Abstract
Temporarily disconnecting from social media has become more widespread in recent years with users choosing to limit or stop engaging with social media platforms for a period of time. There are no published syntheses that integrate the collective research on this phenomenon, nor how this behaviour is experienced. This review provides insight into the research on this phenomenon and proposes a conceptual framework for understanding social media user’s temporal discontinuance experience. We conducted a scoping review of 27 articles published during 2010–2020, focusing on the most salient factors of temporal discontinuance. Our review revealed a number of issues related to users’ motivations for temporal discontinuance, including the need to address self-reported problematic and excessive social media use, the want to restore control and/or agency, as well as the desire to minimise distractions and address privacy concerns. We identified the various benefits and challenges temporal disconnectors experience and describe two specific practices related to their return to social media use: 1) manipulating technological and/or platform affordances and/or 2) self-regulating behaviours. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research.
Keywords
Introduction
In just a short period of time, social media has established its very own techno-culture, providing various opportunities for users to communicate and interact with one another across a variety of user specific platforms. In 2020, over 3.6 billion people were using social media worldwide (Statista, 2021). While on the whole we are a communication society, motivated by social connectedness, this is not always a welcomed or constant state. In fact, throughout ones social media journey, some will experience peaks and troughs in their usage, sometimes even desiring less social availability and connectivity (Hesselberth, 2018). When user satisfaction and gratification is threatened by experiences of technostress (Maier et al., 2015), information overload (Luqman et al., 2017), dissatisfaction (Zhang et al., 2016), social overload (Maier et al., 2017), exhaustion (Salo et al., 2017) and perceived excessive overuse (Luqman et al., 2020; Shen and Wang, 2019) social media users have been known to trial discontinuance and subsequent disconnective practices (Luqman et al., 2017).
It is important to unpack the complexity of the meanings behind the terminology used to understand disconnection, discontinuance and disconnective practices, which is often confusing and inconsistent (Hesselberth, 2018). This is necessary to provide conceptual clarity of the terminology and corresponding meanings that will be referenced throughout this review and used to develop the as they are often used interchangeably throughout the literature. Social science research traditionally used the terms connection and disconnection to focus on the individuals use and non-use of technology. Whereby, disconnection was the global term used to describe non-use practices; however, it became increasingly more evident that there are many forms of disconnection and associated practices adopted by users of social media and it is not as simple as use versus non-use.
Now, this binary perspective has been superseded by more recent interdisciplinary research re-conceptualising the complex post-adoption user process. Consequently, discontinuance quickly became the umbrella term used to describe the different involuntary or voluntary types of non-use that exist. Progressively, discontinuance has been categorised into varying types, where numerous disconnection practices, refer to the manipulation of device or platform affordances to modulate connective availability. The diversity and heterogeneity that non-use embodies, illustrates the multidimensional facets involved when understanding discontinuance and disconnective practices employed and experienced by users.
Types of discontinuance and possible associated factors.
While there have been a lot of focus and even some reviews on discontinuances like quitting and rejection (Dwivedi et al., 2012), there is yet to be a review conducted on the current literature exclusively investigating users’ temporal discontinuance experiences. This is surprising, given that the most prevalent type of social media cessation is temporal discontinuance. It is of particular importance because it happens in tandem with continuing use, implying a user cycle between the connection and disconnection stages (Franks et al., 2018; Soliman and Rinta-Kahila, 2020). As a result, researchers have recommended that this unique phenomenon should be further conceptualised (Soliman and Rinta-Kahila, 2020). Our goal in conducting a narrowly focused review is to gain a better understanding of social media users’ temporal discontinuation experiences and, based on the findings, to create a preliminary framework of such experiences.
Temporal discontinuance and its associated disconnective practices
Often, temporal discontinuance has been studied in relation to the positive and negative impacts on social media users. Social media users have reported increases in self-reported health and well-being (Baym et al., 2020; E. P. S. Baumer et al., 2015) and the opportunity for quality social connections (Stanovsek, 2019; Thomas et al., 2016) upon temporarily disconnecting. However, heightened stress and anxiety attributed to temporal discontinuance has also been reported (Vally & D'Souza, 2019). These different findings need to be synthesised and analysed to achieve an overarching understanding of temporal discontinuance phenomena.
