The Guilty Couch Potato: The Role of Ego Depletion in Reducing Recovery Through Media Use

Abstract

This article addresses ego depletion as a mechanism influencing media‐based stress recovery processes. Using structural equation modeling, relationships between ego depletion, procrastination, guilt, enjoyment, vitality, and recovery experience were tested using data from an online survey (N = 471). Results suggest that ego depletion may increase the risk of negatively appraising the use of interactive (video games) and noninteractive (television) entertaining media as a form of procrastination. The resulting guilt is negatively related to the recovery experience associated with using entertainment. Therefore, ego‐depleted individuals may benefit less from the psychological recovery potential of entertainment media, despite their greater need for recovery. These findings are an important step in understanding the pivotal role of appraisal processes for media‐induced recovery and the entertainment experience.

Entertainment as a Creature Comfort: Self-Control and Selection of Challenging Media

“…Additionally, in terms of least preferred choices, depleted participants were more likely to avoid challenging films than the non-depleted. The self-control related findings are in line with and support past empirical research indicating that self-control processes are related to entertainment media use (Hofmann et al, 2012;Panek, 2014;Reinecke, 2009;Reinecke et al, 2014;Wagner et al, 2012). In particular, this work extends and refines the initial relationships explored by Eden et al (2015), to illustrate that selfcontrol predicts a selective pattern of media entertainment use, in which greater self-control resources enable the selection of more affectively and cognitively challenging media content.…”

“…We see that reflected in the work of Muraven and Baumeister (2000), Reinecke (2009), andReinecke et al (2014), who suggested that use of entertainment media can restore depleted self-control and act as a recovery process for fatigued individuals. Therefore, we argue that our findings do not condemn the choices of the creature seeking comfort in media.…”

“…Regarding these predictions about preference and choice, Reinecke et al (2014) found that low self-control capacity was associated with a preference for viewing less challenging television programs after a day of work or school. Building on this finding, Eden et al (2015) examined the hypothesis that users with exhausted self-control resources would be less inclined to choose highchallenge films.…”

“…Panek (2014) found that trait self-control is negatively related to the amount of time students spend on social network services and online video use. Finally, Reinecke et al (2014) found that low self-control capacity affected the use of entertainment media by viewers, and increased negative appraisals of that media use as guilt-inducing procrastination. However, this research has not yet accounted for content differences and how the presence of self-control may produce different patterns of media use.…”

How Self-Esteem Shapes our Interactions with Play Technologies

“…And yet, the experience that results from computer and video game play can vary greatly depending on a player's life experience -both in terms of the context resulting from their situation at the moment of play (i.e., states), and the type of person who they are in general (i.e., traits). For example, individuals who enter into game play when in a state of ego-depletion -a state of reduced selfcontrol from having exerted effort and willpower -are more likely to negatively appraise their time spent playing games, feel guilt over having played, and profit less from the demonstrated benefits of games [33]. Also, individuals who have low satisfaction of their basic psychological needs in life experience less enjoyment, more tension, and higher negative affect post-play [32]; this type of engagement with games is characterized as an obsessive passion [32].…”