The bittersweet escape to information technology: An investigation of the stress paradox of social network sites

New Perspective on Digital Well-Being by Distinguishing Digital Competency From Dependency: Network Approach

BACKGROUND

In the digital age, there is an emerging area of research focusing on digital well-being (DWB), yet conceptual frameworks of this novel construct are lacking. The current conceptualization either approaches the concept as the absence of digital ill-being, running the risk of pathologizing individual digital use, or follows the general subjective well-being framework, failing to highlight the complex digital nature at play.

OBJECTIVE

This preregistered study aimed to address this gap by using a network analysis, which examined the strength of the relationships among affective (digital stress and web-based hedonic well-being), cognitive (online intrinsic needs satisfaction), and social (online social connectedness and state empathy) dimensions of DWB and their associations with some major DWB protective and risk factors (ie, emotional regulation, nomophobia, digital literacy, self-control, problematic internet use, coping styles, and online risk exposure).

METHODS

The participants were 578 adults (mean age 38.7, SD 13.14 y; 277/578, 47.9% women) recruited from the United Kingdom and the United States who completed an online survey. Two network models were estimated. The first one assessed the relationships among multiple dimensions of DWB, and the second examined the relationships between DWB dimensions and related protective and risk factors.

RESULTS

The 2 resulting network structures demonstrated high stability, with the correlation stability coefficients being 0.67 for the first and 0.75 for the second regularized Gaussian graphical network models. The first network indicated that all DWB variables were positively related, except for digital stress, which was negatively correlated with the most central node-online intrinsic needs satisfaction. The second network revealed 2 distinct communities: digital competency and digital dependency. Emotional regulation emerged as the most central node with the highest bridge expected influence, positively associated with emotion-focused coping in the digital competency cluster and negatively associated with avoidant coping in the digital dependency cluster. In addition, some demographic differences were observed. Women scored higher on nomophobia (χ24=10.7; P=.03) and emotion-focused coping (χ24=14.9; P=.01), while men scored higher on digital literacy (χ24=15.2; P=.01). Compared with their older counterparts, younger individuals scored lower on both emotional regulation (Spearman ρ=0.27; P<.001) and digital self-control (Spearman ρ=0.35; P<.001) and higher on both digital stress (Spearman ρ=-0.14; P<.001) and problematic internet use (Spearman ρ=-0.25; P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The network analysis revealed how different aspects of DWB were interconnected, with the cognitive component being the most influential. Emotional regulation and adaptive coping strategies were pivotal in distinguishing digital competency from dependency.

Is using TikTok stressful? Exploring the longitudinal relationships between adolescents' self-concept clarity and digital stress

TikTok is a pervasive and controversial social media platform with a sizeable adolescent following. Using a two-wave longitudinal design spaced 3 months apart during the academic year (N = 328, 60.4% male, Mage = 16.99), we investigated how adolescents' self-concept clarity relates to approval anxiety, fear of missing out, and online vigilance as possible stressors experienced on TikTok. Results showed a negative bidirectional link between self-concept clarity and approval anxiety. We also found a negative unidirectional longitudinal association between self-concept clarity and fear of missing out (FoMO) and online vigilance, respectively. Last, we found that approval anxiety longitudinally fosters fear of missing out. These findings suggest that adolescents holding uncertain self-views are more likely to perceive TikTok as a stressful environment and that experiencing approval anxiety might be especially harmful for them.

Social network sites (SNS) an archetype of techno-social stress: A systematic review

Background

Social Networking Sites (SNS) are widely used platforms known for both their hedonic and social connectivity benefits. Although there is considerable interest in understanding how personal technostress affects individual well-being, a significant gap remains in the systematic exploration of this topic within the literature.

Methods

This review systematically examined 41 empirical studies from Scopus and PubMed published between 2014 and 2023, following PRISMA guidelines, and assessed for methodological quality using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool. Only English-language articles were considered to avoid translation complexities. Studies were categorized and coded using the Stressor-Strain-Outcome (SSO) model to examine demographic variations in stressor impacts and coping mechanisms.

Results

The findings reveal a complex interplay of technological, behavioral-technological, and social stressors. Technological complexities often exacerbate social stressors like FoMO (Fear of Missing Out) and social overload, resulting in psychological (e.g., anxiety, depression), behavioral (e.g., reduced engagement), and physical strains (e.g., sleep disruptions). Demographic factors significantly influence stress responses, with younger users and women particularly affected. Key intervention strategies identified include digital detox practices, mindfulness techniques, and user-centered SNS design modifications.

Conclusion

This review emphasizes the need for targeted approaches to mitigate SNS-induced technostress to foster balanced, health-oriented digital engagement. Future research should focus on developing comprehensive frameworks to address technostress impacts on diverse user groups better and support sustainable digital well-being practices.

Evaluation of Problematic Video Game Use in Adolescents with ADHD and without ADHD: New Evidence and Recommendations

Video game addiction among adolescents, particularly those with ADHD, is a significant concern. To gather more insights into video game usage patterns in this population, we investigated levels of potentially problematic use, passion, motivations, and emotional/behavioral symptoms in adolescents with and without ADHD. Our cross-sectional, multicenter study involved 2513 subjects (Age M = 15.07; SD = 2.82) from 24 schools in Galicia (Spain), including 158 (6.3%) diagnosed with ADHD. We employed an ad hoc questionnaire covering sociodemographic data and ADHD diagnosis, the Questionnaire of Experiences Associated with Video Games (CERV), the scale of passion for video games, reasons for playing video games Questionaire (VMQ), and emotional/behavioral problems assessment (SDQ). Results indicated heightened vulnerability in adolescents with ADHD, manifesting in longer usage durations and higher problematic use scores. Interestingly, ADHD medication did not affect internet gaming disorder development. Motivations for gaming differed between groups, with the ADHD cohort showing distinctions in cognitive development, coping, and violent reward. Additionally, the ADHD group exhibited greater emotional/behavioral symptoms, hyperactivity, and reduced prosocial behavior.

