Research by Majid Altuwairiqi
For my second Impulse, I chose the research from Bournemouth University by Majid Altuwairiqi. Since I want to dive more into user emotions, and well-being while using devices, and social media, this research is a perfect way to start gaining more information about it.
Numerous studies revealed that social media addiction mirrors the symptoms of the usual addiction and contains the same elements: salience, tolerance, conflict, withdrawal, relapse, and mood modification. Additionally, this results in negative psychological experiences, such as anxiety, stress, etc.
When thinking about the usual addiction withdrawals, it is often something that we perceive as not that close to us (if we/our close circle don’t have the experience with it). Still, when we think about those from social media usage we can recognize not only someone close to us but also ourselves.
The author also states that when people are asked to spend less time on social media or online interactions, they start feeling more anxious even if they don’t have any clear purpose for that interaction. This is what I was already researching a little bit because to my mind, trying to avoid, spending less time by locking apps won’t solve the problem but will put the user into an anxious mode.
This research gave me more insights into studies and experiments, which were made for this topic as well as literature that I can use for my own research in the future. I also think that I would use this same research for my other blog post for my topic but will use it for a deeper understanding of psychological factors happening to the user while interacting with social media.
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