UP
ROBLEMATIC AND BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF MEDIA USE
Summary
Table of Contents
Week 1 .............................................................................................................................. 3
Lecture 1 – Moral panics and introduction .................................................................................. 3
Articles lecture 1......................................................................................................................... 5
The Sisyphean cycle of technology panics – Orben (2020)............................................................................. 5
Reflection Lecture 1 .................................................................................................................... 7
Lecture 2 – Internet use & well-being I ....................................................................................... 8
Articles lecture 2........................................................................................................................10
There is no easy answer: How the interaction of content, situation and person shapes the effect of social
media use on well-being – Masur, Veldhuis, Bij de Vaate (2022) ................................................................ 10
Reflection Lecture 2 ...................................................................................................................12
Week 2 ............................................................................................................................ 13
Lecture 3 – Internet use & well-being II .....................................................................................13
Articles Lecture 3 .......................................................................................................................16
Social comparison and envy on social media (SM): a critical review – Meier & Johnson, 2022................... 16
Loneliness and social Internet use: pathways to reconnection in a digital world? – Nowland et al. (2017) 17
Lecture 4 – VR ...........................................................................................................................19
Articles Lecture 4 .......................................................................................................................21
The Golden Rule as a paradigm for fostering prosocial behavior with VR – Slater & Banakou, 2021 .......... 21
Reflection Lecture 4 ...................................................................................................................22
Week 3 ............................................................................................................................ 23
Lecture 5: Self-disclosure, privacy, and online social capital .......................................................23
Articles Lecture 5 .......................................................................................................................26
Mastering the challenge of balancing self-disclosure and privacy in social media – Kramer & Shawel, 2020
...................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Cultivating social resources on SNS: Facebook relationship maintenance behaviors and their role in social
capital processes – Ellison et al., 2014 ......................................................................................................... 27
Reflection lecture 5 ...................................................................................................................28
Lecture 6: Phubbing and fear of missing out (FOMO) .................................................................29
Articles lecture 6........................................................................................................................31
Partner phubbing: why using your phone during interactions with your partner can be detrimental for
your relationship – Beukeboom & Pollmann, 2021...................................................................................... 31
Fear of missing out: prevalence, dynamics, and consequences of experiencing FOMO – Milyavskaya et al.
(2018) ........................................................................................................................................................... 33
Reflection lecture 6 ...................................................................................................................34
,Week 4 ............................................................................................................................ 35
Lecture 7: Cyberchondria ...........................................................................................................35
Articles Lecture 7 .......................................................................................................................36
Recent insights into cyberchondria – Starcevic et al., 2022 ......................................................................... 36
Lecture 8: Cyberloafing ..............................................................................................................38
Articles Lecture 8 .......................................................................................................................40
The IT way of loafing on the job: cyberloafing, neutralizing, and organizational justice – Lim, 2002 .......... 40
Reflection Lecture 8 ...................................................................................................................41
Week 5 ............................................................................................................................ 42
Lecture 9 – Online dating ...........................................................................................................42
Articles lecture 9........................................................................................................................45
Hyperpersonal model on online dating: Media features? (Antheunis et al., 2020) ..................................... 45
Reflection Lecture 9 ...................................................................................................................46
Lecture 10 – Sexting and harassment .........................................................................................47
Articles Lecture 10 .....................................................................................................................49
The outcomes of sexting for children and adolescents: a systematic review of the literature – Doyle,
Douglas, & O’Reily, 2021 .............................................................................................................................. 49
Examining the gendered impacts of technology-facilitated sexual violence: a mixed methods approach –
Champion et al., 2022................................................................................................................................... 50
Week 6 ............................................................................................................................ 51
Lecture 11 – Internet pornography ............................................................................................51
Articles lecture 11......................................................................................................................54
Curvilinear associations between pornography use and relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and
relationship stability in the US – Willoughby et al., 2021 ............................................................................. 54
Reflection Lecture 11 .................................................................................................................54
Lecture 12 – Cyberbullying.........................................................................................................55
Articles Lecture 12 .....................................................................................................................58
Cyberbullying on SNS: a literature review and future research directions – Chang et al., 2020 .................. 58
Reflection Lecture 12 .................................................................................................................60
,WEEK 1
Lecture 1 – Moral panics and introduction
Moral panic (Cohen, 1972)
• Accusations against new sub-culture, a threat of social orders or values
• Pursued by establishment, “Right-thinking people”, and self-proclaimed “experts”
• Moral condemnation
• Publicized through mass media
• Claims based on anecdotal urban myths rather than quantifiable evidence
Four characteristics of moral panic
1. Uncertainty
• New behavior, no normative convention yet
• Unknown effects
2. Public advocates
• Judges are from establishments
à Politicians, parents, older people
• Self-proclaimed experts
3. Normative
• Strong moral judgements – the good and bad: what you should and shouldn’t do
• Fear for education, upbringing, culture, brain
• High vs. low culture
o Low culture is usually for the body: parties, “kitsch” art, something that you get joy out of
o High culture is classical music, modern art
4. Presumably vulnerable groups
• We have to protect children, adolescents, the youth
• We have to protect women
• Protecting the working class
• Moral panic starts with uncertainty, public advocates strive for them, we decide if it’s normative or if something is good
or bad, and then decide who we should protect and avoid this behavior
Scientific answers to moral panic
1. Prevalence
• How many people are involved/affected?
