Internet Psych Effects

Hey! I’m happy to say that I have almost finished this term project for one of my psychology classes. By running this Tumblr account, I had a deeper process of what I have learned and gained a better understanding of how the Internet plays a significant role in our everyday life and in society. 

I have posted 90 posts about the effects of the Internet on learning, memory, attention, perception, education, development, aging, social interaction, personality, emotions, motivation, decision making, judgment, and more. Though it seems like there are not many people who have viewed my posts, I will still leave them on the Internet and hopefully it will help someone somewhere someday!

As we are approaching the end of the semester, anxiety, depression, stress may attack us. So it is pretty necessary to learn one of the most common treatments of these problems and then we could see how to solve or prevent our problem.

The treatment that I want to introduce is called CBT - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The video above does a very very good job on explaining what CBT is which is very recommended!

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy is an effective treatment of anxiety and depression by helping people aware of negative or inaccurate thoughts and learn effective ways to think more positively under the help of a mental health counselor.

However, with the development of online interventions, we have learned that Internet-based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy work as well as in-person administered Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, according to a meta-analysis study. 

One of the phone apps is called SilverCloud, which is an Internet-based CBT. It can effectively help students

better manage day-to-day stresses and anxiety;

improve resilience;

learn skills to understand thoughts, feelings, and behaviors;

reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety; and

hear stories of other college students.

This week, we studied Clinical Psychology on the Internet. So I would like to answer a question here:

Can psychological interventions delivered through the Internet as well?

According to what I have learned, the answer is YES!

I read Thiart et al.’s (2015) study, "Log In and Breathe out: Internet-based Recovery Training for Sleepless Employees with Work-Related Strain – Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial".

The Internet-based intervention, which called GET.ON Recovery, combined the available and well-established therapy CBT-I method and other techniques, such as MCT, which can recover stress from work.

The Internet-based intervention conducted online with six one-week sections. In the first week, participants learned the interconnection among sleep, detachment and recreational activities and were asked to plan their sleep hygiene rules and recreational activities in the following week. Additionally, they were asked to do a sleep diary to document their sleep efficiency. In the second week, participants learned about stimulus control and sleep restriction and then plan ahead their sleep schedule for the following week. In the third week, participants were asked to do some reflections on and keep the sleep restriction plan. Also, they were introduced "how to initiate closing time and foster detachment and sleep". In week four and five, participants learned about attention and rumination. And in the last session, participants learned about how to deal with significantly bad sleep.

The study found out that the intervention can significantly reduce sleep problem and help stressed employees foster recreational behavior and detachment from work.

Does Internet addiction really exist? 

This is a good question while the answer is WE DON’T KNOW.

Most psychiatrists think that there might be specific addictions that are Internet-enabled. However, it is more likely that the Internet is simply the medium instead of addiction. For example, people might be addicted to 

Internet-based gaming, 

Internet-based gambling,

Internet-based shopping,

Internet-based pornography, or

some other Internet-based activity. 

Here is an infographic made by me about selfies after watching Gernsbacher’s lecture video!

I feel surprised that we human beings have taken selfies for a long time, way before the Internet. Because previously I think selfies are popular partially because of the portability of our smartphones. 

But now it turns out that the reason that selfies are popular can be people are always like to see how they look like in a different way, maybe? 

This week, I learned something interesting about personality and behavior. Previously, there was a piece of news about a Facebook psychological campaign that researchers try to manipulate Facebook users’ news pool according to their personality even during the 2016 presidential elections. And many people were concerned that if the result of the election was manipulated by this manipulation.  

However, after examining the tables in the “Proportion of Variance in Internet Use Explained by Personality Traits” document, I learned that may Internet use behavior, such as Internet addiction and social media use, can not be well explained by personality traits, which most studies use the Big Five as their category. In other words, there is almost no correlation between users' personality and users' online behavior. 

Thus, it is less likely that the manipulation affected the results of the 2016 presidential elections. 

And here is why I say the tests I shared are more reliable!

Koerth-Baker explains it in her article.

And I think the results match my own conception of my personality in some ways, while the Big Five Personality Test may have done a better job because all five scores fit my expectation. 

Hey, come and check this personality test out!

This test and the last test that I shared are the more reliable versions of online personality tests with scientific-based support.

Hey, come and check this personality test out!

This test and the next test that I am going to share are the more reliable versions of online personality tests with scientific-based support. 

Another super moving video - talking about technology use across a life span.

Here is a moving video and I almost cried when watching this!

This is an awesome program that connects young foreign English learners with old English native speakers who have time and ability to teach learners English!

There are many advantages for seniors in using technology. I would like to introduce some findings today!

A study conducted by Czaja et al. (2017) shows that having access to technology can significantly reduce seniors' loneliness and increase the sense of social connectivity. Other than that, Elliot et al. (2014) found out that using informational and communicational technology frequently can also reduce the chance of chronic diseases occurrence and lead to better self-rated health and well-being. Moreover, Erickson and Johnson (2011) discovered that seniors who use the Internet frequently have a high self-efficacy, compared with seniors who rarely or even do not use the Internet.

Similarly, Jinmoo et al. (2015)'s research reached a similar conclusion, while it emphasized the mental positive effects of Internet use - higher life satisfaction and level of social supports, lower level of loneliness, and better psychological well-being. What's more, Xavier et al. (2014) pointed out that higher digital literacy can effectively reduce seniors' cognitive decline.

Now it’s time to learn how Internet use plays a role in old adults! 

Here is an infographic I made discussing seniors’ barriers of and positive attitudes toward Internet use. Though seniors may have difficulties when dealing with technology, we young people can give a hand!