Previous research has shown that using entertaining media can produce a “recovery experience” that helps people relax and detach from the stresses of work.
But the latest study highlighted the paradox of using various media to relax after a stressful day, with those who might have benefited most from using media to recover instead experiencing lower levels of recovery, because they felt doing so was a sign that they had failed to exercise self-control.
Dr Leonard Reinecke, from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz who co-authored the report, said: “We are beginning to better understand that media use can have beneficial effects for people's well-being, through media-induced recovery.
"Our present study is an important step towards a deeper understanding of this. It demonstrates that in the real life, the relationship between media use and well-being is complicated and that the use of media may conflict with other, less pleasurable but more important duties and goals in everyday life.
“We are starting to look at media use as a cause of depletion. In times of smartphones and mobile internet, the ubiquitous availability of content and communication often seems to be a burden and a stressor rather than a recovery resource.”