Preview
Faculty Mentor
Haiyan Zhang
Creation Date
4-2024
Description
Problematic use of the internet (PIU), such as overuse and holding unrealistic beliefs toward the internet and social media, have been found to interfere with individuals’ physical and psychological health, especially for those experiencing high levels of stress. In previous studies, mindfulness has been identified to correlate with psychological well-being and act as a protective measure against PIU development. In this pilot study, 203 college students were surveyed on perceived stress, mindfulness, and PIU. The preliminary findings supported the conceptual model in which mindfulness negatively correlates with PIU. However, the negative correlation only holds under low to moderate levels of stress but not under high levels. The findings have implications for educators and administrators in designing plans to help combat the development of PIU on college campuses. Future studies should use a longitudinal design with a larger sample size to examine the potential causal relationship between the variables.
Keywords
internet usage, stress, mindfulness