Adrian Meier

Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg | FAU

Procrastinating with popular online media such as Facebook has been suggested to impair users' well-being, particularly among students. Building on recent procrastination, self-control, and communication literature, we conducted two studies (total N = 699) that examined the predictors of procrastination with Facebook as well as its effects on stude...

The relationship between computer-mediated communication (e.g., Internet or social media use) and mental health has been a long-standing issue of debate. Various disciplines (e.g., communication, psychology, sociology, medicine) investigate computer-mediated communication in relation to a great variety of negative (i.e., psychopathology) and positi...

Using media, specifically those that offer entertainment, frequently conflicts with other goals and obligations in daily life. Users can manage these conflicts either by applying self-control and upholding their goals, or by giving in to media temptations, which elicits negative emotional appraisals such as guilt that potentially spoil entertainmen...

Computer-mediated communication (CMC), and specifically social media, may affect the mental health (MH) and well-being of its users, for better or worse. Research on this topic has accumulated rapidly, accompanied by controversial public debate and numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Yet, a higher-level integration of the multiple dispar...

Passive exposure to others’ positive self-presentations on social network sites (SNS) such as Instagram has been repeatedly associated with reduced well-being, particularly by triggering upward social comparison and envy. However, prior research has largely neglected that upward comparisons on SNS may also facilitate positive outcomes, specifically...

When assessing media effects, we seldomly consider how they change over time. Especially with the prevalence of smartphone use as short-term, fragmented media use, a systematic approach to temporal dimensions is crucial, particularly to understand mixed effects of smartphone use on well-being. We employ a multiverse approach to assess the influence...

Many perceive their digital media use to be out of balance and cope by recalibrating and reducing their use. One prominent goal of such digital disconnection is to improve well-being, yet past studies have yielded inconsistent results on whether this is an effective strategy. We test the associations of digital disconnection with a set of positive,...

A much-discussed solution for undesirable (over-)use of mobile technologies lies in digital disconnection. Reasons for why individuals reduce their digital media use have been assessed mostly cross-sectionally without accounting for various disconnection practices across everyday situations. This study focuses on three motivations to disconnect tha...

Consuming media entertainment often challenges recipients’ self-control. While past research related self-control almost exclusively to whether individuals engage in media use, it might be equally relevant for the disengagement from media use. Testing core assumptions of the Appraisal of Media Use, Self-Control, and Entertainment (AMUSE) model, the...

How social media impact users’ mental health and well-being is a critical question discussed fiercely by publics around the globe and researchers across disciplines. To overcome challenges of earlier “screen time” research, many recent studies adopted the active-passive approach. This model dichotomizes social media use into “active” social exchang...

A much-discussed solution for undesirable (over-)use of mobile technologies lies in digital disconnection. Reasons for why individuals reduce their digital media use have been assessed mostly cross-sectionally without accounting for various disconnection practices across everyday situations. The present study focuses on three situational motivation...

Consuming media entertainment often challenges recipients’ self-control. While past research related self-control almost exclusively to the initiation of media use, it might be equally relevant for the disengagement from media use. Testing core assumptions of the Appraisal of Media Use, Self-Control, and Entertainment (AMUSE) model, the present stu...

This edited volume examines the ways in which rapidly changing technologies and patterns of media use influence, and are influenced by, our emotional experiences. Following introductory chapters outlining common conceptual frameworks used in the study of emotion and digital media effects, this book is then organized around four general areas highli...

Consuming media entertainment often challenges recipients’ self-control. While past research related self-control almost exclusively to the initiation of media use, it might be equally relevant for the disengagement from media use. Testing core assumptions of the Appraisal of Media Use, Self-Control, and Entertainment (AMUSE) model, the present stu...

Social media offer their users a variety of opportunities for online self-presentation and thus represent an optimal environment for social comparisons. With the increasing popularity of social media, there is growing concern in public and scientific discourse about negative effects of online social comparisons on users’ mental health. Research out...

There is a popular concern that adolescents’ social media use, especially via smartphones, leads to the delay of intended, potentially more important tasks. Automatic social media use and frequent phone checking may especially contribute to task delay. Prior research has investigated this hypothesis through between-person associations. We advance t...

An increasing number of studies indicate that individuals have difficulties in exerting self-control over media use, such as mobile messaging. Specifically, individuals frequently experience that their messenger use conflicts with primary goals (e.g., work tasks), which may cause negative self-conscious emotions such as guilt. At the same time, not...

Recent research started to apply concepts of well-being to the context of computer mediated communication (e.g., social media, instant messaging). While much research investigates negative perceptions of mediated social interactions (e.g., “problematic” or “addictive” social media use), a multi-dimensional measure that taps into users? positive per...

Social media literacy is assumed to protect adolescents from negative social media effects, yet research supporting this is lacking. The current three-wave panel study with a four-month interval among N = 1,032 adolescents tests this moderating role of social media literacy. Specifically, we examine between- vs. within-person relations of exposure...