The current literature includes studies that have explored the motivations influencing discontinuance via interviews (Cho, 2015; Portwood-Stacer, 2012), surveys (Luqman et al., 2017 S. Zhang et al., 2016) and ethnographic data such as online texts or visual posts (Gomez et al., 2015; Jorge, 2019). From these studies, various motivations have been identified influencing temporal discontinuance including the abandonment of dating apps once in a relationship (Brubaker et al., 2016), the increasing concerns surrounding user privacy (E. Baumer et al., 2013; Ravindran et al., 2014; Schoenebeck, 2014a) guilt relating to issues of self-control (Turel, 2016) and for religious reasons (Schoenebeck, 2014a). To lessen user dissatisfaction, users can engage in one or more disconnective practices to enact and maintain the temporal discontinuance decision.
Soliman & Rinta-Kahila describe one of the most distinguishing features of defining temporal discontinuance is the forethought of intention to re-use. Often, the disconnection is not a complete abandonment of the platform but a temporal state involving various levels of disengagement with intentions of reconnecting (E. Baumer et al., 2013; Jorge, 2019; Ng, 2020; Turel & R Cavagnaro, 2018). This observation has been confirmed by other studies, in particular Brubaker et al. (2016), where participants were reassured by the knowledge they could return when ready to do so (Brubaker et al., 2016). Additionally, the temporal discontinuance process has been further disentangled by Dermljuga (2018), who suggests four distinct phases which social media users encounter during their temporal discontinuation: motive collection, disconnective practices, modified media practice and retrospective sense making. In order to fully comprehend the phenomenon, the major phases of temporal discontinuity ‘connection’, ‘disconnections’, and ‘reconnection’ must be considered simultaneously.
Based on the research reviewed, we define temporal discontinuance as follows: A voluntary act of disengagement exercised by users who knowingly engage in periodic episodes of use to non-use and reuse again, applying specific practices for negotiating the challenges associated with social media ecologies.
Finally, we conceptualise disconnective practices associated with temporal discontinuance: Various tactics, either manipulating technological and platform affordances or applying self-regulating behaviours, adopted by tech users to achieve a desired outcome.
While there is little consensus concerning the distinction between discontinuance and disconnective practice; one thing is clear: social media temporal discontinuance is a dynamic process that is an interwoven element of a user’s social media journey. In this review, we will be considering temporal discontinuance and associated disconnective practices as they are inevitably experienced together. As a common type of discontinuance enacted by social media users, a synthesis of temporal discontinuance literature is needed to establish fundamental links between social media users’ and temporal discontinuance experiences as well as their engagement with disconnective practices, and the impact of these engagements on their reuse behaviour and experiences. The aims of this scoping review are threefold: 1.We aim to explore what is currently known specifically about temporal discontinuance experiences among social media users. 2.Based on these findings we offer a conceptual framework of social media users temporal discontinuance experiences focusing on the most salient factors identified and 3.Explore the dynamic interactions of the temporal discontinuance experience by allocating the most salient factors in terms of importance across time.
Therefore, our review enables the exploration and development of a corresponding social media user’s temporal discontinuance experience framework that captures goal-orientated behaviours.
Our approach
To the best of our knowledge, there is no research that reviews the interconnections of behaviours and practices and how this influences social media user’s temporal discontinuance from social media. Nor is there a conceptual framework for understanding social media user’s temporal discontinuance experiences. Given that the research field is rapidly emerging and expands across different disciplines, there is a need for a focused scoping review. Specifically, a review should analyse the distinct components of the entire temporal discontinuance experience. This may offer perspectives which could influence further research and provide a richer understanding of this phenomenon and how it is experienced by social media users.
A literature search was conducted to collect academic papers published on the topic of social media temporal discontinuance up to March 2020. This search yielded 195 articles that were further analysed to revealed 27 papers focusing on more than one phase of the temporal discontinuance experience. These articles not only offer clear insight into temporal discontinuance, but also an opportunity to grasp current knowledge on the strategies and practices social media users adopt. Based upon the review findings, we offer a conceptual framework to explain temporal discontinuance experiences and a dynamic model of the most salient factors experienced by social media users. We developed the framework to identify the main components that influence temporal discontinuance behaviours of social media users. By mapping the existing literature into our framework, we were able to identify five main components that temporal disconnectors experience prior to, during and post temporal discontinuance. This included motivations, challenges and benefits, reuse reasons and modified practices upon reuse. These components are further analysed to acknowledge the most salient factors influencing temporal discontinuance behaviours.
