Social media disorder during community quarantine: A mixed methods study among rural young college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Online Behavioral Addictions Among Adolescents Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background The COVID-19 pandemic changed people's lives and created a "new normal." It threatened individuals' mental health owing to reduced physical activity and social interaction, excessive indoor time, financial hardship, and insecurity. Moreover, the risk of online behavioral addiction increased in the general population, particularly among adolescents. The present study examined the differences between the pre-and post-pandemic periods regarding online behavioral addictions in adolescents. Methods The pre-pandemic data were obtained from 175 adolescents (August 2019 to February 2020) (T1). An online survey was sent to these participants to obtain the post-pandemic data (March to September 2022) (T2). Seventy participants completed the online survey (response rate: 40%). The participants completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale 9-Short Form (IGDS9-SF), and the Social Media Disorder Scale-Short Form (SMDS-SF) both before and after the pandemic. Results  Before the pandemic, females had significantly higher SMDS-SF scores compared to males (p = 0.005). On the other hand, males had higher IGDS9-SF scores than females before the pandemic (p<.001). Individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) had higher IGDS9-SF scores before the pandemic than those with depressive disorders or other diagnoses (p = 0.004). However, the primary diagnosis was not related to pre-pandemic SAS and SMDS-SF scores. Lastly, there was no significant difference in IGDS9-SF (p = 0.151), SMDS-SF (p = 0.200), or SAS scores (p = 0.413) between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic scores. Conclusion Although the current study did not support this view, in emotionally challenging times, people may spend more time on online activities, which can lead to behavioral addiction. It is important for parents to monitor their children's online activities and provide guidance. More research is needed to compare online behavioral addictions before and after the pandemic.

Perceived Information Overload and Intention to Discontinue Use of Short-Form Video: The Mediating Roles of Cognitive and Psychological Factors

The current study investigated the effects of Chinese young adult users' perceived information overload (i.e., the daily perception of exposure to excessive information) on their intention to stop using short-form video applications. Specifically, this study accomplished this by measuring the direct and indirect effects of social media fatigue, maladaptive coping, and life dissatisfaction in relation to users' intention to discontinue their use of short-form video applications. The data were collected using a web-based survey and validated questionnaire, with a sample of 340 young adult (18-26 years old) respondents. The results indicated that perceived information overload had a direct effect on the intention to discontinue the use of short-form video applications. Moreover, short-form video fatigue, maladaptive coping, and life dissatisfaction all played mediating roles in the relationship between perceived information overload and the intention to discontinue the use of short-form video applications among young adults in China.

Association between desire thinking and problematic social media use among a sample of Lebanese adults: The indirect effect of suppression and impulsivity

BACKGROUND

Desire thinking, impulsivity and suppression are psychological variables that are intricately related to behavioral addictions. Bearing in mind the scarcity of data on desire thinking, impulsivity, thought suppression and pathological social media use in developing countries such as Lebanon, with the existing literature suggesting a heightened mental health burden associated with this problematic social media use, it becomes all the more important to elucidate their relationship. Our study aims at investigating the association between desire thinking and problematic social media use specifically, and to further test the effect of impulsivity and thought suppression in mediating the relation between the two distinct facets of desire thinking and problematic social media use.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was carried out between November 2021 and March 2022 using a sample of 414 community-dwelling participants aged above 18 years from all Lebanese districts. The data was collected through an online questionnaire including a section about sociodemographic information, the Desire Thinking Questionnaire (DTQ), Impulsive Behavior Scale (S-UPPS-P), White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI) and Social Media Disorder Short Form (SMD). The tests used in the bivariate analysis to assess correlates of SMD were the Student t test to compare two means and the Pearson test to correlate two continuous scores. The PROCESS SPSS Macro version 3.4, model four was used to conduct the mediation analysis.

RESULTS

Desire thinking was shown to correlate with increased social media use. Moreover, we found that suppression and lack of premeditation mediated the association between verbal perseveration and social media use disorder whereas suppression and urgency mediated the association between imaginal prefiguration and social media use disorder.

CONCLUSION

This study provides new insight on a topic of increasing public health concern. Although understudied to date, suppression and impulsivity differentially mediate the influence of both facets of desire thinking on problematic social media use disorder. The current findings point to the highly pervasive issue of social media use disorder and the need to investigate underlying psychological factors that aggravate it to better profile and support individuals struggling with it.