February 10, 2009
Dr. Eric: Youth Use the Internet for Moderating Emotions. But What About Mobile?
We all know that friends and family are important to our overall emotional health. And we know that the world is changing as technology increasingly permeates our lives. But how does technology help or hinder our lives when we encounter stressful life events and become upset? In a recent paper*, Louis Leung, Ph.D. Associate Professor & Director of the Center for Communication Research at the School of Journalism & Communication at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, asked that question of over 700, 8-15 year olds in a sample of Chinese students.
What did Dr. Leung find? He found that when kids are stressed they use technology to help moderate their emotions. That is, when kids in his study found themselves under stress, they interacted with technology to both moderate their moods and access social networks. Through the Internet, they accessed entertainment and information and sought "social compensation" through recognition and relationship management.
Consistent with good mental health, they recognized the need to seek help. The more social support a subject was able to access, the less impact stress had on their lives.
Finally, Dr. Leung found that with increasing freedom to access different kinds of social support through the Internet, their use became increasingly tied to "social compensation" as well as "mood management."
As we know, mobile offers us all a way to access the Internet and our social networks immediately. Will this access help us moderate our moods and reduce our stress immediately and as often as we need? Does this provide us a platform for improving our emotional problem solving by offering us information and social sounding boards? Or does this permit us to justify, rationalize or ignore our emotions and behavior? While it's too early to say, this kind of information can help us become better at meeting youth where they really are.
Mobile can provide the instant platform that kids are saying they really want, including applications that easily permit access to information and their social networks. It can become part of their solutions to help reduce stress and moderate emotions, but can also offer opportunities for them to gain recognition and offer social support to their peers.
Marketers can help by offering and providing opportunities and content that will help meet these needs. When we meet youth where they are and in ways they want, we can become part of their social world and, in doing so, become a quick and frequent target for interaction.
- Dr. Eric Weinstein is a Practicing Clinical Psychologist specializing in youth and a consultant with MobileBehavior