Research into the effects of social media on well-being often distinguishes “active” and “passive” use, with passive use supposedly more harmful to well-being (i.e., the passive use hypothesis). Recently, several studies and reviews have begun to question this hypothesis and its conceptual basis, the active/passive dichotomy. As this dichotomy has...

There is popular concern that adolescents’ social media use, especially via smartphones, leads to irrational delay of intended tasks (i.e., procrastination). Automatic social media use and frequent phone checking may especially contribute to procrastination. Prior research has investigated this through between-person associations. We advance the li...

The effect of social media use on well-being is among the hottest debates in academia and society at large. Adults and adolescents alike spend around 2-3 hours per day on social media, and they typically use five to seven different platforms in a complementary way, to chat with their friends, to browse others’ posts, and present themselves to their...

Using mobile media can be both detrimental and beneficial for well-being. Thus, explaining how and when they elicit such effects is of crucial importance. To explicate boundary conditions and processes for digital well-being, this article introduces the Integrative Model of Mobile Media Use and Need Experiences (IM³UNE). Instead of assuming mobile...

Research into the effects of social media on well-being often distinguishes “active” and “passive” use, with passive use supposedly more harmful to well-being (i.e., the passive use hypothesis). Recently, several studies and reviews have begun to question this hypothesis and its conceptual basis, the active/passive dichotomy. As this dichotomy has...

Self-presentation on social network sites (SNS) such as Instagram is often assumed to be inauthentic or even fake. While authenticity on SNS has been linked to increased well-being, most research has investigated it either monolithically (e.g., via screen time measures) or with regard to stable self-presentations (e.g., in Facebook profiles). In co...

There is both public and scholarly concern that (passive) social media use decreases well-being by providing a fertile ground for harmful (upward) social comparison and envy. The present review critically summarizes evidence on this assumption. We first comprehensively synthesize existing evidence, including both prior reviews and the most recent p...

With increasing relevance of collaborative technologies in the workplace and flexible work arrangements, concerns and hopes about associations between social media use and well-being arise. Social media can introduce content and demands from the work context into the home and vice-versa. This narrative review of k = 39 publications addresses work-i...

Popular concern and much research assumes that (passive) social media use decreases well-being by providing a fertile ground for harmful (upward) social comparison and envy. The present review critically summarizes empirical evidence on this assumption. We first comprehensively synthesize existing studies, with a focus on the most recent publicatio...

Social media literacy is assumed to protect adolescents from negative social media effects, yet research supporting this is lacking. The current three-wave panel study among N = 1,032 adolescents tests this moderating role of social media literacy. Specifically, we examine between- vs. within-person relations of exposure to the positivity bias, soc...

Most prior research on the effects of mobile and social media on well-being has worked from either the "technology addiction" or "screen time" approach. Yet these frameworks struggle with considerable conceptual and methodological limitations. The present study discusses and tests an established but understudied alternative, the technology habit ap...

Literature reviews on how social media use affects adolescent mental health have accumulated at an unprecedented rate of late. Yet, a higher-level integration of the evidence is still lacking. We fill this gap with an up-to-date umbrella review, a review of reviews published between 2019 and mid 2021. Our search yielded 25 reviews: seven meta-analy...

Literature reviews on how social media use affects adolescent mental health have accumulated at an unprecedented rate of late. Yet, a higher-level integration of the evidence is still lacking. We fill this gap with an up-to-date umbrella review, a review of reviews published between 2019 and mid 2021. Our search yielded 25 reviews: seven meta-analy...

Using mobile media can be both detrimental and beneficial for well-being. Thus, explaining how and when they elicit such effects is of crucial importance. To explicate boundary conditions and processes for digital well-being, this article introduces the Integrative Model of Mobile Media Use and Need Experiences (IM³UNE). Instead of assuming mobile...

Do social media affect users’ mental health and well-being? By now, considerable research has addressed this highly contested question. Prior studies have investigated the effects of social media use on hedonic well-being (e.g., affect and life satisfaction), psychopathology (e.g., depressive or anxiety symptoms), or psychosocial risk/resilience fa...

Self-presentation on social network sites (SNS) such as Instagram is often assumed to be inauthentic or even fake. While authenticity on SNS has been linked to increased well-being, most research has investigated it either monolithically (e.g., via screen time measures) or with regard to stable self-presentations (e.g., in Facebook profiles). In co...

Mobile messaging has been associated with guilt. Guilt about too much messaging may result from self-control failures during goal conflicts. Conversely, guilt about too little messaging may result from violating the salient norm to be available. This research considers both boundary conditions of guilt about mobile communication—goal conflicts and...

Concerns have been expressed that permanent online connectedness might negatively affect media user’s stress levels. Most research has focused on negative effects of specific media usage patterns, such as media multitasking or communication load. In contrast, users’ cognitive orientation toward online content and communication has rarely been inves...

