Trajectories of digital flourishing in adolescence: The predictive roles of developmental changes and digital divide factors

Digital flourishing refers to the positive perceptions of digital communication use in five dimensions: connectedness, positive social comparison, authentic self-presentation, civil participation, and self-control. This three-wave panel study among 1081 Slovenian adolescents (Mage = 15.34 years, 53.8% boys, 80.7% ethnic majority) explored the trajectories of their digital flourishing dimensions over 1 year (2021-2022). Latent class growth analysis identified two classes. Adolescents in the first class reported high levels of digital flourishing, which remained stable over time, whereas those in the second class reported low levels of digital flourishing with decreased self-control over time. Autonomy-supportive restrictive, autonomy-supportive active, and controlling active parental mediation styles, together with high parental digital skills, predicted adolescents' belongingness to the (more digitally flourishing) first class.

Adolescent ambivalence about diabetes technology-The Janus faces of automated care

The Janus face metaphor approach highlights that a technology may simultaneously have two opposite faces or properties with unforeseen paradoxes within human-technology interaction. Suboptimal acceptance and clinical outcomes are sometimes seen in adolescents who use diabetes-related technologies. A traditional linear techno-determinist model of technology use would ascribe these unintended outcomes to suboptimal technology, suboptimal patient behavior, or suboptimal outcome measures. This paradigm has demonstratively not been successful at universally improving clinical outcomes over the last two decades. Alternatively, the Janus face metaphor moves away from a linear techno-determinist model and focuses on the dynamic interaction of the human condition and technology. Specifically, it can be used to understand variance in adoption or successful use of diabetes-related technology and to retrospectively understand suboptimal outcomes. The Janus face metaphor also allows for a prospective exploration of potential impacts of diabetes-related technology by patients, families, and their doctors so as to anticipate and minimize potential subsequent tensions.

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Internet Addiction: A Case Study of Vietnamese Students

Internet addiction has attracted significant attention due to its adverse effects on humans, especially young people. This study is aimed at investigating the impact of emotional intelligence on Internet addiction. Data was collected from 744 Vietnamese students in Vietnam. SPSS 20.0 software was used for descriptive statistics, reliability testing, factor analysis, and regression. The empirical results showed that emotional intelligence had a negative influence on Internet addiction. Specifically, the components self-emotion appraisal (SEA), others’ emotion appraisal (OEA), and regulation of emotion (ROE) significantly affected Internet addiction. However, the effect of the component use of emotion (UOE) on Internet addiction was not found to be statistically significant. Overall, the results of the study indicate that improving emotional intelligence may reduce the extent of Internet addiction among Vietnamese students.

Predicting Patterns of Problematic Smartphone Use among University Students: A Latent Class Analysis

University students are consistently ranked among the highest users of smartphones. As such, recent research has focused on examining the antecedents and consequences of problematic smartphone use among university students. While this work has been instrumental to our understanding of the risk and protective factors of developing problematic smartphone use, it has been largely variable-centered and thus fails to recognize the diversity with which problematic smartphone use is experienced among university students. As such, this study employed a person-centered approach (i.e., latent class analysis) to classify individuals based on patterns of problematic smartphone use feature/symptom cooccurrence among a sample of 403 Canadian university students. The relationships between these subgroups (or classes) and potential covariates (i.e., self-regulation, attachment anxiety, and attachment avoidance) were then examined to gain a more complete understanding of university students’ experiences of problematic smartphone use. Three classes of problematic smartphone use were identified: (1) “connected” displaying the features/symptoms of problematic smartphone use associated with being constantly connected to smartphones; (2) “problematic” displaying all of the features/symptoms of problematic smartphone use; (3) “distracted” displaying the features/symptoms associated with being distracted by smartphones. Findings indicate that attachment anxiety and avoidance were significantly associated with membership in the most pathological (i.e., “problematic”) class, suggesting that this may be an especially important risk factor for developing problematic smartphone use among university students. Moreover, self-regulation was significantly related to membership in the least pathological class (i.e., “connected”) suggesting that this may function as an important protective factor in developing more concerning patterns of problematic smartphone use. Findings from this work provide empirical evidence of a heterogeneity in patterns of problematic smartphone use associated with distinct individual-level risk factors. This has important implications for conceptualizations of problematic smartphone use and the development of intervention and prevention efforts.

Development and Validation of the Social Media Capital Scale (SMC): A Brand New Measure for Online Social Capital

We conducted a series of studies in order to develop a tool to assess social media capital, that is, more specifically, individual confidence in the use of social media sites and in their application to maintain and increase social capital. In our first study, we created the social media capital (SMC) scale by adapting parts of two already existing instruments and administered it to 6935 people to test its psychometric properties and dimensionality. After having validated the SMC in its final 7-item form, we proceeded to assess its external validity in two subsequent studies, by testing it against measures for Internet self-efficacy (study 2; $n=3100$ ) and motives to use the Internet and social media addiction (study 3; $n=244$ ). Overall, the SMC displayed satisfactory psychometric properties and appears to be a sound measure of social media capital.

