Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use: Implications for Self-control, Well-Being, and UX

Daniel Thomas Bennett; Feng Feng; Elisa D Mekler

doi:10.31234/osf.io/58jgc_v1

Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use: Implications for Self-control, Well-Being, and UX

Daniel Thomas Bennett
, Feng Feng
, Elisa D Mekler

Play, Culture, and AI

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Much work in HCI has investigated strategies for supporting au-tonomous self-regulation in social media use (SMU): helping usersto control their time online and ensure it serves personally valuedoutcomes. However, results suggest that the effectiveness and ac-ceptability of these strategies may vary based on individual needs.Recent work has attributed this variation to motivational factors,though we currently lack data to understand how these factorsinfluence self-regulation, user experience and well-being. We drawon Self-Determination Theory to analyse autonomous and non-autonomous patterns of motivation in 521 users of social media.Using latent profile analysis, we identify 4 “motivational profiles”associated with significant differences in need satisfaction, affect,and compulsive engagement. Our results clarify distinct aspectsof autonomy in SMU and identify opportunities to target and per-sonalise design interventions; they suggest autonomous regulationcan be associated with better experience and well-being, thoughnot necessarily less time online.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing System
Number of pages	22
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Publication date	14 Mar 2025
Article number	960
ISBN (Print)	979-8-4007-1394
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/58jgc_v1 https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713094
Publication status	Published - 14 Mar 2025
Event	CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - PACIFICO Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan Duration: 8 May 2021 → 13 May 2021 Conference number: 43 https://chi2025.acm.org/

Conference

Conference	CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Number	43
Location	PACIFICO Yokohama
Country/Territory	Japan
City	Yokohama
Period	08/05/2021 → 13/05/2021
Internet address	https://chi2025.acm.org/

Series	ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)

Keywords

Self-Determination Theory
autonomous motivation
social media use
well-being
personalized design interventions

Access to Document

10.31234/osf.io/58jgc_v1
10.1145/3706598.3713094Licence: CC BY

Theorycraft: Bridging the Games Research-Practice Gap through Theory Translation
Mekler, E. (PI), Vornhagen, J. B. (CoI), Piitulainen, R. (CoI), Bennett, D. (CoI), Feng, F. (CoI), Robinson, R. (CoI), Wegmann, D. J. (CoI), Elvig, M. L. (Collaborator) & Murphy, D. J. (Collaborator)
European Commission
01/09/2022 → 31/08/2027
Project: Research

Cite this

@inproceedings{8076c010688a49a8ad10e9881a62aa1e,

title = "Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use: Implications for Self-control, Well-Being, and UX",

abstract = "Much work in HCI has investigated strategies for supporting au-tonomous self-regulation in social media use (SMU): helping usersto control their time online and ensure it serves personally valuedoutcomes. However, results suggest that the effectiveness and ac-ceptability of these strategies may vary based on individual needs.Recent work has attributed this variation to motivational factors,though we currently lack data to understand how these factorsinfluence self-regulation, user experience and well-being. We drawon Self-Determination Theory to analyse autonomous and non-autonomous patterns of motivation in 521 users of social media.Using latent profile analysis, we identify 4 “motivational profiles”associated with significant differences in need satisfaction, affect,and compulsive engagement. Our results clarify distinct aspectsof autonomy in SMU and identify opportunities to target and per-sonalise design interventions; they suggest autonomous regulationcan be associated with better experience and well-being, thoughnot necessarily less time online.",

keywords = "Self-Determination Theory, autonomous motivation, social media use, well-being, personalized design interventions",

author = "Bennett, \{Daniel Thomas\} and Feng Feng and Mekler, \{Elisa D\}",

year = "2025",

month = mar,

day = "14",

doi = "10.31234/osf.io/58jgc\_v1",

language = "English",

isbn = "979-8-4007-1394",

series = "ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

booktitle = "CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing System",

address = "United States",

note = "CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI'21 ; Conference date: 08-05-2021 Through 13-05-2021",

url = "https://chi2025.acm.org/",

}

Bennett, DT, Feng, F & Mekler, ED 2025, Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use: Implications for Self-control, Well-Being, and UX. in CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing System., 960, Association for Computing Machinery, ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Yokohama, Japan, 08/05/2021. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/58jgc_v1, https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713094

Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use: Implications for Self-control, Well-Being, and UX. / Bennett, Daniel Thomas; Feng, Feng ; Mekler, Elisa D.
CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing System. Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. 960 (ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)).

Research output: Conference Article in Proceeding or Book/Report chapter › Article in proceedings › Research › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use: Implications for Self-control, Well-Being, and UX

AU - Bennett, Daniel Thomas

AU - Feng, Feng

AU - Mekler, Elisa D

N1 - Conference code: 43

PY - 2025/3/14

Y1 - 2025/3/14

N2 - Much work in HCI has investigated strategies for supporting au-tonomous self-regulation in social media use (SMU): helping usersto control their time online and ensure it serves personally valuedoutcomes. However, results suggest that the effectiveness and ac-ceptability of these strategies may vary based on individual needs.Recent work has attributed this variation to motivational factors,though we currently lack data to understand how these factorsinfluence self-regulation, user experience and well-being. We drawon Self-Determination Theory to analyse autonomous and non-autonomous patterns of motivation in 521 users of social media.Using latent profile analysis, we identify 4 “motivational profiles”associated with significant differences in need satisfaction, affect,and compulsive engagement. Our results clarify distinct aspectsof autonomy in SMU and identify opportunities to target and per-sonalise design interventions; they suggest autonomous regulationcan be associated with better experience and well-being, thoughnot necessarily less time online.

AB - Much work in HCI has investigated strategies for supporting au-tonomous self-regulation in social media use (SMU): helping usersto control their time online and ensure it serves personally valuedoutcomes. However, results suggest that the effectiveness and ac-ceptability of these strategies may vary based on individual needs.Recent work has attributed this variation to motivational factors,though we currently lack data to understand how these factorsinfluence self-regulation, user experience and well-being. We drawon Self-Determination Theory to analyse autonomous and non-autonomous patterns of motivation in 521 users of social media.Using latent profile analysis, we identify 4 “motivational profiles”associated with significant differences in need satisfaction, affect,and compulsive engagement. Our results clarify distinct aspectsof autonomy in SMU and identify opportunities to target and per-sonalise design interventions; they suggest autonomous regulationcan be associated with better experience and well-being, thoughnot necessarily less time online.

KW - Self-Determination Theory

KW - autonomous motivation

KW - social media use

KW - well-being

KW - personalized design interventions

U2 - 10.31234/osf.io/58jgc_v1

DO - 10.31234/osf.io/58jgc_v1

M3 - Article in proceedings

SN - 979-8-4007-1394

T3 - ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)

BT - CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing System

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

T2 - CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Y2 - 8 May 2021 through 13 May 2021

ER -

Bennett DT, Feng F , Mekler ED. Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use: Implications for Self-control, Well-Being, and UX. In CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing System. Association for Computing Machinery. 2025. 960. (ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI)). doi: 10.31234/osf.io/58jgc_v1, 10.1145/3706598.3713094

Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use: Implications for Self-control, Well-Being, and UX

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Theorycraft: Bridging the Games Research-Practice Gap through Theory Translation

Cite this