The use of online-communication applications including messengers (e.g. WhatsApp) or social networking services (e.g. Facebook) on the smartphone has turned into daily practice for billions of people, for example during waiting times. An increasing number of individuals show diminished control over their usage of these applications despite negative consequences in everyday life. This can be referred to as Internet-communication disorder (ICD). The current study investigated the effect of boredom proneness on symptoms of an ICD. It further examined the mediating role of cognitive and affective mechanisms, namely expectancies to avoid negative feelings online and cue-induced craving. The results of a structural equation model (N = 148) illustrate that boredom proneness is a risk factor for the development and maintenance of an ICD as it had a significant direct effect on ICD symptoms. Furthermore, boredom proneness predicted avoidance expectancies as well as cue-induced craving. Both in turn enhanced the risk of developing ICD tendencies. Moreover, both variables mediated the effect of boredom proneness on ICD and interacted among each other. In summary, the results demonstrate that people who have a higher susceptibility to experience boredom show higher expectancies to avoid negative emotions online, which promotes higher craving reactions when being confronted with specific cues (e.g. an incoming message), and could result in ICD tendencies.

Social media including social-networking sites (SNS) encourage people to disclose personal information via profiles and posts. It is assumed that positive short-term effects and immediate feedback (e.g., getting Likes) have a rewarding nature and may complicate the rational weighing of possible negative long-term consequences related to self-disclosure. Dual-process theories assume risky behaviors to result from more impulsive/short-term oriented compared to reflective/long-term oriented decision making. The current laboratory study investigates whether the extent of online self-disclosure is explained by the general tendency to choose short-term rewards by neglecting long-term risks as well as by tendencies toward a problematic social-networks-use. Participants (N = 88) were asked to log into their Facebook account to answer questions about their actual self-disclosing behavior. Furthermore, they performed an experimental decision-making task and answered a questionnaire assessing problematic social-networks-use. The quantity of self-disclosure via posts was negatively associated with advantageous decision making and positively with tendencies toward a problematic social-networks-use. The findings indicate that high self-disclosure via posts is associated with a general tendency to neglect long-term risks. Moreover, a problematic social-networks-use can additionally increase individual's self-disclosure via posts.

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Although consequences of sharing personal information can be negative and severe (e.g., identity theft), individuals still engage in extensive self-disclosures on social networks. One commonly applied explanatory approach is the privacy calculus. Following this, self-disclosures can be conceptualized as rational choices resulting from a weighing of risks and benefits. However, this view misses the additional impulsive nature of decisions. The current study therefore takes the lens of dual-process theories and highlights that self-disclosure decisions can also be guided by an impulsive system. To test for the impact of descriptive social norms, a warning message, privacy-related decision-making styles, and perceived benefits and risks on individuals’ self-disclosure decisions, the fictitious social network “AHOY!” was created. It enabled the measurement of participants’ (N = 551; Mage = 40.77, SDage = 13.93) actual self-disclosures on two decision stages: 1) whether or not a post was created, 2) how much information (on a psychological and informational dimension) was provided. Further, descriptive social norms (i.e., the extent of other users’ self-disclosures) and the presence/absence of a warning message were varied. The remaining factors were measured using questionnaires. The results imply that cognitive and affective processes (expected to be triggered by the investigated factors) are involved differently in the two decision stages. While both the reflective and impulsive system may be involved in the first stage, with the reflective system also potentially taking a predominant role, the impulsive system may be predominant when deciding how much to disclose. This highlights the importance of exceeding common assumptions of rationality to better understand and support individuals’ self-disclosure decisions.

Adolescents nowadays spend much time communicating via social networks. Recent investigations also report a noticeable proportion showing a problematic usage behavior, underlining the importance of better understanding its development and maintenance in young individuals. Theoretical views on Internet-use disorders assume that specific predispositions and needs can contribute to addictive behaviors in interaction with further aspects including Internet-related cognitive biases. This study focuses on vulnerable individuals due to their age and investigates interactions between possible risk (need to belong, NTB) and protective factors (online self-regulative competences, OSRC). Participants (N = 466) between 10 and 17 years answered questionnaires assessing social-networks-use disorder symptoms, NTB, and OSRC. Moderated regression analysis revealed significant effects of age, NTB, and OSRC. Three-way interaction was also significant (potentially mainly caused by females), with highest social-networks-use disorder symptoms found for individuals with high NTB and low OSRC, especially when older. With high OSRC, symptoms were significantly lower for both younger and older individuals having high NTB. However, even if NTB was low, older individuals showed high social-networks-use disorder symptoms if their OSRC were low. The results highlight the importance of improving specific competences to prevent problematic usage behaviors, which should be considered in youth-tailored prevention and intervention programs.the authors also point out that the majority of young people state that they use the smartphone almost all the time, with adolescents aged between 15 and 16 years spending about twice as much time online as children aged between nine and 11 years. Furthermore, during their leisure time, the usage of the Internet in general, the usage of the smartphone and listening to music were the most important media activities stated by German adolescents in 2018 [8]. Regarding the Internet-usage time, communication accounted for the largest share, followed by entertainment and games, whereby the most frequently used communication applications were WhatsApp, Instagram, and Snapchat [8]. Communicating and staying in contact with others is generally an important motive for using social networks, as highlighted by several authors [10][11][12][13][14][15]. Following Pertegal, Oliva, and Rodríguez-Meirinhos [16], research also identified two important motives for very young individuals: on the one hand obtaining social recognition, and on the other hand belonging to an online community.Besides several advantages of such applications, research has also critically pointed out that the use of social networks can have undesired and disadvantageous consequences as well. These include, for example, becoming a cyberbullying victim, being threatened by other people, or experiencing problems in everyday life due to an uncontrolled usage [17][18][19]. Based on recent developments in the International Classification of Diseases (11th revisi...

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Self-disclosures on online social networks have received increased attention in the last two decades. Researchers from different disciplines investigated manifold influencing variables, and studies applied different theories to explain why many users share very sensitive and personal information despite potential risks and negative consequences, whereas others do not. Oftentimes, it is argued that self-disclosure decisions result from a kind of rational “calculus” of risks and benefits. However, such an assumption of rationality can and has been criticized. Nevertheless, fundamental cognitive and affective mechanisms that underlie self-disclosure decision making on social networks are still under-explored. By building upon previous self-disclosure theories and models, dual-and tripartite-system perspectives of decision making, and former empirical findings, we propose a Tripartite Self-Disclosure Decision (TSDD) model that conceptualizes inner processes of online self-disclosure decision making. Central to this model is the proposed interaction of three neural and cognitive/affective systems: a reflective, an impulsive, and an interoceptive system. We further highlight individual and environmental features, which can impact individuals’ online self-disclosure decisions by (interactively) influencing the proposed inner decision-making processes targeting the aforementioned three systems. Possible short- and long-term consequences are also discussed, which in turn can affect certain model components in subsequent self-disclosure decision situations. By taking such a neurocognitive perspective, we expand current research and models, which helps to better understand potentially risky information sharing on online social networks and can support attempts to prevent users from incautious self-disclosures.