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Coping Strategies and Feelings Towards Being Permanently Online and Permanently Connected in Germany

Mon, May 25, 10:30 to 11:45, Caribe Hilton, San Cristobal Ballroom G

Abstract

Smart devices and improved Internet access are steadily enhancing possibilities to stay in touch with others in any social situation and from any conceivable location. With emails and alerts being received on smart devices in addition to SMS and instant messages, the amount of incoming messages has remarkably increased compared to simple feature phones. This calls for strategies that allow to cope with a large amount of constantly incoming information. Therefore, the research interest of this paper is firstly on behaviors of permanent connectedness and evolving strategies to cope with the non-stop exchange of information. Secondly, the interest focuses on feelings about constant connectedness as well as on feelings that are reported about a temporary loss of Internet access.
An online survey with 178 university students in Germany revealed that students use specific responding strategies to deal with persistent communication sent by others. Results show that an active reading of messages is postponed to avoid the necessity to give an immediate answer to texts. But at the same time, read receipts (that tell the sender that the message has been read) lead to generally faster responses with shorter content.
In students the feelings of being permanently online and connected elicited strong emotions about the perceived necessity to be available constantly. This necessity was experienced especially strong when there was a perceived loss of connection during an absence of Internet access. A loss of Internet access was perceived with conflicting positive and negative emotions. Positive feelings of more freedom and relaxation contradicted negative feelings of exclusion and loss of control. Constructs that previously have been mentioned in the literature, like the fear of missing out and the need to belong, were motives for the participants’ online use. In addition to their own online behavior, students reported feelings of being annoyed about others’ permanent online use in various social situations.

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