The Effect of Online News Commenting on Internal Emotional State Among Pathological Internet Users

In the recent years, the excessive use of internet has become frequent; it may lead to deficits in cognition and emotions. Commenting on online news is a popular way to express attitude and thoughts. It may have different impacts on the emotional state of healthy people and pathological internet users (PIUs). The impact is also related to the emotional valence of the commented text. This study aimed to explore the effect of making comments on online news and valenced text on the emotional state of PIUs. The sample included 32 undergraduate students (18 with PIU and 14 controls). The two groups commented on positive and negative online news in proper order, respectively. The emotion rating questionnaire was used to measure their emotion at different experimental stages in elicited positive and negative emotional states. The results displayed that when commenting on positive news, the emotional changes of PIU group were the same with the control group. In addition, the results indicated that when making comments on negative news, there was a difference between the PIU group and the control group for the extent of emotional changes. PIUs were rated higher than control group in “surprise” and “happiness” ways. The emotional state of PIU is easier to be affected by the act of commenting, revealing that PIUs may have poor ability of emotion management and emotional stability.