Mourning and Memorialization on Social Media

Mourning and memorialization on social media are prominent features of modern bereavement and are common on Facebook, the world’s most popular social networking site. On Facebook, profiles of deceased users are memorialized by default, continuing to be present and accessible on the network and opening up new possibilities for the ongoing role and influence of the physically dead. Paradoxically, Facebook and other aspects of digital legacy have potential to both facilitate and disrupt continuing bonds, a term that describes the connection we experience with our dead. The psychological and sociological impact of the dead online is only beginning to be understood; in the meantime, it is argued that designers and operators of social networking platforms have a moral imperative to consider how to better facilitate individual choice and control over both our own digital legacies and our interaction with the digital legacies of those we have loved and lost.

Older Adults and Digital Technologies

The increase in the global population of adults over the age of 65 years has occurred alongside other developments at the individual, societal, and structural level, and these changes have shaped the world we live in, altered our life experiences, and transformed our expectations across the life course. A key factor has been the influence of technology and the increasingly technological nature of our interactions and communications in the public and private sphere. This chapter considers the ways in which technology intersects with aging at the individual and societal level by considering what is known about older adults (65+ years) and their use of technology, particularly digital technology, and also what the future holds for people as they age and as they use technology to remain independent, healthy, and socially connected. The key themes addressed in the context of population aging include the evolving technological landscape relevant to people as they age, older adults’ engagement with everyday technologies for information and communication, identifying the opportunities and barriers that need to be considered with older people’s access to and use of technology, and how forms of assistive technology can support older people, including those with complex needs, to age well within their community.

Image Sharing on Social Networking Sites: Who, What, Why, and So What?

Sharing images online, particularly through social networking sites (SNSs), is a widespread activity. The popularity of image sharing on SNSs has provided researchers with a unique opportunity for investigating how and why we communicate with each other via images. This chapter discusses research about photo sharing on three popular SNSs: Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. The unique affordances of each platform have resulted in differences in the images people share on them, and why people choose to share or view different images across the different SNSs. Personal characteristics also shape how and why we share images online. The chapter, therefore, also considers the role of age, gender, and personality on image sharing behaviors and preferences. Finally, the chapter outlines our current understanding of the interrelationship between image sharing and mental health. This chapter thus considers: Who shares images on social media? What do they share? Why do they share these images? What are the mental health consequences of image sharing on SNSs?

Online Romantic Relationships

This chapter provides an overview of the variety of ways in which online romantic relationships are conducted. It discusses how existing relationships are played out in online spaces, with particular attention to the increasingly popular activity of seeking new relationships through online dating. It covers the wide array of dating sites and apps available and summarizes the available information about who uses them, how and when they use them, and why. Positive aspects of online relationships, such as convenience as well as control over the way individuals are able to present themselves, are discussed, along with more negative aspects, including the potential for “catfishing” and harmful online behaviors after a relationship breakup.

Cultural Considerations on Online Interactions

This chapter explores cultural factors in online interaction and communication. Several major cultural theories are considered, including Hall’s (1976) distinction between high- and low-context cultures, Hofstede’s (1991) cultural dimensions, and Schwartz’s (1992) universal human values, with discussion of how these models might be applied in an online context. The discussion draws on empirical research into how people from different cultural contexts use the Internet, and focuses on online self-presentation, particularly on online social networks (OSNs) such as Facebook and Twitter. These studies suggest that culture does indeed impact on how people interact online, but in ways that are sometimes unpredictable and surprising. The chapter concludes by noting that, while the advent of the Internet has not necessarily led to significant cultural convergence per se, it has underlined the fact that, while cultural context is an influential factor in how people communicate, individual differences are just as important.

Uses and Gratifications of Social Media: Who Uses It and Why?

Social media is built upon user-generated content and interactivity between users. Understanding the users within social media is therefore imperative to understanding how social media itself functions. This chapter explores the users of social media in more detail and asks the two key questions of who uses social media, and why they do so. When looking towards past research for inspiration as a way to understand user interest towards media, the Uses and Gratifications model stands out as a key approach for exploring media uptake. Therefore, the chapter starts by focusing on the Uses and Gratifications framework and how it can be used to explain why individuals are drawn to social media. The framework is then expanded to discuss how individuals’ personal needs, in particular personality, can impact upon such motivations.

Adolescent and Emerging Adult Perception and Participation in Problematic and Risky Online Behavior

Advances in mobile technology have allowed young people to access social media regardless of time of day or geographic location. Communication and behaviors that once took place solely offline have shifted to online contexts. Research has found that viewing problematic media content related to risky sexual activity and drug use may change youths’ beliefs and behaviors about these issues. Because social media is popular with adolescents and emerging adults, we must evaluate how the content that they consume could be related to negative outcomes. By understanding the relation between young people’s social media content and their beliefs and behaviors, we can potentially use media as a tool to reinforce more positive behaviors.

The Therapeutic and Health Benefits of Playing Video Games

Video game playing is a popular leisure activity for many people across the world. Despite some of the negative publicity and empirical research highlighting the more negative aspects of playing video games, there is also a large literature demonstrating the therapeutic capacity that video game playing can have. This chapter briefly examines a number of therapeutic uses of video games, including: (i) cognitive remediation, (ii) distractors in the role of pain management, (iii) physiotherapy and occupational therapy, (iv) the development of social and communication skills among the learning disabled, (v) psychotherapeutic settings, (vi) health compliance, (vii) stress, anxiety, and emotional regulation, and (viii) physical activity using “exergames.” It is clear from the studies outlined that in the right context, video games can have a positive therapeutic benefit to a large range of different sub-groups. There has been considerable success when games are specifically designed to address a specific problem or to teach a certain skill. However, generalizability outside the game-playing situations remains an important consideration.

Cyberpsychology Research Methods

Cyberpsychology is a science. With that seemingly simple statement comes a need to understand how information is collected. Thus, it is vital to understand research methods. Along with methods, it is important to consider the nature of measurement, that is, how observations are converted into numbers that can be interpreted. This chapter covers the basic research methods, including observational, correlational, and experimental, and several of their associated measures. Each type of method is described, and issues and limitations are discussed. The chapter also introduces the need to consider the reliability and validity of the different methods and measurements. Research methods are constantly evolving so emerging methods, such as online data collection and the notifications on phones to collect data, are briefly described. Additionally, as cyberpsychology research involves human participants, it is important to treat these people well. Thus, the chapter closes with a discussion of research ethics.

Game Transfer Phenomena: Origin, Development, and Contributions to the Video Game Research Field

Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) is a multimodal and holistic research approach for understanding the effects of playing video games on cognition, sensory perceptions, and behaviors, considering the interplay of video game contents, in-game phenomena (e.g., immersion, trance state, embodiment), in-game activities, and the manipulation of hardware and peripherals. Research with over 6,000 gamers from different samples has demonstrated that playing video games can lead to at least temporarily seeing images, hearing music, sounds, voices, tactile sensations, involuntary movements of limbs, sensations of unreality, illogical thoughts, verbal outbursts, etc., with video game contents. This chapter encompasses an overview of the research on GTP conducted to date, including contributions to the video game research field and future research directions. The chapter is divided into three main sections: i) the phenomena comprises characteristics and the prevalence of GTP; ii) the gamer covers the underlying factors associated with GTP, appraisal and consequences of GTP, and iii) the game includes structural characteristics associated with GTP.