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

Dan Bennett; Feng Feng; Elisa D. Mekler

doi:10.1145/3706598.3713094

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

Dan Bennett^*, Feng Feng, Elisa D. Mekler

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Much work in HCI has investigated strategies for supporting autonomous self-regulation in social media use (SMU): helping users to control their time online and ensure it serves personally valued outcomes. However, results suggest that the effectiveness and acceptability 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 factors influence self-regulation, user experience and well-being. We draw on 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 aspects of autonomy in SMU and identify opportunities to target and personalise design interventions; they suggest autonomous regulation can be associated with better experience and well-being, though not necessarily less time online.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Number of pages	22
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400713941
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713094
Publication status	Published - 25 Apr 2025
Event	The ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2025 - Yokohama, Japan Duration: 26 Apr 2025 → 1 May 2025 https://chi2025.acm.org/

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
Publisher	ACM
ISSN (Electronic)	2159-6468

Conference

Conference	The ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2025
Abbreviated title	CHI 2025
Country/Territory	Japan
City	Yokohama
Period	26/04/25 → 1/05/25
Internet address	https://chi2025.acm.org/

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

Research Groups and Themes

Bristol Interaction Group

Keywords

Motivation
Self-regulation
human-computer interaction
Self-control
self-determination theory
organismic integration theory
internalisation
amotivation
social media

Access to Document

10.1145/3706598.3713094Licence: CC BY

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Cite this

Bennett, D., Feng, F., & Mekler, E. D. (2025). Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use: Implications for Self-control, Well-Being, and UX. In CHI 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article 960 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713094

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abstract = "Much work in HCI has investigated strategies for supporting autonomous self-regulation in social media use (SMU): helping users to control their time online and ensure it serves personally valued outcomes. However, results suggest that the effectiveness and acceptability 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 factors influence self-regulation, user experience and well-being. We draw on 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 aspects of autonomy in SMU and identify opportunities to target and personalise design interventions; they suggest autonomous regulation can be associated with better experience and well-being, though not necessarily less time online.",

keywords = "Motivation, Self-regulation, human-computer interaction, Self-control, self-determination theory, organismic integration theory, internalisation, amotivation, social media",

author = "Dan Bennett and Feng Feng and Mekler, \{Elisa D.\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).; The ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2025, CHI 2025 ; Conference date: 26-04-2025 Through 01-05-2025",

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Bennett, D, Feng, F & Mekler, ED 2025, Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use: Implications for Self-control, Well-Being, and UX. in CHI 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 960, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, The ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2025, Yokohama, Japan, 26/04/25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713094

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

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

TY - GEN

T1 - Autonomous Regulation of Social Media Use

T2 - The ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) CHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2025

AU - Bennett, Dan

AU - Feng, Feng

AU - Mekler, Elisa D.

PY - 2025/4/25

Y1 - 2025/4/25

N2 - Much work in HCI has investigated strategies for supporting autonomous self-regulation in social media use (SMU): helping users to control their time online and ensure it serves personally valued outcomes. However, results suggest that the effectiveness and acceptability 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 factors influence self-regulation, user experience and well-being. We draw on 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 aspects of autonomy in SMU and identify opportunities to target and personalise design interventions; they suggest autonomous regulation can be associated with better experience and well-being, though not necessarily less time online.

AB - Much work in HCI has investigated strategies for supporting autonomous self-regulation in social media use (SMU): helping users to control their time online and ensure it serves personally valued outcomes. However, results suggest that the effectiveness and acceptability 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 factors influence self-regulation, user experience and well-being. We draw on 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 aspects of autonomy in SMU and identify opportunities to target and personalise design interventions; they suggest autonomous regulation can be associated with better experience and well-being, though not necessarily less time online.

KW - Motivation

KW - Self-regulation

KW - human-computer interaction

KW - Self-control

KW - self-determination theory

KW - organismic integration theory

KW - internalisation

KW - amotivation

KW - social media

UR - https://chi2025.acm.org/

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DO - 10.1145/3706598.3713094

M3 - Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

BT - CHI 2025 - Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

Y2 - 26 April 2025 through 1 May 2025

ER -

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

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Research Groups and Themes

Keywords

Access to Document

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Cite this