Our proposed conceptual framework for social media temporal discontinuance experiences may be valuable in numerous ways; 1) by focusing solely on social media user’s temporal discontinuance experiences we offer insights into understanding the factors affecting social media disconnection and reconnection behaviours; and 2) as there has been a steep incline in research studies specifically pertaining to social media discontinuance in the past 10 years, collecting academic papers from this period will likely yield articles that consider multiple temporal discontinuance phases and offer a more comprehensive picture of social media users experiences.
Methodology
The methodology for this scoping review was informed by the five stage framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley (2005). The objective behind adopting this particular framework is to support the conduct of a systematic, transparent and replicable approach and increase the reliability of the review findings. The five stages of the scoping review framework suggested by Arksey and O'Malley (2005) are as follows: (1) identify the research question, (2) identify relevant studies, (3) study selection, (4) charting the data and (5) collating, summarising and reporting the results.
Identify the research question/s
For the purpose of this scoping review, we sought articles that utilised the definition of temporal discontinuance practices of social media as outlined by Soliman and Rinta-Kahila (2020) resulting in returned use to social media. The overarching research question for this review is What is currently known about social media temporal discontinuance experiences?
Identify relevant studies (search strategy)
Four main concepts were used to structure the literature enquiry: discontinuance (‘unplug’, ‘pushback’, ‘sabbatical’, ‘digital detox’, ‘digital vacation’, ‘fasting’, ‘departing’, ‘leaving’, ‘inactive’, ‘withdrawal’, ‘breaks’, ‘non-use’, ‘disconnection’, ‘discontinuation’) social media and platforms (‘online’, ‘social networking sites’, ‘social media’, ‘Facebook’, ‘Twitter’, ‘Instagram’) reconnection (‘reengagement’, ‘reuse’, ‘reconnect’, ‘returning’, ‘relapse’, ‘revision’) and user outcomes and strategies (‘well-being’, ‘coping strategies’, ‘modified use’, ‘disconnective practices’, ‘experiences’, ‘affordances’, ‘user mitigation’, ‘modulation’) Boolean operators were used across a total of six databases to search for keywords. The databases Web of Science, PsychInfo, ProQuest Central, SocINDEX, Communication & Mass Media Complete and Google Scholar were used to locate relevant English language research articles up until March 2020. Reference lists were searched for relevant citations and author searchers were conducted using Google Scholar. A variety of research methodologies (qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods studies) were selected from either peer reviewed academic journals, reviews, conference proceedings, dissertations and/or grey literature. The varied study designs and range of context of the articles included in this scoping review is appropriate for the methodology adopted.
Study selection (inclusion and exclusion criteria)
We decided to limit our review to 2010 as research from this period extends a more nuanced understanding of temporal discontinuance regarding social media. It is important to highlight that our main objective is to understand temporal discontinuance experiences among social media users and how the current literature has addressed the phenomenon from a holistic perspective. For this reason, all articles selected were required to have addressed two or more of the temporal discontinuance phases. Any articles that focused on only one specific phase, for example motivations only were excluded. After duplicates were removed, studies were screened following a two-stage process; firstly, by title and abstract, followed by full text evaluation. After this process, a total of 27 articles were identified as fitting the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Studies included focused on voluntary temporal discontinuance with participants >13 years.
Charting the data (data extraction)
Description and analysis of included articles under review (in year of publication order).
Collating, summarising and reporting the results
For a more detailed data analysis, all articles were imported into the qualitative analysis software programme NVivo 12. This analysis consisted of interpreting textual data through an iterative process of coding the information into categories that best reflected social media users experience of the entire temporal discontinuance process. To ensure the validity of the coding process as well as inter-coder reliability, review authors met to discuss identified codes and to resolve any coding problems raised by the first author, before final approval. The first author classified the temporal discontinuance process into four major categories: motivations (e.g. articles which investigated social media users motivations for temporally disconnecting), temporal discontinuance experiences (e.g. articles investigative social media users experiences of temporal discontinuance), reuse reasons (e.g. articles which identified social media users reasons for reconnecting) and disconnective and modified practices upon reuse (e.g. articles which discussed changes/strategies reported by social media users to their usage habits and behaviours once reconnected). A descriptive numerical summary of the dynamic features of the temporal discontinuation process outlined above was conducted. To identify current gaps in knowledge about temporal discontinuance, key findings from all included studies were subjected to thematic analysis.
