Cyberpsychology,Behavior,and Social Networking

Social media use has become an integral part of many young adults' daily lives. Although much research has examined how social media use relates to psychological well-being, little is known about how it relates to physical health. To address this knowledge gap, the present research investigated how the amount of social media people use relates to various indices of physical health. Young adults provided a blood sample that was analyzed for C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of chronic inflammation. They also completed self-report measures of social media use, somatic symptoms, illness-related physician or health center visits, and whether they sought medical care for infection-related illnesses in the last 3 months. Social media use was positively correlated with higher levels of CRP, more somatic symptoms, and more visits to the doctor or health centers for an illness. Although directionally consistent, the correlation with likelihood of seeking medical care for infection-related illnesses was nonsignificant (p = 0.061). All of these results held after controlling for factors such as sociodemographic information and depressive symptoms. Given the prevalence of social media use in daily life, these findings underscore the need for more research examining how social media use relates to physical health.

The recent recognition of Gaming Disorder (GD) as a mental health issue has provided a unique opportunity for researchers to advance our current understanding of the intricate relationships between GD and specific health-related factors and well-being. This study sought to investigate the role of key physical and psychological health and well-being factors in GD. To achieve this, three goals were explored. First, we tested whether GD can be predicted by health and well-being factors such as depression, anxiety, loneliness, attention problems, physical health problems (PHP), and psychological well-being (PWB). Second, we assessed the role of distress tolerance (DT) as a moderator in the relationship between PWB and GD. Third, we examined whether PWB would mediate the relationship between PHP and GD. A sample of 474 participants (Mean_age = 28.86 years; SD = 9.23; range: 18–66 years; 47 percent female) were recruited. The results of the multiple linear regression analysis indicated that age, attention problems, and PHP significantly predicted GD (R² = 0.15). In addition, the mediation findings uncovered an important direct association between PHP and GD despite the lack of mediation effects through PWB and the absence of moderating effects from DT. The present findings signify important health-related implications related to GD that are further discussed here in terms diagnosis, treatment, and prevention efforts.

Virtual reality (VR) has widely been implemented in a variety of industries, with immersive storytelling now gaining popularity in the field of journalism. In this regard, there are many important questions about which direction modern journalism should take as a whole. To test the feasibility of immersive storytelling, this study developed a cognitive experience model containing paths for presence, flow, credibility, empathy, understanding, and enjoyment. A total of 131 participants were divided into three groups and exposed to either VR, 360-degree videos, or two-dimensional (2D) videos, then asked to rate their experiences. With the exception of understanding, results showed that the VR and 360-degree videos were more highly evaluated in each path when compared with 2D videos. In this case, technical attributes did not greatly affect the study variables. However, presence played a vital role in news promotion, while flow was positively affected by presence; flow also affected other variables when combined with presence. Finally, a structural equation model was tested and the weights of the different influences on the enjoyment impact were presented. In sum, this study found that immersive storytelling improved both presence, flow, and credibility, which jointly and positively affected enjoyment. Understanding negatively affected enjoyment. Empathy had little effect on enjoyment in the model.

A growing number of sectors are delivering customer services powered by artificial intelligence (AI) instead of humans, with evidence indicating labor cost reduction and efficiency improvement. However, it would be worthwhile to examine the extent to which consumers are satisfied with AI service agents. In two studies based on an analysis of 17,673 Weibo data (Study 1) and 33 interviews (Study 2), we constructed a pair of theoretical models of consumer attitudes toward AI services: a sentiment model and an evaluation model. The results from Weibo data analysis showed that consumers display a stronger negative attitude toward AI customer service than toward their human counterparts. Complaints regarding AI customer service is mainly about its poor problem-solving ability, while untimely response and lack of human touch also dissatisfy customers. Whether consumers offer positive feedback mainly depends on voice traits and service attitudes. The results from the interviews confirm an overall negative attitude of consumers toward AI customer service. Consumers also recognize AI customer service agents as human like and social interaction stress relieving. Taken together, these findings reveal Chinese customers' attitudes toward AI service solutions and provide concrete suggestions for the development and upgrade of AI customer services.

The development of novel technologies has increasingly complicated the issue of users' privacy. This study aimed to investigate the impact that the types of information as well as agents have on perceptions of privacy risks and concerns. The results showed that participants perceived privacy risk and were most concerned when they were asked to provide digital life information, followed by being asked for digital footprint information, and even more so when they were asked to provide this information to a human agent instead of an artificial intelligence agent. However, there were no differences in the perception of privacy risks and concerns with respect to self-expression and demographic information. The implications of these findings are also discussed.

