{"id":1158484,"date":"2026-08-20T01:33:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T01:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1158484\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T01:33:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T01:33:30","slug":"why-we-cant-just-log-off-news-cordis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1158484\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we can\u2019t just log off | News | CORDIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Study explores the science of the endless scroll and how mood feeds into it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Djavan Rodriguez\/stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Are you feeling grumpy or stressed? Are you falling behind on your work, school or relationship duties?<\/p>\n

That might be because you\u2019re spending too much time online, according to a research team from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCrabby and connected \u2013 which comes first?<\/p>\n

But are people going online because they are crabbier, or are they crabbier because they are online more often? \u201cIt seems like we have a vicious circle,\u201d co-author and PhD student Andreas Oelker told \u2018The Washington Post\u2019(opens in new window)<\/a>. \u201cIf you\u2019re in a bad mood, you try to lift your mood by using the internet, but it doesn\u2019t help very much. So you use it more and more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers tracked 900 participants between the ages of 18 and 65 for 14 consecutive days. Published in the journal \u2018PLOS One\u2019(opens in new window)<\/a>, the findings showed that daily temptation \u2013 rather than stress or mood \u2013 was the biggest factor driving people to social media, video games and online shopping.<\/p>\n

Temptation was the main reason people kept going back online, while feelings of pleasure and relief made them want to do it again. Temptation made people twice as likely to log on, and its relation to ignoring other responsibilities was strongest for those with the most severe habits.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than actual stress or mood alone, it is the momentary urge to go online that determines whether people engage in online activities and experience both rewarding and harmful consequences,\u201d explained Oelker in \u2018The Guardian\u2019(opens in new window)<\/a>. \u201cUnderstanding why individuals at risk of problematic internet use go online at particular moments is essential for developing better prevention and treatment strategies. Our findings suggest that helping people recognise and manage moments of temptation may be more effective than focusing on stress or mood alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStress, screens and severe habits<\/p>\n

Stress had little overall impact on screen time, but for people with severe habits, stressful days meant more temptation and neglect.<\/p>\n

The study points out that not all internet use is bad \u2013 only excessive or problematic use causes issues. \u201cWe\u2019d like to note that only a small percentage of internet users develop pathological use patterns. Using the internet brings joy, fun, and\/or relief from stress in an enriching way as long as other important areas of life are not systematically neglected,\u201d elaborated co-author Silke M. M\u00fcller. \u201cThese areas include not only essential duties and responsibilities, but also other activities that have been proven to have a positive effect on our wellbeing and health, such as exercise, spending time outdoors, or doing things with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authors also suggest treatment should concentrate on controlling the desire to go online, rather than just fixing stress or mood.<\/p>\n

From social media networks to games, the truth is, we often turn to the internet to manage life\u2019s daily challenges. Finding healthier ways to cope is a much better approach. Stepping away from screens can help us to reconnect with the things that bring true happiness.<\/p>\n

Explore other similar articles<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Study explores the science of the endless scroll and how mood feeds into it. \u00a9 Djavan Rodriguez\/stock.adobe.com Are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1158485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,3082,89941,3669,314832,4920,285522],"class_list":["post-1158484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-internet","tag-mood","tag-online","tag-scroll","tag-stress","tag-temptation"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117125266115431096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1158484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1158485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1158484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1158484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1158484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}