Results
Article selection and characteristics
A total of 689 published articles were identified from the database searchers (see Figure 1), with 494 of these articles excluded based upon initial screening of the titles and abstracts. Of the remaining 195 articles, an independent full text review excluded another 100 for not meeting the inclusion criteria, with 68 duplicates removed, leaving a total of 27 studies for review. Of the 27 studies reviewed, multiple geographical locations were included by some studies with the majority of the data collected from participants living in the United States (n = 15) followed by Europe (n = 8), three studies from both Australia and Asia and two studies collecting global data. Most studies investigated Facebook discontinuance exclusively (n = 11), eleven studies looked at social networking sites or digital detoxes in general, four studies focused on Twitter and one each investigated WeChat, RenRen, Grinder and Instagram. Although the majority of the studies had an evenly distributed gender ratio, there was a slight gender inequality favouring females. The age of participants ranged between 14 to 80 years, however, the majority of studies prioritised participants aged 30 years and younger. Nineteen of the selected studies were qualitative with semi-structured interviews, closely followed by surveys most widely adopted methodology. Five mixed methods approaches were adopted and three quantitative studies. Retrospective cohort design was most common with only one study adopting a prospective experimental approach. Study selection process.
Review findings
The review identified five main components, pinpointing the key experiences of temporal discontinuance among social media users. The five main components are 1) motivations; 2) benefits; 3) challenges; 4) reuse reasons and 5) modified practices upon reuse. Each of these five components were divided into overarching themes with corresponding sub-themes, representing the most salient factors reported across the literature. A complete set of factors identified and related articles for each of the five components discussed are available in the supplementary appendices referred to throughout. The most salient factors influencing social media user’s temporal discontinuance experience will be subsequently discussed.
Motivations
The key themes related to user’s motivation to discontinue social media use was organised into user-related factors, health factors, tech function factors, social factors and cultural factors (Supplementary Appendix A). The two most common motivation sub-themes of user-related factors and tech functions factors are discussed below.
User-related factors was the most commonly reported motivation theme. We defined user-related factors as relating to the negative influence of social media use on time, values and experiences, and the users’ level of awareness of how social media shapes temporal discontinuance thoughts and actions. Twelve studies reported on user-related factors such as worrying, self-identifying or feeling guilty about excessive use. These beliefs are developed from personal concerns, media portrayals and stigma associated with addictive social media habits. For example, one study offered visual depictions of excessive social media use throughout the media, demonstrating societies opinions of suspected social media addictions as unhealthy and uncontrollable behaviours (Gomez et al., 2015). Excessive social media use was also found to contribute to the health and social factor motivation themes. For instance, the health factor of stress and social factor of social media fatigue were more likely experienced among users who identified as excessive or problematic users.
Tech function factors represents the attributes that reflect the user’s perception of online safety and privacy. Hong & Thong define privacy concerns as ‘the degree to which an Internet user is concerned about website practices related to the collection and use of his or her personal information’ (Hong and Thong, 2013: p. 276). One study in particular discussed the very specific Cambridge Analytica scandal (where personal data were purchased to specifically design an advertisement posted on Facebook targeting a political agenda). This incident depicted a breach of trust that significantly increased concerns among users about the possibility of privacy invasion and was an influential factor for non-use practices (Brown, 2020). Furthermore, Gangneux (2019) brought to light the unease that social media users felt about data mining and targeted advertising algorithms. These examples indicate that the concerns regarding privacy are associated with how social media providers use their consumers’ data and the inadequate level of control users have over personal information held by social media sites (Koohang et al., 2018). Control issues were significant in motivating temporal discontinuance, bringing to question user’s confidence in their own ability to address control issues while still actively using social media. Social media users have clear expectations that they should be able to control privacy settings and that basic tech features are available and effective in helping them in doing so.