Viewing self-video during videoconferences potentially causes negative self-focused attention that contributes to virtual meeting (VM) or “Zoom” fatigue. The present research examines this proposition, focusing on facial dissatisfaction—feeling unhappy about one's own facial appearance—as a potential psychological mechanism of VM fatigue. A study of survey responses from a panel of 613 adults found that VM fatigue was 14.9 percent higher for women than for men, and 11.1 percent higher for Asian than for White participants. These gender and race/ethnicity differences were found to be mediated by facial dissatisfaction. This study replicates earlier VM fatigue research, extends the theoretical understanding of facial dissatisfaction as a psychological mechanism of VM fatigue, and suggests that practical approaches to mitigating VM fatigue could include implementing technological features that reduce self-focused attention during VMs (e.g., employing avatars).

Although some research has explored emerging adults' motives for using mobile dating applications, no studies have investigated motives for in-person (or offline) meetings with dating app matches. A sample of 267 U.S. college students completed an online survey, 138 of whom were dating app users and 80 of those had met at least one match in person. Contrary to the popular view that dating apps promote casual sex, love was the top motive for in-person meeting with matches. Our findings are consistent with the idea that dating apps are used to connect with others, not just for hookups.

This study investigated whether the degree of cybersickness varies depending on different virtual reality experience modes (playing vs. watching) and whether specific eye movement parameters reflect changes in cybersickness. Simulator Sickness Questionnaire results from 20 participants (10 playing and 10 watching) showed that cybersickness was much more severe in the watching mode, particularly during the second of the three total trials. Moreover, cybersickness' changing pattern was reflected in the center gaze ratio and scan-path length. These findings imply the importance of physiological measurements for a deeper understanding of cybersickness in theoretical and practical respects.

In response to calls for greater integration of research on the effects of visual images in the emotional and cognitive processing of health-related posts on Facebook, this study examined the questions of how gain-and-loss framed images, the valence of emoticon responses, and level of personal relevance of health topics contribute toward intentional engagement (e.g., sharing the posts) on Facebook. This study conducted a 2 (visual framing: gain vs. loss) × 2 (personal relevance of health topic: high vs. low) × 2 (emoticon valence: positive vs. negative) mixed-factorial experiment. A total of 187 college students were recruited to assess the impact of visual framing, personal relevance, and emoticon valence on sharing intention. Results showed that negative emoticons led to a higher intention to share health news posts than positive emoticons. Moreover, two parallel mediation models showed that (a) gain-framed images with high-relevance topics positively predicted perceived susceptibility but negatively predicted perceived severity that both positively impacted sharing intention; (b) loss-framed images with low-relevance topics positively predicted perceived severity but negatively predicted perceived susceptibility that both positively impacted the sharing intention. The implications regarding the contribution to the literature of visual framing and emotion on social media engagement and health communication are discussed.

Nomophobia (no-mobile-phone phobia) is a relatively new term that describes the growing fear and anxiety associated with being without a mobile phone. Our study aims to determine the prevalence of nomophobia among the undergraduate students of Pakistan, and to determine its correlation with age and gender. It also aims to determine the contributory factors of nomophobia. A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online survey from March 25 to April 25, 2021. The snowball sampling technique was used for data collection. The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) developed by Yildirim and Correia was circulated among the target population. It was a 7-point Likert Scale that was analyzed on the basis of age and gender using IBM SPSS version 22 and MS Excel 2007. The contributing factors were also analyzed. Of the 483 responses we received, 28 were discarded due to incompleteness and respondents being out of age under study that is, 15–25 years. Most of the respondents were women (n = 314, 69.01 percent). Men were less in number than women (n = 141, 31 percent). The ages of most of the respondents lied between 15 and 25 years. Twenty was the mode age. One hundred eighty-six (40.88 percent) had severe, 221 (48.57 percent) had moderate, and 48 (10.55 percent) had mild nomophobia. Average factor-wise scores and individual item scores were also added. Our findings reached a conclusion that the majority of the undergraduate students in Pakistan suffer from nomophobia ranging from its mild to severe form. Nomophobia can possibly be included as a recognized phobia in the DSM. Wider research on the subject to investigate it further and evaluate the clinical significance should be done.