Understanding Digital Disconnection in Terms of Death Anxiety

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

This study considers whether being ‘digitally disconnected’ provokes death anxiety amongst smartphone users. Through a controlled experiment the reactions of disconnected smartphone users were assessed in terms of death thought accessibility, levels of shyness and sociability. Results showed that death thoughts increased with disconnection when the smartphone’s importance to self-esteem was taken into account. Shyness increased with digital disconnection but sociability was unaffected. The implications of how this reframes our understanding of digital addiction are discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 26 Jun 2019
Event24th Annual CyberPsychology, CyberTherapy & Social Networking Conference - Norfolk State University (NSU), Norfolk, United States
Duration: 24 Jun 201926 Jun 2019

Conference

Conference24th Annual CyberPsychology, CyberTherapy & Social Networking Conference
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNorfolk
Period24/06/1926/06/19

Keywords

  • Smartphone dependency
  • death anxiety
  • digital disconnection
  • shyness
  • sociability

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