Overall, 10 studies discussed user’s privacy concerns. Lupton (2020) offers a possible explanation for these observed findings (Lupton, 2020). Lupton (2020) reports that individuals do recognise and acknowledge datafication and dataveillance and are increasingly aware of the way third parties process and use their personal data. Furthermore, users can identify known practices that assist in protecting, securing and caring for their own personal data online, as tech functions have become more accommodating to users controlling their privacy. Additionally, Lupton (2020) found that perceptions about privacy and data security maybe shifting, whereby users are becoming more receptive to company’s responsible use of their personal data as it converts to platform developments that have to capacity to further personalise and customise user’s online experiences. This reiterates users’ desires for increased control and agency regarding their social media use.
Temporal discontinuation experiences (benefits and challenges)
Users’ temporal discontinuance experiences are discussed in terms of self-reported benefits and challenges.
Benefits
Three main overarching themes pertained to benefits associated with temporal discontinuance: psychological benefits, tech-user appreciation and re-evaluation and social benefits (refer to Supplementary Appendix B for more associated benefits).
Psychological benefits reflect the perceived positive shifts in the emotional and mental state of users during their voluntary disengagement from social media. This theme was reflected in a number of positive experiences reported across the reviewed literature, such as having the capacity to reduce psychological distress, increase user awareness, mood, well-being, mindfulness and challenge their digital and personal values. The most common benefits experienced by temporal disconnectors were an increase in self-awareness of their own user habits and the ability to reconnect with their authentic self as a result of being more mindful and present. The more a user identified as excessive or problematic before temporal discontinuance, the better the improvement in emotional and mental state during temporal discontinuance (Tromholt, 2016). A number of temporal disconnectors discussed the benefit of being more present and the opportunity to reconnect with what they referred to as their ‘authentic selves’. This was particularly evident in Cho (2015) and Baumer et al (2015) who reported that many temporal disconnectors desired moving towards a more authentic self-online.
Tech-user appreciation and re-evaluation refers to user’s ability to recognise the worth of, or importance of, the role social media plays in their lives, whilst acknowledging the need to make changes based upon the new information obtained during the temporal discontinuance experience. Eleven studies in total reported on factors associated with the theme tech-user appreciation and re-evaluation. During temporal discontinuance, a level of user consciousness seems to emerge, through which users digital and personal values were challenged. Temporal disconnectors reported feeling responsible for their own dissatisfying experiences online, blaming their own misuse behaviours and habitual practices. Consequently, disconnectors question the value of social media in their lives and experience a unique opportunity to self-reflect on their social media user habits.
Seven studies found that users recognised their need to re-evaluate the values, which they believed were instrumental in achieving their desired positive user-tech relationship. Syvertsen and Enli (2019) found for a digital detox to be considered a beneficial experience the motivation behind the act must have been embedded in personal values. Stanovsek (2019) explains that temporal discontinuance helps disconnectors to reassess their digital values and extends to both digital mindfulness and interpersonal mindfulness.
Social benefits describe the positive impact on temporal disconnectors through the valued exchange between interpersonal social interactions. Nine studies in total noted specific social benefits, mainly the positive impact on users’ interpersonal social interactions and connections with close friends and family. Temporal disconnectors noted increases in their quality of social connections during discontinuance. Four studies argued that any psychological and social benefits were only short-term (Salo et al., 2017).
Challenges
The main overarching themes for the challenges associated with temporal discontinuance are social and emotional challenges (Supplementary Appendix C). Social challenges describe the negative consequences temporal disconnectors feel due to the perceived loss of social interactions, connections and access to regular content during temporal discontinuance. Eleven studies discussed the various challenges faced by temporal disconnectors. Studies by Ng (2020), Salo et al. (2017) and Thomas et al. (2016) reported that many social media users described feeling disconnected and isolated during temporal discontinuance. 10 articles reported social isolation and loss of social connectedness. This contributed towards an emotionally negative experience that can trigger social anxiety and the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) phenomenon. The emotional challenge theme is concerned with the emotions and feelings aroused during temporal discontinuance. Many described feeling emotionally distressed about the corresponding loneliness felt during temporal discontinuance.
Reuse reasons
Reasons for reuse were grouped into three major overarching themes: social norms and benefits, psychological reasons and tech-user advantages (Supplementary Appendix D). Multiple reasons influenced temporal disconnectors to reuse social media and were often a direct result of the challenges temporal disconnectors experienced. Social norms and benefits were the most predominant theme, closely followed by psychological reasons.