• How often does symptom occur?
2. Causality
• Media use à X?
• X à media use?
• Are there other factors affecting X?
3. Effect size
• How strong is media use <> X effect?
Three stages in research
1. Crime & time – related research: is it there?
• Prevalence – how big is the problem
• Simple effects
à Exposure leads to effect and reporting of effect sizes
• This is often research about the negative effects of the new medium
2. Complex causal analyses and theory-building: when and how does it work?
• Moderation analysis à who? à risk-groups
• Mediation analysis à why? à process
3. Cumulated evidence: can we be sure?
• Literature reviews
• Meta-analyses
Biased researchers
• Moral panic wheel (Ferguson, 2008): the fears of moral panic also trigger research. Therefore, we can state that
researchers are biased. The moral panics set the scientific agenda due to the fact that there will be more funding for
research on topics that are lively in society
, The wheel of moral panic
• Starts with social beliefs
• Leads to:
o Research called for, and produced in line with, societal expectations
o Media reports on potential adverse effects
• Which starts the cycle of moral panic
Science’s role in maintaining the panic
• Orben (2020): The Sisyphean Cycle of Technology Panics
• Another cycle of panics
• Starts with new technology
Wrap up
• Established groups often morally panic if confronted with new media
• But then again, new media and tech companies are criticized for valid reasons
• Only science producing systematic, objective, empirical evidence can show if the voiced fears are valid or not
ROBLEMATIC AND BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF MEDIA USE
Summary
Table of Contents
Week 1 .............................................................................................................................. 3
Lecture 1 – Moral panics and introduction .................................................................................. 3
Articles lecture 1......................................................................................................................... 5
The Sisyphean cycle of technology panics – Orben (2020)............................................................................. 5
Reflection Lecture 1 .................................................................................................................... 7
Lecture 2 – Internet use & well-being I ....................................................................................... 8
Articles lecture 2........................................................................................................................10
There is no easy answer: How the interaction of content, situation and person shapes the effect of social
media use on well-being – Masur, Veldhuis, Bij de Vaate (2022) ................................................................ 10
Reflection Lecture 2 ...................................................................................................................12
Week 2 ............................................................................................................................ 13
Lecture 3 – Internet use & well-being II .....................................................................................13
Articles Lecture 3 .......................................................................................................................16
Social comparison and envy on social media (SM): a critical review – Meier & Johnson, 2022................... 16
Loneliness and social Internet use: pathways to reconnection in a digital world? – Nowland et al. (2017) 17
Lecture 4 – VR ...........................................................................................................................19
Articles Lecture 4 .......................................................................................................................21
The Golden Rule as a paradigm for fostering prosocial behavior with VR – Slater & Banakou, 2021 .......... 21
Reflection Lecture 4 ...................................................................................................................22
Week 3 ............................................................................................................................ 23
Lecture 5: Self-disclosure, privacy, and online social capital .......................................................23
Articles Lecture 5 .......................................................................................................................26
Mastering the challenge of balancing self-disclosure and privacy in social media – Kramer & Shawel, 2020
...................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Cultivating social resources on SNS: Facebook relationship maintenance behaviors and their role in social
capital processes – Ellison et al., 2014 ......................................................................................................... 27
Reflection lecture 5 ...................................................................................................................28
Lecture 6: Phubbing and fear of missing out (FOMO) .................................................................29
Articles lecture 6........................................................................................................................31
Partner phubbing: why using your phone during interactions with your partner can be detrimental for
your relationship – Beukeboom & Pollmann, 2021...................................................................................... 31
Fear of missing out: prevalence, dynamics, and consequences of experiencing FOMO – Milyavskaya et al.
