I choose to analyze the most common online activity: emails. The total time spend on checking emails may not turn out to be shocking, as not everybody spend more than 10hs a day sitting in front of the computer screen as I do, but most of my friends admit that the first thing they will do when they get to a computer with internet access is checking their emails.
Problematic Internet Use (PIU) occurs when people spend way too much time online. It includes excessive and compulsive Internet usage, which may affects people’s “real life” offline. Excessive Internet usage is when people spend more time online than they planned, and compulsive use is when people lose control in their online activity along with guilt about lack of control.
Emails can easily lead to PIU Before the widely use of software as email-reminder, which will remind you of new emails by a little pop-up window at the corner of your computer screen, emails are pretty unpredictable. People are likely to check their emails often to make sure there’s no new unread information they miss. People who were waiting for replies or information from emails are likely to check their mailboxes every 5 minutes since they don’t know when it will come. This lack of reward predictability makes people continually return for more. In typical cases, email users tend to behave compulsive use rather than excessive use. People won’t be able to control their urge to check email, but they generally won’t spend a longer amount of time than planned checking email. If emails are frequently checked, the time spend on checking unread emails wont be long. But as people have to frequently stop what they are doing and go open the browser, it will reduce efficiency in work and study. The more dangerous factor about checking emails is that you have to open a browser to do so. And when the mailbox is free offered such as Gmail, checking email means opening a window for online advertisements. You may find it easy to be distracted by an ad about discount for shoes or filling out some online research for free samples. Then your online activities are not just emails anymore.
Caplan’s model suggested that individuals with psychosocial problems hold negative perceptions about their social competence, and these individuals prefer online interaction because it is less threatening and they feel more efficacious. The preference for online interaction will then lead to excessive and compulsive online interaction, which then worsens their problems (at school, home, work). Not like instant messengers, emails are usually used for people with weak ties or conveying information at work. People use them because then receive them. People who check emails constantly are tend to be more social because they want to response to others as soon as possible, rather than being lonely and depressed. Wallace argues Internet properties are important. In this case, the affordance of internet may be more applicable in this case. Emails enable greater control of self-presentation, more intense and intimate self-disclosure, and less perceived social risk and responsibility.
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4 comments:
You described the concept of operant conditioning by Wallace but just didn't mention the actual term.
And when you say people who are check their e-mails often are social, is that really true? I guess if we don't get e-mails often, we sort of give up checking for them. But if we actually get a lot of e-mails, we'll be more likely to want to check the inbox more often. But can we really say more e-mails = more sociability? Do depressed / lonely people not get e-mails?
It’s great that you’ve chosen to write about compulsive email checking, as three months of college has trained me to checking it multiple times a day. Many times, emails can be very time sensitive, as I learned the hard way when almost missing a lunch meeting due to not reading the email that informed of a room change. I might add however, that although people who constantly check their emails might be more social, they still might have some psychosocial social problems. They become dependent on emailing as a primary medium for communication as they believe they lack the social competence to carry on interactions in a FtF setting.
Hey Yu,
Nice post! This is one of the few online issues that I feel relates to me. Your well-rounded analysis made me take a harder look at my email checking habits and wonder whether my email checking habits are excessive. While I don’t use any software that informs me of new emails and I have completely avoided the PDA in fear of enhancing this problem, I still wonder if I am experiencing “diminished impulse control” and “distraction/procrastination,” two of the four dimensions used to predict PIU as defined by the Davis et al. study we covered in class. When it comes to email, I often think about the anticipated replies after I have logged off. I also think I check email more than is needed, especially when I’m procrastinating! And even if I wanted to, I’m not sure I could stop checking my email, while I sit at my computer for hours each day working on other things. Davis et al. argue that these are all signs of PIU, but my question is: How does one overcome these feelings when more and more emailees and emailers expect speedy replies, especially in the business world? This expectation shapes the way we all think when it comes to email thus shaping our behavior. I find it hard not to cross (or even judge) the line between courtesy and compulsion.
I think that checking e-mails constantly may or may not be a sign of depression/loneliness. This depends on what context you are checking the e-mail. If someone is compulsively checking an e-mail for social networking purposes outside the Internet, I think this is more a sign of psychosocial problems than someone checking e-mail compulsively for work purposes. Although it can be argued that people who overwork themselves may be depressed, I think in this day and age compulsive e-mail checking is a necessity to stay on top of work as Hannah pointed out.
People that compulsively check e-mail for other purposes (such as for getting Facebook announcements, thread responses in forums, or talking to a friend they met online) may be more defined as having PIU.
Overall good job analyzing e-mail checking under Caplans model!
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