LanguageTerm (authority = ISO 639-3:2007); (type = text)
English
Abstract (type = abstract)
This dissertation investigates how new communication technologies, which afford ubiquitous accessibility to one’s social networks affect his/her psychological well-being. Research on this topic often suggests that these technologies accelerate the fragmentation of an individual’s personal networks, which, in turn, causes serious mental health problems such as depression. Counter to this view, I propose that new communication technologies allow individuals to have extensive awareness of various types of people in their networks, leading to diverse effects on their wellbeing. Given this proposition, my work focuses on the complexities of context, where continuous flows of information about social ties entails both positive and negative effects on an individual’s wellbeing. To generate a deeper understanding of this phenomenon, I conceptualize network awareness as one’s knowledge about other network members’ lives, relate it to use of communication technologies and examine negative psychological outcomes, such as stress and anxiety. The methodological approach of this study is primarily quantitative, but I leverage the strengths of qualitative interviews to add depth and detail.
The findings lend greater theoretical foundations for the relationship between newer forms of communication technology and psychological well-being. I found that use of these technologies was not directly associated with negative psychological outcomes. Rather, it was indirectly associated with one’s psychological wellbeing through heightened network awareness. More specifically, use of some technologies, such as mobile messages and Facebook was associated with higher awareness of undesirable life events in the lives of others. This increased awareness then became a source of psychological discomfort in the form of higher stress or less belief in a just world. However, the negative relationship between awareness and psychological wellbeing was not uniform. Instead, it became more or less pronounced depending on the relationship an individual had with the people who experienced the undesirable life events, as well as which life events that individual had personally gone through themselves. Altogether, these findings suggest that the indirect effects of communication technology on psychological wellbeing are limited: users of technology experience different social strains depending on with whom they communicate what information through which technology. This dissertation ultimately corroborates the idea that the use of communication technologies is socially embedded, and its implications are socially determined.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Communication, Information and Library Studies
Subject (authority = local)
Topic
Network awareness
Subject (authority = LCSH)
Topic
Online social networks -- Psychological aspects
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_10258
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (x, 262 pages) : illustrations
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
School of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.