Social norms and benefits refer to either the pressure to conform to social roles and or the advantage to be gained from reconnecting to social media. Motivations for reuse were linked to negative experiences while offline, such as unmet socialising and networking needs, and career pressure, expectations and opportunities. These sub-themes were considered the most salient for commencing social media reuse. Socialising and networking needs included the desire to be more socially informed and connected, share news or important information with online friends and family, and be included in online conversations, jokes and events. Temporal disconnectors felt external pressure to comply with workplace expectations, social norms of availability and self-promotion to support, maintain and extend their online presence.
Psychological reasons reflect a motive that resulted from a basic psychological need, stimulus or desire. Eight studies mentioned the psychological role FoMO played in motivating reuse. Users would report increased feelings of loneliness, exacerbating their sense of isolation and exclusion. Two studies suggested that temporal disconnectors could possibly experience lower levels of social isolation and FoMO during temporal discontinuance if one or more close friends were also disconnected from social media use (Franks et al., 2018; E. Baumer et al., 2013).
Overall, social media reuse experiences were limited across the reviewed studies and void of participant follow-up. Re-users’ discussed intentions to implement new and/or healthier user habits. For instance, temporal disconnectors aimed to reuse social media more ‘authentically’, believing there is an ‘authentic’ and or ‘right’ way to use social media (Baumer et al., 2013; Cho, 2015; Sutton, 2017). Only one ethnographic study reported anxiety and fear among participants regarding re-use, whereby several participants discussed relapse concerns of reverting to old user habits, such as loss of control and excessive use (Sutton, 2017).
Modified practices
Interestingly, the majority of studies that discussed disconnective or modified practices implemented by temporal disconnectors upon reuse were published from 2016 to current. This demonstrates an increase in interest related to understanding how social media users are mitigating social media stresses and strains through disconnective practices or modifying user habits. Eighteen articles reported on the various disconnective and modified practices that some users implemented upon their return to social media use. Two major categories emerged regarding the types of practices and behaviours users would adopt: technological or platform affordances (Supplementary Appendix E) and self-regulating behaviours (Supplementary Appendix F). Each of these major categories and themes are discussed separately below:
Tech/platform affordances and are the capabilities of the platform to allow user control. Fifteen studies identified re-users would modify their technological or platform features and functionalities. There was considerable diversity in the range of affordance that temporal disconnectors adopted upon reuse. Two main themes were identified during analysis: enable availability barriers and declutter. The most commonly reported technological or platform affordance was users enabling availability features including turning off notifications or deleting or removing the social media app. Another affordance enacted was described as decluttering, where users would unfriend or unfollow particular users or groups. One study reported how users would repurpose technological features such as screen previews, designed to provide users with immediate feedback on incoming messages (Gangneux, 2019). However, users reported that these screen previews were helpful in allowing users to control connectivity and availability, whilst avoiding offending the sender, as the receiver could view the message without showing the sender that this message has been read.
Self-regulating behaviours
A total of 17 studies reported on users’ self-regulating behaviours upon reuse. Self-regulating behaviours describes attributes reflecting a conscious personal management implemented to achieve users best interest outcomes upon reuse. Analysis revealed two main overarching themes corresponding to self-regulating behaviours among re-users: discipline – self-control measures and break habitual use. The most salient self-regulating behaviour adopted was limit user engagement grouped under the discipline and self-control measures. Limit engagement involved a variety of actions including users setting time restrictions or limits on use, reducing the frequency of use and a reduction in comments, posting, level of disclosure and overall engagement online. Another important theme was associated with users attempts to break habitual social media use through relocating, hiding or deleting the social media app.
Below is our proposed conceptual framework of social media user’s temporal discontinuance experiences as it pertains to the most salient factors identified and discussed above (Figure 2). Proposed conceptual framework of social media user's temporal discontinuance experiences.
Discussion
There has been substantial growth in the research conducted on social media temporal discontinuance over the past decade. The findings indicate that social media disconnectors perceive the experience as an overall process encompassing five main components, constituting of psychological, technological, social and/or emotional factors. The study reveals that all five main components of the temporal discontinuance experience are strongly connected to social media user’s self-reflection and level of awareness pertaining to their habits. This indicates that the temporal discontinuance experience consists of different stages – prior to, during and post reconnection.
Highlighting the most salient factors from the users’ perspectives for the five main components (motivations, benefits and challenges, reuse reasons and modified practices implemented upon reuse), we offer a conceptual model of temporal discontinuance experiences among social media users. In addition to the conceptual framework, we have also produced a dynamic model of temporal discontinuance experiences.
