Consequences of the endless scroll: exploring the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, and negative affect
Recent research has identified the emergent phenomenon of doomscrolling where individuals engage in an uncontrolled and compulsive scrolling for negative news on social media platforms. Research on doomscrolling is scant, but some studies have shown that doomscrolling is associated with poor emot...
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| Format: | Final Year Project (FYP) |
| Language: | English |
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Nanyang Technological University
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/165331 |
| _version_ | 1824453422411153408 |
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| author | Ting, Sharon Shu Hui Lim, Kimberly Li Anne Tan, Joshua Han Wei |
| author2 | Saifuddin Ahmed |
| author_facet | Saifuddin Ahmed Ting, Sharon Shu Hui Lim, Kimberly Li Anne Tan, Joshua Han Wei |
| author_sort | Ting, Sharon Shu Hui |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Recent research has identified the emergent phenomenon of doomscrolling where individuals
engage in an uncontrolled and compulsive scrolling for negative news on social media platforms.
Research on doomscrolling is scant, but some studies have shown that doomscrolling is
associated with poor emotional well-being. Yet, the mechanism underlying this association
remains unclear. Therefore, this study sought to extend our understanding of the phenomenon by
examining the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, perceived threat, and
negative affect. First, we examine the mediating roles of doomscrolling and perceived threat (of
salient news issues) in the association between social media news use and negative affect.
Additionally, the moderating roles of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and the need for cognition
(NFC) are explored. Two empirical studies in the US and Singapore test the generalizability of
our models. Overall, the results suggest that (1) social media news use leads to higher negative
affect, through an individual's heightened perceived threat resulting from doomscrolling, (2)
there are cross-cultural differences in the moderating effects of IU and, (3) NFC is a significant
moderator of the serial mediation. Collectively, these findings have practical implications for
developing strategies to alleviate the negative emotional consequences of doomscrolling. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T08:00:04Z |
| format | Final Year Project (FYP) |
| id | ntu-10356/165331 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T08:00:04Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publisher | Nanyang Technological University |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1653312023-04-19T06:54:17Z Consequences of the endless scroll: exploring the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, and negative affect Ting, Sharon Shu Hui Lim, Kimberly Li Anne Tan, Joshua Han Wei Saifuddin Ahmed Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information sahmed@ntu.edu.sg Social sciences::Communication Recent research has identified the emergent phenomenon of doomscrolling where individuals engage in an uncontrolled and compulsive scrolling for negative news on social media platforms. Research on doomscrolling is scant, but some studies have shown that doomscrolling is associated with poor emotional well-being. Yet, the mechanism underlying this association remains unclear. Therefore, this study sought to extend our understanding of the phenomenon by examining the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, perceived threat, and negative affect. First, we examine the mediating roles of doomscrolling and perceived threat (of salient news issues) in the association between social media news use and negative affect. Additionally, the moderating roles of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and the need for cognition (NFC) are explored. Two empirical studies in the US and Singapore test the generalizability of our models. Overall, the results suggest that (1) social media news use leads to higher negative affect, through an individual's heightened perceived threat resulting from doomscrolling, (2) there are cross-cultural differences in the moderating effects of IU and, (3) NFC is a significant moderator of the serial mediation. Collectively, these findings have practical implications for developing strategies to alleviate the negative emotional consequences of doomscrolling. Bachelor of Social Sciences in Psychology and Media Analytics 2023-03-23T08:00:30Z 2023-03-23T08:00:30Z 2023 Final Year Project (FYP) Ting, S. S. H., Lim, K. L. A. & Tan, J. H. W. (2023). Consequences of the endless scroll: exploring the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, and negative affect. Final Year Project (FYP), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/165331 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/165331 en CS/22/043 application/pdf Nanyang Technological University |
| spellingShingle | Social sciences::Communication Ting, Sharon Shu Hui Lim, Kimberly Li Anne Tan, Joshua Han Wei Consequences of the endless scroll: exploring the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, and negative affect |
| title | Consequences of the endless scroll: exploring the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, and negative affect |
| title_full | Consequences of the endless scroll: exploring the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, and negative affect |
| title_fullStr | Consequences of the endless scroll: exploring the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, and negative affect |
| title_full_unstemmed | Consequences of the endless scroll: exploring the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, and negative affect |
| title_short | Consequences of the endless scroll: exploring the relationships between social media news use, doomscrolling, and negative affect |
| title_sort | consequences of the endless scroll exploring the relationships between social media news use doomscrolling and negative affect |
| topic | Social sciences::Communication |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/165331 |
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