Why Are We Distracted by Social Media? Distraction Situations and Strategies, Reasons for Distraction, and Individual Differences

Social media is a major source of distraction and thus can hinder users from successfully fulfilling certain tasks by tempting them to use social media instead. However, an understanding of why users get distracted by social media is still lacking. We examine the phenomenon of social media distracti...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Christina Koessmeier, Oliver B. Büttner
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	social media distraction situations strategies individual differences fear of missing out Psychology BF1-990
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/202296f89a2c44b2b9eb8c6a18b093f1
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:202296f89a2c44b2b9eb8c6a18b093f1
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:202296f89a2c44b2b9eb8c6a18b093f12021-12-02T09:17:26ZWhy Are We Distracted by Social Media? Distraction Situations and Strategies, Reasons for Distraction, and Individual Differences1664-107810.3389/fpsyg.2021.711416https://doaj.org/article/202296f89a2c44b2b9eb8c6a18b093f12021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.711416/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/1664-1078Social media is a major source of distraction and thus can hinder users from successfully fulfilling certain tasks by tempting them to use social media instead. However, an understanding of why users get distracted by social media is still lacking. We examine the phenomenon of social media distraction by identifying reasons for, situations of, and strategies against social media distraction. The method adopted is a quantitative online survey (N = 329) with a demographically diverse sample. The results reveal two reasons for social media distraction: social (e.g., staying connected and being available) and task-related distraction (e.g., not wanting to pursue a task). We find individual differences in these reasons for distraction. For social distraction, affiliation motive and fear of missing out (FoMO) are significant predictors, while for task-related distraction, self-regulatory capabilities (self-control, problematic social media use) and FoMO are significant predictors. Additionally, typical distraction situations are non-interactive situations (e.g., watching movies, facing unpleasant tasks). Strategies used to reduce distractions mostly involved reducing external distractions (e.g., silencing the device). This paper contributes to the understanding of social media use by revealing insights into social media distraction from the user perspective.Christina KoessmeierOliver B. BüttnerFrontiers Media S.A.articlesocial mediadistractionsituationsstrategiesindividual differencesfear of missing outPsychologyBF1-990ENFrontiers in Psychology, Vol 12 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	social media distraction situations strategies individual differences fear of missing out Psychology BF1-990
spellingShingle	social media distraction situations strategies individual differences fear of missing out Psychology BF1-990 Christina Koessmeier Oliver B. Büttner Why Are We Distracted by Social Media? Distraction Situations and Strategies, Reasons for Distraction, and Individual Differences
description	Social media is a major source of distraction and thus can hinder users from successfully fulfilling certain tasks by tempting them to use social media instead. However, an understanding of why users get distracted by social media is still lacking. We examine the phenomenon of social media distraction by identifying reasons for, situations of, and strategies against social media distraction. The method adopted is a quantitative online survey (N = 329) with a demographically diverse sample. The results reveal two reasons for social media distraction: social (e.g., staying connected and being available) and task-related distraction (e.g., not wanting to pursue a task). We find individual differences in these reasons for distraction. For social distraction, affiliation motive and fear of missing out (FoMO) are significant predictors, while for task-related distraction, self-regulatory capabilities (self-control, problematic social media use) and FoMO are significant predictors. Additionally, typical distraction situations are non-interactive situations (e.g., watching movies, facing unpleasant tasks). Strategies used to reduce distractions mostly involved reducing external distractions (e.g., silencing the device). This paper contributes to the understanding of social media use by revealing insights into social media distraction from the user perspective.
format	article
author	Christina Koessmeier Oliver B. Büttner
author_facet	Christina Koessmeier Oliver B. Büttner
author_sort	Christina Koessmeier
title	Why Are We Distracted by Social Media? Distraction Situations and Strategies, Reasons for Distraction, and Individual Differences
title_short	Why Are We Distracted by Social Media? Distraction Situations and Strategies, Reasons for Distraction, and Individual Differences
title_full	Why Are We Distracted by Social Media? Distraction Situations and Strategies, Reasons for Distraction, and Individual Differences
title_fullStr	Why Are We Distracted by Social Media? Distraction Situations and Strategies, Reasons for Distraction, and Individual Differences
title_full_unstemmed	Why Are We Distracted by Social Media? Distraction Situations and Strategies, Reasons for Distraction, and Individual Differences
title_sort	why are we distracted by social media? distraction situations and strategies, reasons for distraction, and individual differences
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/202296f89a2c44b2b9eb8c6a18b093f1
work_keys_str_mv	AT christinakoessmeier whyarewedistractedbysocialmediadistractionsituationsandstrategiesreasonsfordistractionandindividualdifferences AT oliverbbuttner whyarewedistractedbysocialmediadistractionsituationsandstrategiesreasonsfordistractionandindividualdifferences
_version_	1718398172223504384

Why Are We Distracted by Social Media? Distraction Situations and Strategies, Reasons for Distraction, and Individual Differences

Ejemplares similares