(2018) ........................................................................................................................................................... 33
Reflection lecture 6 ...................................................................................................................34
,Week 4 ............................................................................................................................ 35
Lecture 7: Cyberchondria ...........................................................................................................35
Articles Lecture 7 .......................................................................................................................36
Recent insights into cyberchondria – Starcevic et al., 2022 ......................................................................... 36
Lecture 8: Cyberloafing ..............................................................................................................38
Articles Lecture 8 .......................................................................................................................40
The IT way of loafing on the job: cyberloafing, neutralizing, and organizational justice – Lim, 2002 .......... 40
Reflection Lecture 8 ...................................................................................................................41
Week 5 ............................................................................................................................ 42
Lecture 9 – Online dating ...........................................................................................................42
Articles lecture 9........................................................................................................................45
Hyperpersonal model on online dating: Media features? (Antheunis et al., 2020) ..................................... 45
Reflection Lecture 9 ...................................................................................................................46
Lecture 10 – Sexting and harassment .........................................................................................47
Articles Lecture 10 .....................................................................................................................49
The outcomes of sexting for children and adolescents: a systematic review of the literature – Doyle,
Douglas, & O’Reily, 2021 .............................................................................................................................. 49
Examining the gendered impacts of technology-facilitated sexual violence: a mixed methods approach –
Champion et al., 2022................................................................................................................................... 50
Week 6 ............................................................................................................................ 51
Lecture 11 – Internet pornography ............................................................................................51
Articles lecture 11......................................................................................................................54
Curvilinear associations between pornography use and relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, and
relationship stability in the US – Willoughby et al., 2021 ............................................................................. 54
Reflection Lecture 11 .................................................................................................................54
Lecture 12 – Cyberbullying.........................................................................................................55
Articles Lecture 12 .....................................................................................................................58
Cyberbullying on SNS: a literature review and future research directions – Chang et al., 2020 .................. 58
Reflection Lecture 12 .................................................................................................................60
,WEEK 1
Lecture 1 – Moral panics and introduction
Moral panic (Cohen, 1972)
• Accusations against new sub-culture, a threat of social orders or values
• Pursued by establishment, “Right-thinking people”, and self-proclaimed “experts”
• Moral condemnation
• Publicized through mass media
• Claims based on anecdotal urban myths rather than quantifiable evidence
Four characteristics of moral panic
1. Uncertainty
• New behavior, no normative convention yet
• Unknown effects
2. Public advocates
• Judges are from establishments
à Politicians, parents, older people
• Self-proclaimed experts
3. Normative
• Strong moral judgements – the good and bad: what you should and shouldn’t do
• Fear for education, upbringing, culture, brain
• High vs. low culture
o Low culture is usually for the body: parties, “kitsch” art, something that you get joy out of
o High culture is classical music, modern art
4. Presumably vulnerable groups
• We have to protect children, adolescents, the youth
• We have to protect women
• Protecting the working class
• Moral panic starts with uncertainty, public advocates strive for them, we decide if it’s normative or if something is good
or bad, and then decide who we should protect and avoid this behavior
Scientific answers to moral panic
1. Prevalence
• How many people are involved/affected?
• How often does symptom occur?
2. Causality
• Media use à X?
• X à media use?
• Are there other factors affecting X?
3. Effect size
• How strong is media use <> X effect?
Three stages in research
1. Crime & time – related research: is it there?
• Prevalence – how big is the problem
• Simple effects
à Exposure leads to effect and reporting of effect sizes
• This is often research about the negative effects of the new medium
2. Complex causal analyses and theory-building: when and how does it work?
• Moderation analysis à who? à risk-groups
• Mediation analysis à why? à process
3. Cumulated evidence: can we be sure?
• Literature reviews
• Meta-analyses
Biased researchers
• Moral panic wheel (Ferguson, 2008): the fears of moral panic also trigger research. Therefore, we can state that
researchers are biased. The moral panics set the scientific agenda due to the fact that there will be more funding for
research on topics that are lively in society
, The wheel of moral panic
• Starts with social beliefs
• Leads to:
o Research called for, and produced in line with, societal expectations
o Media reports on potential adverse effects
• Which starts the cycle of moral panic
Science’s role in maintaining the panic
• Orben (2020): The Sisyphean Cycle of Technology Panics
• Another cycle of panics
• Starts with new technology
Wrap up
• Established groups often morally panic if confronted with new media
• But then again, new media and tech companies are criticized for valid reasons
• Only science producing systematic, objective, empirical evidence can show if the voiced fears are valid or not
