The relationship between online vigilance and affective well-being in everyday life: Combining smartphone logging with experience sampling

Johannes N, Meier A, Reinecke L, Ehlert S, Setiawan DN, Walasek N, Dienlin T, Buijzen M, Veling H (2021)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Media Psychology Taylor & Francis (Routledge)

Book Volume: 24

Pages Range: 581-605

Journal Issue: 5

DOI: 10.1080/15213269.2020.1768122

Open Access Link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15213269.2020.1768122

Abstract

Through communication technology, users find themselves constantly connected to others to such an extent that they routinely develop a mind-set of connectedness. This mind-set has been defined as online vigilance. Although there is a large body of research on media use and well-being, the question of how online vigilance impacts well-being remains unanswered. In this preregistered study, we combine experience sampling and smartphone logging to address the relation of online vigilance and affective well-being in everyday life. Seventy-five Android users answered eight daily surveys over five days (N = 1,615) whilst having their smartphone use logged. Thinking about smartphone-mediated social interactions (i.e., the salience dimension of online vigilance) was negatively related to affective well-being. However, it was far more important whether those thoughts were positive or negative. No other dimension of online vigilance was robustly related to affective well-being. Taken together, our results suggest that online vigilance does not pose a serious threat to affective well-being in everyday life.

Authors with CRIS profile

Adrian Meier

Additional Organisation(s)

Assistant Professorship for Communication Science

Involved external institutions

Radboud University Nijmegen NL Netherlands (NL) Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (JGU) DE Germany (DE) Universität Hohenheim DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Johannes, N., Meier, A., Reinecke, L., Ehlert, S., Setiawan, D.N., Walasek, N.,... Veling, H. (2021). The relationship between online vigilance and affective well-being in everyday life: Combining smartphone logging with experience sampling. Media Psychology, 24(5), 581-605. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2020.1768122

MLA:

Johannes, Niklas, et al. "The relationship between online vigilance and affective well-being in everyday life: Combining smartphone logging with experience sampling." Media Psychology 24.5 (2021): 581-605.

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