The Predictive Utility of Reward-Based Motives Underlying Excessive and Problematic Social Networking Site Use

Gratification and its associations with problematic internet use: A systematic review and meta-analysis using Use and Gratification theory

Problematic Internet Use (PIU) has been a growing issue for two decades, and many researchers have sought to explain its occurrence. Use and Gratification Theory (UGT) has guided empirical studies investigating the associations between gratification and PIU. However, their results appear equivocal. This study aimed to synthesize research findings applying UGT and pinpoint the associations between different gratifications and PIU. Effect sizes were pooled to obtain an overall effect size. Gratifications were then classified into four types (i.e., content, social, self-presentation, and process) according to the suggestions of previous studies and the measurement of included studies. Based on 216 effect sizes from 57 samples with 38,492 participants (mean age = 24.3; 55.1 % female), random effect model analyses yielded a medium effect size (r = 0.303, p <.001, 95 % CI [0.263, 0.343]), indicating a positive association between general gratification and PIU. Subgroup analyses revealed that all four gratifications were positively associated with PIU; self-presentation showed the largest effect size, followed by process gratification.This study enhances the conceptual relevance of UGT in understanding PIU and highlights the importance of process and self-presentation gratification as predictors for PIU in certain contexts, such as among university students and in Asian countries.

Restricting social networking site use for one week produces varied effects on mood but does not increase explicit or implicit desires to use SNSs: Findings from an ecological momentary assessment study

Recent research on the addictive potential of modern technologies such as the internet, smartphones, or social networking sites (SNSs) has suggested that emotional and motivational changes associated with the sudden discontinuation of engagement with the technology mirror the aversive consequences seen when drug use is ceased abruptly. This has been observed even in moderate users and interpreted as a manifestation of withdrawal, an important marker of physical dependence in substance use disorders. On the other hand, a growing literature emphasises the positive effects of "digital detox" on mental health and well-being. Using a battery of affective and motivational measures, both explicit and implicit, the present study tracked the effects of a week of significantly reduced SNS use in moderate to heavy SNS users (N = 51). Our pre-registered analyses showed that the intervention elicited affective changes neither consistent with a general withdrawal syndrome (i.e., increased negative affect and cravings) nor with a general beneficial effect on well-being: While our data indicated some abstinence-related decreases of negative affect and boredom, they also showed a reduction of positive affect. These changes occurred regardless of problematic/addictive use behaviours. Importantly, restricting SNS use for one week had no effect on implicit measures of SNS use motivation (i.e., approach biases, time distortion and effort expenditure for SNS access) nor did it influence explicit cravings and SNS cue-reactivity. Together our findings suggest that restricting SNS use has nuanced and potentially offsetting effects on well-being. These could arise because use reduction may concurrently remove experiences that trigger negative emotions (e.g., upward social comparisons or Fear of Missing Out) but also those that elicit positive emotions (e.g., social approval). The hypothesised lack of a net effect on well-being would be consistent with our finding that voluntary reduction of SNS use does not mitigate or exacerbate SNS-related urges.

Vulnerable Narcissism and Problematic Social Networking Sites Use: Focusing the Lens on Specific Motivations for Social Networking Sites Use

Research highlighted that Problematic Social Networking Sites Use (PSNSU) and vulnerable narcissism are associated. However, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are still unclear. The present study aimed to test the mediating role of motives for social networking sites (SNSs) use between vulnerable narcissism and five symptoms of PSNSU (i.e., preference for online social interactions, mood regulation, cognitive preoccupation, compulsive use, and negative outcomes) in a sole model. Self-report questionnaires were completed by 344 SNSs users in the age range of 18–30 years (76.5% females; mean age = 23.80 years, standard deviation = 2.30 years). Vulnerable narcissism, three motives to use SNSs (coping, conformity, enhancement), and symptoms of PSNSU were assessed. Structural equation modeling was used to test for mediation. The results indicate that both motives with positive (i.e., enhancement) and negative (i.e., coping and conformity) valence partially mediated the association between vulnerable narcissism and different symptoms of PSNSU. We conclude that individuals with vulnerable narcissism may develop PSNSU not only as a compensatory strategy to cope with psychosocial difficulties but also as a result of a gratification-seeking process.

The experience of gratification and compensation in addictive behaviors: How can these experiences be measured systematically within and across disorders due to addictive behaviors?