Media use is often referred to as a “guilty pleasure.” In fact, a growing number of studies provide empirical evidence of a high prevalence of guilt reactions to media use. Negative self‐conscious emotions such as guilt are elicited by actions or events that are incongruent with the individual's personal standards or identity goals. In the context...

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...

Computer-mediated communication (CMC), and specifically social media, may affect the mental health (MH) and well-being of its users, for good or bad. Research on this topic has accumulated rapidly, accompanied by controversial public debate and numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Yet, a higher-level integration of the various disparate c...

Research on the negative psycho-emotional implications of social comparisons on social network sites such as Instagram has rapidly accumulated in recent years. However, little research has considered the extent to which such comparisons can elicit positive motivational outcomes for adolescent users, specifically inspiration. Furthermore, little is...

Through communication technology, users find themselves constantly connected to others to such an extent that they routinely develop a mindset of connectedness. This mindset 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 un...

This document contains the English Version of the Online Vigilance Scale (Reinecke et al., 2018). The scale can be freely used for non-commercial, scientific purposes. Further information concerning the construction and psychometric properties of the original scale can also be found in Reinecke et al. (2018).

This document provides a Chinese translation of the Online Vigilance Scale (Reinecke et al., 2018). The scale can be freely used for non-commercial, scientific purposes. Further information concerning the construction and psychometric properties of the original scale can also be found in Reinecke et al. (2018).

Das beigefügte Dokument listet die deutschsprachigen Items der Online Vigilance Scale (Reinecke et al., 2018). Die Skala darf für nicht-kommerzielle, wissenschaftliche Zwecke unter Nennung der Originalquelle (siehe unten) frei verwendet werden. Weiter Angaben zum Skalenkonstruktionsprozess, den psychometrischen Eigenschaften und der Anwendung und...

Sleep experts have raised concern over the effects of electronic media use on sleep. To date, few studies have looked beyond the effects of duration and frequency of media exposure or examined the underlying mechanisms of this association. As procrastinatory media use has been related to lower well-being, we used data from two survey studies (N1= 8...

Digitale Autonomie, hier verstanden als das selbstbestimmte Handeln in der privaten interpersonalen digitalen Kommunikation, ist in unserem von Kommunikation durchzogenen Alltag möglicherweise ein zentraler Faktor für die psychische Gesundheit geworden. Basierend auf der Selbstbestimmungstheorie untersucht dieser Beitrag daher, inwieweit sich indiv...

As mobile technology allows users to be online anywhere and at all times, a growing number of users report feeling constantly alert and preoccupied with online streams of online information and communication-a phenomenon that has recently been termed online vigilance. Despite its growing prevalence, consequences of this constant orientation toward...

Smartphones and other mobile devices have fundamentally changed patterns of Internet use in everyday life by making online access constantly available. The present paper offers a theoretical explication and empirical assessment of the concept of online vigilance, referring to users’ permanent cognitive orientation towards online content and communi...

Study 4 wide format. (SAV)

As mobile technology allows users to be online anywhere and at all times, a growing number of users report feeling constantly alert and preoccupied with online streams of online information and communication—a phenomenon that has recently been termed online vigilance. Despite its growing prevalence, the consequences of this constant orientation tow...

A growing body of research finds social network sites (SNS) such as Instagram to facilitate social comparison and the emotional experience of envy in everyday life, with harmful effects for users' well-being. Yet, previous research has exclusively focused on the negative side of social comparison and envy on SNS. Thereby, it has neglected two impor...

Adolescents with a strong tendency for irrational task delay (i.e., high trait procrastination) may be particularly prone to use Internet applications simultaneously to other tasks (e.g., during homework) and in an insufficiently controlled fashion. Both Internet multitasking and insufficiently controlled Internet usage may thus amplify the negativ...

The pervasive access to media options seriously challenges users’ self-regulatory abilities. One example of deficient self-regulation in the context of media use is procrastination—impulsively ‘giving in’ to available media options despite goal conflicts with more important tasks. This study investigaes procrastinatory media use across 3 types of m...

A growing number of studies suggest that Internet users frequently utilize online media as “tools for procrastination.” This study thus investigated the relationship between trait procrastination, Internet use, and psychological well-being in a representative sample of N = 1,577 German Internet users. The results revealed that trait procrastination...

The authors regret a copy and paste error in the method section of Study 1 (p. 69). One of the four items of our measure of procrastination with Facebook is not reported correctly. Instead of the correct item (“I used Facebook while procrastinating upcoming work.”) the item “I used Facebook although I had more important things to do.” is listed twi...

In the present chapter we propose that in a media saturated environment, self-control is a key variable providing a more complete understanding of the complex interactions of media use and well-being: In the face of ubiquitous access to media content, users find it increasingly difficult to maintain a balance between the short-term pleasures of med...