“I like it” and “I need it”: Relationship between implicit associations, flow, and addictive social media use

Highlights

• Implicit associations with social media (SM) are positively linked to SM flow.

• Implicit associations with SM are positively linked with addictive SM use (SMU).

• SM flow mediates the link between implicit associations and addictive SMU.

Abstract

The use of online social media (SM) is part of daily life, but may impact subjective well-being negatively, and contribute to the development of addictive tendencies. The present empirical study investigated the mechanisms that might explain this development. An online survey and an implicit association test (IAT) investigated the relationship between implicit associations with SM, SM flow and addictive social media use (SMU) in a sample of 145 users of SM. The results reveal a significant positive association between all three investigated constructs. Moreover, SM flow mediated the relationship between the implicit associations and addictive SMU significantly. Implicit associations with SM might therefore foster immersion into the online world, which contributes to SM flow's positive experience. However, SM flow might also serve as an antecedent of addictive tendencies. The study findings should be considered when assessing individuals at risk of addictive SMU, and when developing (therapeutic) intervention programs to deal with problematic social platform use.

Introduction

In the 21st century, the sharing, liking, and commenting on social media (SM) belong to many people's daily routine (Pew Research Center, 2019; Roth, 2020). People exposed to high levels of stress in their daily life specifically engage in social media use (SMU) to escape their problems and obligations, and to find relief (Brailovskaia, Velten, & Margraf, 2019). Usually, they find what they are searching for on social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. SMU may contribute to mood improvement, feelings of belonging, and of experiencing social support (Bayer, Ellison, Schoenebeck, Brady, & Falk, 2018; Verduyn, Ybarra, Résibois, Jonides, & Kross, 2017).

However, despite the positive experiences that SMU enables, previous research has shown that intensive online activity can contribute to the development of addictive tendencies. A strong emotional bond with SM can cause a problematic need to stay online permanently (Andreassen, Pallesen, & Griffiths, 2017). Individuals with enhanced levels of addictive tendencies, generally engage in problematic behavior to gain positive experiences and escape negative ones. They often lose control over their behavior, developing a strong pathological need to persist with such behavior despite its potentially negative consequences for their daily life (Griffiths, 1996, 2005). Addictive SMU is a multifaceted, but underresearched phenomenon exhibiting six typical characteristics (Andreassen et al., 2016): salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal symptoms, and conflict.

Studies that investigated social platforms, such as Facebook (Andreassen et al., 2013; Andreassen, Torsheim, Brunborg, & Pallesen, 2012; Atroszko et al., 2018), Instagram (Kircaburun & Griffiths, 2018), Twitter (Kircaburun, 2016), and Snapchat (Punyanunt-Carter, De La Cruz, & Wrench, 2017), reported addictive tendencies. For example, addictive Facebook use was found to be positively linked to the experience of daily stress, loneliness, depression, and anxiety symptoms (Atroszko et al., 2018; Marino, Gini, Vieno, & Spada, 2018; Ryan, Chester, Reece, & Xenos, 2014; Xie & Karan, 2019). Moreover, two longitudinal studies found that addictive Facebook activity is a positive predictor of insomnia and suicide-related outcomes (ideation and attempts) (Brailovskaia, Rohmann, Bierhoff, Margraf, & Köllner, 2019a; Brailovskaia, Teismann, & Margraf, 2020). Its relationship with life satisfaction and positive mental health is negative (Błachnio, Przepiorka, & Pantic, 2016; Brailovskaia, Teismann, & Margraf, 2020). However, since a tendency toward addictive SMU only affects a subset of the population, this requires a search for this phenomenon's potential antecedents. Identifying the potential antecedents could contribute to identifying individuals at risk of addictive SMU, and protecting their well-being preventively. While previous studies described explicit processes, such as the conscious search for online social support, as an antecedent of addictive tendencies (Brailovskaia et al., 2019a), very little is known about potential implicit antecedents.

It has been argued that the human brain has two separate information processing systems: a rule-based explicit system and a skill- or experienced-based implicit system (Dienes & Perner, 1999). Subconscious associations with objects’ mental representations, for example, that of alcohol (Houben & Wiers, 2008), can automatically steer attitudes and ultimately actual behavior, which explains deviations from rational (healthy) decision making behavior. Previous research found a positive relationship between implicit associations and different forms of addictive tendencies (Stacy & Wiers, 2010), such as addictive substance use, specifically of marijuana (Rooke, Hine, & Thorsteinsson, 2008), but also the addictive use of online media, such as online games (Yen et al., 2011). Based on recent findings (Turel & Serenko, 2020), implicit associations might also serve as an antecedent of addictive SMU.

Implicit associations that include cognitions about rewarding experiences might be spontaneously activated during exposure to relevant cues, fostering automatic engagement in problematic behavior (Greenwald, Poehlman, Uhlmann, & Banaji, 2009; Serenko & Turel, 2019). Social platforms, such as Facebook, provide cues that might contribute to implicit associations' activation, and foster excessive SMU (Turel & Serenko, 2020). However, implicit associations do not necessarily trigger spontaneous actions that might foster the development of addictive tendencies. Previous research showed a weak or missing link between implicit associations, attitudes, and behavior, such that attitude strength and manifested behavior cannot necessarily be inferred from associations’ closeness (Fiedler, Messner, & Bluemke, 2006).

