Too Much or Too Little Messaging? Situational Determinants of Guilt About Mobile Messaging

Too Much or Too Little Messaging? Situational Determinants of Guilt About Mobile Messaging

Mobile Messenger, Availability Norm, Self-Control, Guilt, Autonomy

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 availability norm salience—simultaneously for the first time. We conducted two preregistered experiments to investigate their
interplay. Results from a vignette experiment, but not from a laboratory experiment, support the
hypotheses that goal conflicts trigger guilt about using messengers and that guilt about not using
messengers arises if the availability norm is salient. In both studies, using messengers elicited more guilt than not using messengers. The boundary conditions did not interact in influencing guilt. Overall, this research emphasizes the importance of self-control, norms, and usage contexts when studying effects of mobile media use on emotional well-being.

Annabell Halfmann , Adrian Meier , & Leonard Reinecke

https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/26/2/72/6145332

Oxford University Press

22 October 2020

Sri Wahyuni

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English

Text

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 26 (2021)