Mindfulness-Based Student Training Improves Vascular Variability Associated With Sustained Reductions in Physiological Stress Response

In today's fast-paced society, chronic stress has become an increasing problem, as it can lead to psycho-physiological health problems. University students are also faced with stress due to the demands of many courses and exams. The positive effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on stress management and self-regulation have already been studied. We have developed a new mindfulness intervention tailored for students—the Mindfulness-Based Student Training (MBST). In this study, we present longitudinal results of the MBST evaluation. Biosignal analysis methods, including pulse wave variability (PWV), heart rate variability, and respiratory activity, were used to assess participants' state of autonomic regulation during the 12-week intervention and at follow-up. The progress of the intervention group (IGR, N = 31) up to 3 months after the end of MBST was compared with that of a control group (CON, N = 34). In addition, the long-term effect for IGR up to 1 year after intervention was examined. The analysis showed significant positive changes in PWV exclusively for IGR. This positive effect, particularly on vascular function, persists 1 year after the end of MBST. These results suggest a physiologically reduced stress level in MBST participants and a beneficial preventive health care program for University students.

Phoning It in: Social Anxiety, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Anxiety Reduction Motivations Predict Phone Use in Social Situations

Based on meta-analysis, a strong link between social anxiety and phone use has been established in the literature, but the underlying mechanisms of why social anxiety might cause people to use their phones are poorly understood. Intolerance of uncertainty is a transdiagnostic factor of many anxiety disorders and may help explain why socially anxious people tend to use their mobile phones as a tool to cope with, or distract from, inherently ambiguous social interactions. This nonexperimental, correlational study had four core aims: to examine whether increases in social anxiety would relate to (1) increased phone usage during social interactions in groups or (2) phone dependency; to examine whether intolerance of uncertainty and motivation of phone use mediated either of these relationships. To test these models, an opportunity sample of 252 participants completed a series of online questionnaires containing measures of social anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, and phone usage. Correlational analysis of results showed increased phone dependency and phone use in social groups for people with high social anxiety. Serial mediation analysis showed that people who were more socially anxious also reported higher levels of intolerance of uncertainty, greater motives to use phones to reduce anxiety, and higher phone use. We discuss these results with specific reference to compensatory internet use theory. In sum, it appears that for people with social anxiety, phone use in social situations tends to be motivated by reducing anxiety.

Factors Affecting Adoption of Online Community Water User Participation

Social networks are the most extensively utilized online virtual communities. It is a technology platform that is currently used to interact with other members of any virtual online community, including preserving social ties. This study is aimed at determining the elements that influence the participation of water users in the online community. It suggests combining the commitment-trust theory with the technology acceptance model (TAM) to include stakeholders, social networks, and transparency about content and user perceptions to better understand the elements that influence the online community and user participation. A questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale was issued to 1,000 community water consumers, and the researcher received 627 valid responses. Data were collected using a basic random sampling technique with a sampling ratio of 14 villages. Subsequently, descriptive statistics characterize the data (frequency distributions, percentages, averages, medians, and standard deviations). Furthermore, PLS-SEM was utilized to study the interactions between variables and launch the conceptual model via partial least square (PLS) path modeling. This study reveals that community water user engagement is founded on a commitment-trust paradigm that acts as an effective role model for community participation behavior. The results and consequences are discussed at length in the discussion section, which offers valuable recommendations. This article discusses overcoming ethical divisions in community water management through increased communication between customers and community water management teams using social media networks. Additionally, several elements contribute to the monitoring and supervision advancement, boosting the openness of community water management.

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): The Effects of the Need to Belong, Perceived Centrality, and Fear of Social Exclusion

“Fear of Missing Out” (FOMO) is an all-consuming feeling that is associated with mental and emotional stress. Such strains are caused by a compulsive concern that one is missing an opportunity for a socially rewarding experience often spotted on social media networks. While several personality and psychological factors have been empirically validated as correlated with FOMO, so far, little research has examined the effects of perceived group centrality (i.e., the extent to which group members feel included in the group) and fear of social exclusion on FOMO. Therefore, this study is aimed at examining the mechanism that links these socially driven factors and the need to belong with social media use and, consequently, FOMO, using structural equation modeling. A total of 490 college students ( $\text{mean}\text{age}=20.56,\text{SD}=1.44$ ) completed a self-reported questionnaire that included measures of FOMO, the need to belong, social media use, perceived centrality, and fear of social exclusion. The need to belong emerged as the best predictor of FOMO, increasing it both directly and indirectly through the significant mediation of social media use. Females reported a greater need to belong and consequently more FOMO. Females also reported greater use of social media and greater perceived group centrality. Perceived centrality increased FOMO through social media use, but this indirect effect was not significant.

"I'll use it differently now": using dual-systems theory to explore youth engagement with networked technologies

OBJECTIVES

Many young Canadians experience high levels of networked connectivity, which some suggest may negatively impact their health. Adult monitoring has not been shown to be an effective long-term strategy for supporting young people in healthy engagement with tech. In this study, we explore the benefits of empowering young people to set healthy goals and monitor themselves. We engage with Shapka's (2019) critique of dual-systems theory, and consider the relationship between the neurological and behavioural systems in relation to adolescent internet use.

METHODS

Using a youth participatory action research approach, we co-designed a project with six adolescents to explore the ways that their use of networked technologies was affecting their lives by disconnecting and observing how the lack of networked connectivity changed their experiences. The youth used a media diary to track their use of devices both before and after disconnecting.

RESULTS

The main benefit of disconnecting appeared to be having the opportunity to reflect on one's own use of networked devices. This enabled the participants to reconnect in a more intentional way. Findings support Shapka's speculation that dual-systems theory, with a focus on regulation, may not be the most useful way of supporting adolescents in developing healthy habits around their wired tech.

CONCLUSION

Adolescent experiences of networked technologies are complex, yet they are able to navigate this landscape with intelligent strategies. Their self-directed exploration of disconnection helped them to become reflexive practitioners who were able to revisit their use of networked technologies with new insights and self-control.