Two Sides of the Same Virtual Coin: Investigating Psychosocial Effects of Video Game Play, including Stress Relief Motivations as a Gateway to Problematic Video Game Usage

Video gamers can play to negate the psychological impact of stress, which may become problematic when users over-rely on the stress relief potential of gaming. This study used a repeated measures experimental design to investigate the relationships between stress, video gaming, and problematic video gaming behaviours in a convenience sample of 40 students at a UK university. The results indicated that positive affect increased and negative affect decreased, whilst a biological stress measure (instantaneous pulse rate) also decreased after a short video gaming session (t(36) = 4.82, p < 0.001, d = 0.79). The results also suggested that video gaming can act as a short-term buffer against the physiological impact of stress. Further research should focus on testing individuals who have been tested for gaming disorder, as opposed to the general population. Research could also utilise variations of the methodological framework used in this study to examine the intensity of a stress relief effect under different social situations. The study's findings in relation to published works are also discussed.

Technostress at work during the COVID-19 lockdown phase (2020-2021): a systematic review of the literature

Technostress is a psychosocial phenomenon associated with the use of technologies to the detriment of health, the same one that during the pandemic was accelerated in the work considering home confinement. This work aims to systematize the main research on the impact of technostress at work during the severe confinement stage of the pandemic, between the years 2020 and 2021, with the purpose of identify and evaluate its main determining factors. A systematic review of the literature was carried out during COVID-19, using the words "technostress work COVID-19." The works found focus mainly on analyzing the creators and inhibitors of technostress in workers, as well as the main consequences of the materialization of this technological risk associated with work performance during the stage of confinement by COVID-19. Techno invasion and techno overload were identified as the main techno stressors, with the main type of technostress appreciated in the literature being techno fatigue. Technostress is identified as a problem that had direct and relevant effects during the season of severe confinement and remote work at home due to COVID-19; highlighting techno fatigue as the most frequent type of stress, and techno stressors such as techno invasion and overload as the ones that presented the highest incidence.

Exploring the effects of social capital on the compulsive use of online social networks in civil unrest contexts

The use of online social networking sites has become part of everyday life for more than three billion people worldwide. However, its use may go beyond being a habit, leading to compulsive use behaviours that jeopardize the well-being of an individual and the whole society. This study proposes and evaluates a theoretical model that examines the four dimensions of social capital, mediated by bonding and bridging social capital, as drivers of compulsive use of online social networks in the context of civil unrest. We evaluate the model using partial least squares structural equation modelling with data collected from a developing country. We found that reciprocity is the most important driver for bonding and bridging social capital with online members. Whereas trust, contradicting most of the literature in the field, was not statistically significant over bonding and bridging social capital. Bonding social capital shows a significant association with compulsive use behaviour. On the other hand, the effect of bridging social capital on compulsive use behaviour, although not significant, may become significant in the presence of a strong usage habit.

Negative effects of enterprise social networks (ESNs) and technostress: empirical evidence from R&D centres operating in India

Purpose

Nowadays, technostress is a common problem for many organisations. The purpose of this research is to investigate the underlying mechanisms under which enterprise social networks (ESNs) leads to technostress and their consequences.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected data from 242 employees working in research and development (R&D) centres in India and analysed the data using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

The findings of the study contribute to the growing body of knowledge in “dark side of social media research” by researching the phenomenon of higher use of ESNs in organisations and the consequences while theoretically delineating the effect of social, hedonic and cognitive use of ESNs in organisations on technostress, thus extending prior research on adverse impact of social media and technostress research. The results revealed that both ESNs’ need and technostress is adversely related to mental health, performance and greater turnover intention, and perceived organisation support (POS) played a moderating role in this relationship such that with higher POS, employee turnover intention reduces. By uncovering the role of POS as a potential moderator, the findings provide empirical evidence for POS and technostress in organisations, thus offering practical implications for the ESNs strategists, managers and practitioners to develop ESNs’ usage policies to avoid adverse outcomes of technostress in organisations.

Research limitations/implications

This research advances theoretical understanding of the relationship between ESNs, technostress, mental health, performance and turnover” intention while contributing extensively to the technostress literature and to the scholarship of ESNs. In addition, by uncovering the role of perceived organisational support as a potential moderator, this study contributes to the existing literature on POS.

Practical implications

The empirically tested model delivered by this research will enable organisations to understand different excessive usage patterns of ESNs at work, which contribute to negative outcomes for organisations and employees. The findings support the maintenance of social life at work affecting better employee mental health, and the application of cognitive use of ESNs can reduce technostress. Hence, organisational strategies should implement employee policies and interventions that facilitate better work–social life and well-being, simultaneously encouraging usage of ESNs largely for work-related information transmission and sharing within the organisations.

Originality/value

This study constructed a moderated-mediation model by introducing the potential mediating effect of technostress, mental health and performance and the moderating effect of POS to reveal the mechanism through which ESNs related to technostress, mental health, performance and turnover intention in the Indian context.