BACKGROUND

Beyond gaming disorder and gambling disorder, pornography-use disorder, buying-shopping disorder, and social-networksuse disorders are discussed as further disorders due to addictive behaviors. For addictive behaviors, it is assumed that the experience of gratification and the experience of compensation due to the specific behavior represent reinforcing processes involved in the development and maintenance of the problematic behaviors. We aimed to develop two questionnaires that capture the experienced gratification and experienced compensation while using online activities. We additionally assume significant relationships with further addiction-related constructs such as symptom severity, use expectancies, and craving experiences.

METHODS

We conducted three studies for the development of the "Experience of Gratification Scale" (EGS) and the "Experience of Compensation Scale" (ECS). In each study, participants answered the questionnaires modified for their preferred online activity (gaming, gambling, buying-shopping, social-networks use, pornography use). Additional questionnaires were used, assessing further addiction-related constructs.

RESULTS

The results of the gradual approach by using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated for both scales a two-factor solution resulting in "gratification of needs" and "experience of pleasure" for the EGS, and "compensation of needs" and "experience of relief from negative feelings" for the ECS. The factors were significantly correlated with each other as well as with craving experiences, use expectancies, and symptom severity. Moreover, we found significant differences in the experienced gratification and experienced compensation for specific online behaviors.

CONCLUSION

The theoretically plausible specific factors for experienced gratification and experienced compensation could be identified and were related to constructs considered important in addictive online behaviors. Further studies should investigate the relevance of these constructs for different types of addictive behaviors, but also within the addiction process addressing specific needs and motives as well as further positive and negative reinforcement mechanisms.

Problematic Social Networking Site use-effects on mental health and the brain

The association between excessive use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) and mental health is raising serious concern among health and education professionals. Problematic SNS use has been associated with an increased rate of depression, anxiety, stress, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and propensity to excessive alcohol use. It may also lead to vulnerability to aggression, cyberbullying and fear of missing out (FOMO). There is little evidence for cognitive impairments, but there is some preliminary event-related potentials (ERPs) evidence for inefficiency in allocating and monitoring resources and inhibitory control. Problematic SNS has been associated with the personality traits of conscientiousness agreeableness and neuroticism, and with narcissism. There is evidence for reduced sleep quality and quantity, longer sleeping latency and more sleep disturbance. The few brain imaging studies show some similarity between problematic SNS use and other addictions related to inhibitory-control mechanism, reduced gray matter volumes in the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and the insula, suggesting rewarding effects of SNS use on the brain. Finally, there is preliminary evidence that treatment with Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) can assist in short-term abstinence intervention to treat problematic SNS use. We conclude that problematic SNS use may have deleterious effects on emotional and social relationships, and more research is required on its effects on cognitive and brain function.

Detours increase local knowledge-Exploring the hidden benefits of self-control failure

Self-control enables people to override momentary thoughts, emotions, or impulses in order to pursue long-term goals. Good self-control is a predictor for health, success, and subjective well-being, as bad self-control is for the opposite. Therefore, the question arises why evolution has not endowed us with perfect self-control. In this article, we draw some attention to the hidden benefits of self-control failure and present a new experimental paradigm that captures both costs and benefits of self-control failure. In an experiment, participants worked on three consecutive tasks: 1) In a transcription task, we manipulated how much effortful self-control two groups of participants had to exert. 2) In a number-comparison task, participants of both groups were asked to compare numbers and ignore distracting neutral versus reward-related pictures. 3) After a pause for recreation, participants were confronted with an unannounced recognition task measuring whether they had incidentally encoded the distracting pictures during the previous number-comparison task. The results showed that participants who exerted a high amount of effortful self-control during the first task shifted their priorities and attention toward the distractors during the second self-control demanding task: The cost of self-control failure was reflected in worse performance in the number-comparison task. Moreover, the group which had exerted a high amount of self-control during the first task and showed self-control failure during the second task was better in the unannounced third task. The benefit of self-control failure during number comparison was reflected in better performance during the recognition task. However, costs and benefits were not specific for reward-related distractors but also occurred with neutral pictures. We propose that the hidden benefit of self-control failure lies in the exploration of distractors present during goal pursuit, i.e. the collection of information about the environment and the potential discovery of new sources of reward. Detours increase local knowledge.