The question therefore arises how implicit associations contribute to addictive tendencies' development, specifically to addictive SMU. Previous research found that implicit associations are positively linked to the flow experience (Schiepe-Tiska & Engeser, 2012). The flow state is described as “a period during which a highly practiced skill that is represented in the implicit system's knowledge base is implemented without interference from the explicit system” (Dietrich, 2004, p. 746). Consequently, an implicit representation – implicit association – with the relevant behavior or skill seems to be an important requirement for the flow experience. Individuals need some experience with the performed task, which makes a flow experience during a first contact with a new and unfamiliar task or skill less likely.

Flow is defined as an experience of intrinsic reward linked to high levels of enjoyment and pleasure when an individual is fully involved in a specific activity. Activities that contribute to the flow experience are often repeated, even at a great cost (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). A flow experience is also associated positively with the loss of self-awareness during the performed activity (Sheldon, Prentice, & Halusic, 2015), therefore requiring a temporary suppression of the explicit system's meta-conscious and analytic capacities (Dietrich, 2004). This partly explains why the continuation of the activity that evokes flow is not generally reflected consciously (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). It may therefore be hypothesized that implicit associations that specific cues activate on social platforms could evoke the flow experience.

This is in line with previous research that described individuals who tend to engage in intensive SMU as experiencing flow (Kaur, Dhir, Chen, & Rajala, 2016; Khang, Kim, & Kim, 2013; Kwak, Choi, & Lee, 2014). Five typical characteristics define SM flow (Kwak et al., 2014): curiosity (i.e., the experience of curiosity and interest during SMU), enjoyment (i.e., the experience of enjoyment and pleasure during SMU), time-distortion (i.e., losing sense of time during SMU), focused attention (i.e., an intensive focus on the SM activities), and telepresence (i.e., deep immersion into the SM world). SM flow is a positive predictor of self-disclosure, and can contribute to the development of close online interpersonal relationships that foster positive mood (Kwak et al., 2014).

However, similar to the findings of studies investigating problematic gaming behavior (Hull, Williams, & Griffiths, 2013; Khang et al., 2013; Trivedi & Teichert, 2017; Wu, Scott, & Yang, 2013), the flow experienced during Facebook's use was described as an antecedent of addictive Facebook use. The intensity of Facebook use moderated the relationship between flow and addictive tendencies. It was assumed that telepresence – deep immersion into the online world associated with forgetting the offline world, which is one of Facebook flow's main characteristics – might contribute to the development of an addictive bond with the social platform (Brailovskaia, Rohmann, Bierhoff, & Margraf, 2018).

Given this background, it may be hypothesized that experience of SM flow might mediate the previously reported positive relationship between implicit associations and addictive SMU. In light of social platforms' high popularity, particularly among the younger generations (Pew Research Center, 2019; Twenge, Martin, & Spitzberg, 2019), and the potential negative consequences of addictive SMU (e.g., Brailovskaia et al., 2019a; Marino et al., 2018), investigating this hypothesis and contributing to the understanding of the mechanisms that might foster addictive SMU tendencies' development, seem very important. Knowledge of such mechanisms could improve users’ general well-being. It might also provide support when screening individuals at risk of developing addictive tendencies, when developing intervention programs to prevent addictive SMU, and in therapeutic settings when treating patients already showing tendencies of addictive online behavior.

To date, the link between implicit associations and addictive/excessive SMU (Turel & Serenko, 2020), as well as the association between a flow experience and addictive SMU (Brailovskaia, Rohmann, et al., 2018) were investigated separately, and only with regard to Facebook. Based on the presented empirical background and considerations, the current study was the first to simultaneously investigate implicit associations’ relationship with SM, with addictive SMU tendencies, and with SM flow. Consequently, following Turel and Serenko (2020) who showed implicit associations to contribute to excessive Facebook use, implicit associations with SM were assumed to be positively related to addictive SMU (Hypothesis 1). Schiepe-Tiska and Engeser (2012) who focused on offline behavior described a positive relationship between implicit associations and flow experience. To investigate the generalizability of these findings to the online world, implicit associations with SM were assumed to be positively linked to SM flow (Hypothesis 2). Brailovskaia, Rohmann, et al. (2018) who focused on Facebook use and Hull et al. (2013) as well as Wu et al. (2013) who investigated gaming behavior reported online flow to be an antecedent of addictive online activity. Thus, SM flow was assumed to be positively linked to addictive SMU (Hypothesis 3). The previously reported research focused respectively on the link between two of the three variables – implicit associations, flow, addictive tendencies. In the next step, the available findings (e.g., Brailovskaia, Rohmann, et al., 2018; Schiepe-Tiska & Engeser, 2012; Turel & Serenko, 2020) were combined to investigate and to explain the relationship between all three variables at once: SM flow was assumed to (at least partly) mediate the relationship between implicit associations with SM and addictive SMU (Hypothesis 4). That means, the implicit associations with SM foster SM flow, and SM flow enhances tendencies of addictive SMU.