A complex set of intertwined user-related factors, tech functions and other factors influence social media users’ motivations to enact temporal discontinuance. In terms of motivations, a number of studies focused on the issue of why social media users undertook temporal discontinuance. The user-related factors describe a personal awareness or reflection of user habits or behaviours, particularly users’ perceptions of their excessive or problematic use and the possible benefits to be gained through temporal discontinuance, such as increasing user agency and control. Although social media users have the autonomy pertaining to their social media use, they encounter a paradox between power versus agency, where the right to disconnect is inhibited by a society dominated by connectivity and limited affordances offered by platforms.
Temporal discontinuance is an act of reclaiming user control. Gaining control was a key dimension in explaining temporal discontinuance behaviours. Users expect a level of agency, subsequently, platform developers should ensure that adequate affordance, with a variety of functionalities, are available so that users are able to implement strategies to meet their well-being needs, whilst still continuing to use social media. For example, social media users find it particularly useful if they can control platform features and functions, such as privacy settings. However, if these options are unavailable, users may repurpose digital devices functionalities to overcome platform limitations. Understanding social media user’s needs and expectations for agency, could provide valuable insight to platform developers, such as positively influencing user’s trust and enhancing the credibility of the platform providers.
This study emphasises the importance of self-reflection and awareness across multiple components of the temporal discontinuance experience. Self-reflection was the most salient factor associated with psychological benefits during temporal disconnection as illustrated in Figure 3. Self-reflections influence temporal disconnectors experience across all components, prior, during and post temporal discontinuances. This suggests that self-reflection and self-awareness are at the forefront of the temporal discontinuance experience, where reconnection to oneself with a focus on personal and digital values that are viewed as more mindful and authentic, are desired outcomes of the temporal discontinuance experience. This in turn enhances the social media experience upon reuse. Previous research has suggested that authenticity may play a fundamental role in emotionally processing ones relationship with technology use, yet to date, limited research exists pertaining to authenticity in social media use (Skovira, 2017). Understanding the role temporal discontinuance plays in the evolution of shaping personal digital values and ideals, such as the need for authentic use and how this conversely reshapes social media users’ habits, technological platforms and social norms is an area of research ripe for investigation. Dynamic model of how the most salient factors of temporal discontinuance experiences intersect.
Social factors across four of the five main temporal discontinuance experience components, motivations, benefits, challenges and reuse reasons, highlights the important role of social factors (both positive and negative) on social media users continued use and disconnection experience. This is particularly the case for challenges experienced during temporal discontinuance and the reasons for reuse. Temporal disconnectors are initially influenced by negative social factors motivating temporal discontinuance, which later converts to experiencing positive social connections during temporal discontinuance, that seemingly wear off over time. This triggers a number of negative social and emotional experiences, especially feeling disconnected and increases in FoMO, that in fact influence temporal disconnector’s decision to reuse social media. This supports the assertion that social benefits arising from social media user’s temporal discontinuance experience are generally short-lived. The realisation of the social benefits gained from using social media, coupled with societal pressure to have an online presence or experiences of FoMO indicates the influence of social connections shaping attitudes and beliefs towards temporal discontinuance and reconnection. Contemplating the benefits and challenges experienced during temporal discontinuance would lead to their willingness to reconnect, however, not before modifying their user practices.
From the reviewed articles, this study clearly indicates that social media users appreciate a variety of functions and features offering the opportunity for increased control. Users are obliged to build a tolerance in order to continue using the platform or technology if it does not provide affordances and options to reduce user dissatisfactions. This has influenced users into a situation where they are both the problem and solution, as demonstrated by their commitment to implement self-regulatory behaviours. Rather than focusing on user escapism, temporal disconnectors are committed to developing a healthy relationship with social media that leads to the adoption of creative and inventive solutions in the aftermath of temporal discontinuity. From the results of this review, the modified practices that users enacted upon reuse were often the features or functions available on the device and not specifically the platform itself. This fact further illustrates the limited platform affordance available to users. This reinforces the technical environment and culture of perpetual connectedness, in which digital capitalism’s social and political ambitions are neglected as users continue to blame themselves. Until we can modify some of the expectations and norms associated with connectivity and availability culture, then no matter what strategies social media users implement, the problem will remain.
