A recent study suggests people who were highly stressed at work did not feel more relaxed after watching Television or playing video games; in fact, they usually felt worse than before.
The study conducted by researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and VU University Amsterdam, found these activities often led to increased levels of guilt or failure. The findings were published in the Journal of Communication.
To make their findings the research team asked 471 study participants about their previous day, how they had felt after work or school and whether or not they had used media to relax at the end of the day. The team found those who felt particular tired after their day were more likely to report feeling like their time had been wasted on media. They also felt guilty for giving in to their desire to watch T.V. or play video games instead of doing something more productive.
"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 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," said Doctor Leonard Reinecke, lead author of the study.
The findings suggest a "paradoxical pattern between depletion and media-induced recovery," the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz reported. Meaning those who could use the relaxation from media use the most actually experience the least amount of recovery from the activity.
"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," Reinecke said.
