primarily masculine contexts (e.g. war, competition) make it difficult for female users to identify with in-game characters." (author's abstract

Watching Online Videos At Work: The Role of Positive and Meaningful Affect for Recovery Experiences and Well-Being at the Workplace

This study extends research on the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment and its potential for recovery experiences and aspects of well-being (e.g., Rieger, Reinecke, Frischlich, & Bente, 2014). With the broad notion of what hedonic and eudaimonic media can entail, this research focused on unique affective experiences—namely, positive affect—and an expanded concept of meaningful affect (including elevation and gratitude). An online experiment with 148 full-time employees in the United States was conducted to investigate the unique role of positive and meaningful affect eliciting YouTube videos (compared to neutral control video) on recovery experiences and vitality and work satisfaction in the work context. A path model suggests that meaningful videos predicted mastery recovery experiences, whereas positive affect predicted psychological detachment and relaxation experiences. In addition, mastery recovery experiences predicted vitality, whereas relaxation experiences predicted satisfaction with work, indicating a unique potential of the consumption of meaningful and positive affect inducing YouTube videos at work for workplace well-being

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger? The Relationship between Cognitive Task Demands in Video Games and Recovery Experiences

Research has repeatedly demonstrated that the use of interactive media is associated with recovery experiences, suggesting that engaging with media can help people to alleviate stress and restore mental and physical resources. Video games, in particular, have been shown to fulfil various aspects of recovery, not least due to their ability to elicit feelings of mastery and control. However, little is known about the role of cognitive task demand (i.e., the amount of cognitive effort a task requires) in that process. Toward this end, our study aimed to investigate how cognitive task demand during gameplay affects users’ recovery experiences. Results of a laboratory experiment suggest that different dimensions of the recovery experiences seem to respond to different levels of cognitive task demand. While control experiences were highest under low cognitive task demand, there was no difference between groups regarding experiences of mastery and psychological detachment. Nevertheless, both gaming conditions outperformed the control condition regarding experiences of mastery and psychological detachment. Controlling for personal gaming experiences, relaxation was higher in the low cognitive task demand condition compared to the control condition. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for research on the multilayered recovery effects of interactive media

Outlining the way ahead in computational communication science: an introduction to the IJoC special section on „Computational Methods for Communication Science: Toward a Strategic Roadmap“

Over the past two decades, processes of digitalization and mediatization have shaped the communication landscape and have had a strong impact on various facets of communication. The digitalization of communication results in completely new forms of digital traces that make communication processes observable in new and unprecedented ways. Although many scholars in the social sciences acknowledge the chances and requirements of the digital revolution in communication, they are also facing fundamental challenges in implementing successful research programs, strategies, and designs that are based on computational methods and “big data.” This Special Section aims at bringing together seminal perspectives on challenges and chances of computational communication science (CCS). In this introduction, we highlight the impulses provided by the research presented in the Special Section, discuss the most pressing challenges in the context of CCS, and sketch a potential roadmap for future research in this field

Too much or too little messaging? Situational determinants of guilt about mobile messaging

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

Trapped between goal conflict and availability norm? How users’ mobile messaging behavior during task engagement influences negative self-conscious emotions

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

Normal Type Ia supernovae from violent mergers of white dwarf binaries

One of the most important questions regarding the progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is whether mergers of two white dwarfs can lead to explosions that reproduce observations of normal events. Here we present a fully three-dimensional simulation of a violent merger of two carbon-oxygen white dwarfs with masses of $0.9 \mathrm{M_\odot}$ and $1.1 \mathrm{M_\odot}$ combining very high resolution and exact initial conditions. A well-tested combination of codes is used to study the system. We start with the dynamical inspiral phase and follow the subsequent thermonuclear explosion under the plausible assumption that a detonation forms in the process of merging. We then perform detailed nucleosynthesis calculations and radiative transfer simulations to predict synthetic observables from the homologously expanding supernova ejecta. We find that synthetic color lightcurves of our merger, which produces about $0.62 \mathrm{M_\odot}$ of $^{56}\mathrm{Ni}$, show good agreement with those observed for normal SNe Ia in all wave bands from U to K. Line velocities in synthetic spectra around maximum light also agree well with observations. We conclude, that violent mergers of massive white dwarfs can closely resemble normal SNe Ia. Therefore, depending on the number of such massive systems available these mergers may contribute at least a small fraction to the observed population of normal SNe Ia.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The relationship between trait procrastination, Internet use, and psychological functioning : results from a community sample of German adolescents

Adolescents with a strong tendency for irrational task delay (i.e., high trait procrastination) may be particularly prone to use Internet applications simultaneously to other tasks (e.g., during homework) and in an insufficiently controlled fashion. Both Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet usage may thus amplify the negative mental health implications that have frequently been associated with trait procrastination. The present study explored this role of Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet use for the relationship between trait procrastination and impaired psychological functioning in a community sample of N = 818 early and middle adolescents. Results from multiple regression analyses indicate that trait procrastination was positively related to Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet use. Insufficiently controlled Internet use, but not Internet multitasking, was found to partially statistically mediate the association between trait procrastination and adolescents’ psychological functioning (i.e., stress, sleep quality, and relationship satisfaction with parents). The study underlines that adolescents with high levels of trait procrastination may have an increased risk for negative outcomes of insufficiently controlled Internet use