Online Vigilance and Affective Well-Being among University Students: Role of Mind Wandering and Procrastination

Abstract

The present study was conducted on online vigilance and affective well-being among university students and also studied the role of mind wandering and procrastination. The sample of 310 university students was collected through convenient sampling technique (N=310). The study aimed to explore the relationship between online vigilance, affective well-being, mind wandering and procrastination among university students. Furthermore, the role of mind wandering and procrastination as mediator between online vigilance and affective well-being was also hypothesized. Lastly the relationship of variables across demographics was also studied. The study was conducted in two phases, the pilot study and the main study. For data collection, four assessment tools were used. To explore the level of connectedness to online content, Online vigilance scale was used. To assess affective well-being, positive and negative experiences scale was used. The irrelevant thoughts that disturbs the performance of current goal were measured by mind wandering questionnaire. Lastly, the delaying of important tasks by students was measured through general procrastination scale. Findings of the study enlightened that online vigilance is significantly related to the negative affect, mind wandering and procrastination among university students. The results indicated that increase in online vigilance (salience, monitoring and reactibility) results in the increase in negative affect, mind wandering and also procrastination among students. Similarly, procrastination is positively related to mind wandering and negative affect as well. The study will have great implications as it enlightens the role internet and online mediums are playing in everyone’s life and especially in the lives of students. The study will suggest policy makers to implement better policy system to restrict excessive online media use to avoid further negative impact among future generation.