MY CMC AND REGRET RESEARCH

My research began with a study into Computer-Mediated-Communication, specifically what it was used for generally, and also what effects it had on people's emotions and behaviors. Through analysis of other's research I found that it was used for a host of things, including identity construction, maintaining relationships, and finding new information to make decisions with. Along with this I found that CMC had many effects on users that could cause regret. This included worse emotional competence, lower relational links, and worse social skills. After finding out more about CMC, I began study into regret. Through a Decision Justification Theory lens, I found that regret is felt through a combination of two things, if another outcome was percieved to be better than the actual one coming from a decision, and if the original decision was justified or not. Along with this I included literature review into anticipated regret, which states that people will change their behavior if an outcome is percieved to be negative or if an alternative outcome would be better than the original. From all f my review into previous research I created a survey that measured regret in use of text messaging and social media, along with gauging the anticipated regret that could be made within both of these mediums. As I hypothesized in my paper, social media had less regret, although not by much, than text messaging. I concluded that this was probably because there were more affordances within social media that could help anticipate regret, but nonetheless regret was experienced in high percentages among both mediums. Trying to derive solutions to the problem from my research I came up with a few suggestions for social media sites as well as users that could help mitigate regretful use, or atleast help users anticipate it. They are as follows. 

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1. Implement warnings that occur when users are about to post explicit or inciteful language.

2. Increase the number of check points users must go through to post content.

3. Implement bans or warnings when users are excessively posting.

4. For users, read and review your posts, and consider your audience that can see your content.

5. Remember, the ability to communicate at any time and any place does not mean you should.