The conflict between technology functionalities and self is consistent with conclusions from other research on the area of discontinuance (Soliman and Rinta-Kahila, 2020). Yet, here we demonstrate that the temporal discontinuance experience is a creative and strategic process and emphasise a high level of awareness and adaptation to balance sociality norms, expectations and affordance availabilities with user’s well-being needs.
Limitations
Presenting a comprehensive synthesis of the current contemporary literature published on temporal discontinuance experience is the main strength of this scoping review. Nonetheless, several limitations must be acknowledged. Included articles were not subjected to quality assessment measures. However, by not appraising the quality of the studies included allowance for a greater range of study designs and methodologies to be admitted. The study emphasises breadth and the relevance of articles analysed did not simply prioritising standard of evidence. Only research articles conducted in English were included, increasing the possibility that the review missed other relevant studies. Also, there is the potential for reviewer bias regarding the characterisation and interpretation of the articles included in the review. Although every effort was made to ensure the most current literature was included in this review, the literature admitted is challenged thus, it is encouraged that this review be interpreted as a snapshot of social media user’s temporal discontinuance motivations and experiences only. Finally, it is important that we draw attention to the absence of monographs, books and anthologies in this scoping review. This limitation means that the current study cannot produce an accurate account of the literature within the discipline of human computer behaviour research. The highly selected focus of the inclusion criteria adopted for this review in the attempt to understand the effects of temporal social media disconnection and reconnection has unfortunately underrepresented critical perspectives in this field. We advise that our interpretations and recommendations for future research be deduced with caution.
Conclusion & further research
In this scoping review, we aimed to better understand what is currently known about temporal discontinuance experiences among social media users. We also set out to propose a conceptual framework with a dynamic model of the most salient factors influencing temporal discontinuance and how the phenomenon is experienced. We elaborated these findings visually, illustrating how temporal disconnectors behaviours and practices interconnect at different stages of the temporal discontinuance experience over time. Our review resulted in a total of 27 articles published between 2010 and 2020 that focused explicitly on social media temporal discontinuance from the user’s perspectives with varying degrees of depth. Analysis revealed five distinct components of social media temporal disconnectors experiences (1) motivations; (2) benefits; (3) challenges; (4) reuse reasons and (5) modified practices upon reuse which can potentially lead to differing outcomes and experiences. Although temporal discontinuance research has advanced to further conceptualise the phenomenon under investigation, to date there has been a lack of overarching synthesis of how social media users actually experience temporal discontinuance and how this experience influences reconnection behaviours. Taking the time to classify such current research has provided a unique opportunity to expand upon the existing knowledge and increase our understanding of how social media users perceive their temporal discontinuance experience and how these perceptions drive reconnection behaviours in terms of modified practice adopted.
Moving forward, empirical verification of our proposed framework and model associated with temporal discontinuance experiences is required. We encourage other researchers to use and test our framework to better understand what users are looking for upon reconnection and their experiences once reconnected. There is a need to assess whether particular social media user groups (children, adolescents, adults and elderly) and which social media platforms are more likely to motive temporal discontinuation, but more importantly stimulate the desire to modify users’ habits and practices upon reuse. Users’ desire to experience conscious and authentic use, as well as what these concepts mean in the context of social media use, is an interesting area requiring further research.
This is key to understanding the role temporal discontinuance plays in the evolution of personal and digital values and ideals, as well as the negotiation and management efforts of social media users across the user lifecycle. Longitudinal studies are encouraged in this space, especially to determine whether temporal disconnectors have the capacity to convert their newfound awareness to healthier digital well-being habits, behaviours and practices long-term, as well as explore potential barriers for inhibiting and enablers for promoting change. By conducting this review, we have demonstrated that temporal discontinuation and reconnection research is a fruitful area awaiting further exploration, where our suggested recommendations can guide future reviews and primary research.
Supplemental Material
sj-pdf-1-conv-10.1177_13548565211057517 – Supplemental Material for Conceptual framework for temporal discontinuance experiences of social media users: What factors are responsible?
Supplemental Material, sj-pdf-1-conv-10.1177_13548565211057517 for Conceptual framework for temporal discontinuance experiences of social media users: What factors are responsible? by Jessica Franks, Richard Chenhall and Louise Keogh in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Supplementary Material
Supplementary Material for this article is available online.
Author biographies
References
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