In today's fast-paced, instant-gratification-oriented society, everyone is looking for quick fixes. We want it all and we want it now! This mindset is in conflict with the overall process of education and learning which requires time, reflection, and practice. More and more students are entering colleges and universities with weak academic preparation and deficient life skills. This often leads them to engage in unethical practices in order to compete, get ahead and survive academically. Declining academic integrity is a significant issue on almost all college campuses. The purpose of this study was to gain deeper insight into student nurses' perceptions of the concept of instant gratification in general and in nursing education in particular. The implications of the Trinity Paradigm of Intelligence in developing a culture of integrity were also explored. The emerged data supports the notion of "academic disintegrity" as a social problem with a long history of development.

Following the development of Asian American representation in the United States media in the 21st century, this thesis aims to explore the alternative narratives provided by the AsianBossGirl podcast which started in 2017 to fill the gap in the mainstream media. Intersectional framework has been operationalized to conduct an in-depth reading of their narratives, and complemented by the theory of uses and gratification to investigate the impacts that they have on their audiences. The results demonstrate that their narratives of Asian American experience deviate from both cultural and stereotypical traditions. They contest the norms through relatable, subversive and authentic content that resonate with their listeners. However, through the intersectional lens, this thesis is able to identify the danger of neglecting multidimensionality in the Asian American communities which encompass a diverse history of immigration in the United States.

With the rise of technology, the way people may communicate is becoming infinitely more creative and complex. Dual-screening, or second screening, is one way in which people may now engage with live television events. Dual-screening occurs when an individual uses their phone, while watching television, in such a way that aids them in their viewing of television: this is called hybrid media. Previous research has been done that has indicated people who dual-screen typically are more politically active. According to Hybrid Media System Theory, as dual-screening rises in relevance, the political power of normal citizens increases. Therefore, this study uses political dual-screeners as the independent variable. By surveying 235 college students, this study found a number of strong correlations between political dual-screening and political activism, trust in social media, and psychological motivations to meet their needs for coordination and affection. By running bivariate correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis, this study discovered that political dual-screening individuals are strongly to all of these dependent variables.

Today, social media is used not only for communication and entertainment, but also as one of the most important platforms for receiving news. A lot of young adults take part in news through social media and in many cases social media is the only source for socially important information. The new role as a news provider, which social media has adopted, is examined from an audience perspective with a focus on habits and opinions. This study examined the digital news habits of Generation Z. The study is based on two research questions: one about how Generation Z take part in news via social media and one about how they are critical of the source. The study had a quantitative approach with additional qualitative elements and implemented a web survey as a method. The web survey combined open questions, multiple-choice questions and one-answer questions, the combination gave us both a broad overview with numbers to measure, but also qualitative and deeper answers that the respondent themself had formulated. There were three theories applied to the study, the theories are electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM), Uses and Gratification theory and Social Network theory. These theories provided the basis for the design of the web survey and were implemented in the analysis and discussion of the study result.  The result of the study showed that all respondents receive news via social media daily, but that receiving news is usually not an active choice. News finds the audience without them looking for it, this is mostly due to algorithms and social networks. A lot of the respondents answered that they do not trust news that are published on social media, nevertheless they continue to take part in news via social media. The result also showed that the respondents believe that a lack of source criticism is one of the biggest disadvantages of news on social media.

Detta är en kvalitativ användarstudie där syftet är att få en ökad förståelse av hur användare av den sociala mediaplattformen BeReal ser på sin användning. Specifikt vill studien få fram vad det är som motiverar användare, hur de ser på självrepresentationen på plattformen samt vilken roll plattformens interaktionsmöjligheter har. Ämnet valdes då BeReal, med sitt koncept om en verklighetsspeglande social medieplattform, skapar en undran över hur detta tas emot av användare. Då plattformen är så pass ny finns det inte någon gedigen vetenskaplig forskning kring ämnet, en vetenskapslucka denna studie ämnar fylla. Studien samlade in det empiriska materialet genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Materialet analyserades sedan med hjälp av de teoretiska ramverken uses and gratification, intrycksstyrning samt interaktionsmöjligheter. Analysen visade att det finns olika motivationer till användandet, de huvudsakliga var att följa med i trenden av att använda nya sociala mediaplattformar, att hålla kontakt med vänner och ta del av deras bilder och att kunna spara och se tillbaka på ens egna bilder. Gällande självrepresentationen kom det fram att informanterna inte ansåg att det går att vara helt äkta eller verklig på sociala medier, men att BeReal är den plattform som kommer närmast. Självrepresentationen influeras dels av BeReals koncept, dels av ens kontakter på plattformen. BeReals interaktionsmöjligheter visade sig även styra både motivationer och självrepresentationen. Utöver att till stor del bekräfta det tidigare forskning kommit fram till gällande andra sociala medieplattformar fick denna studie fram ny kunskap i form av interaktionsmöjligheten ’enkelhet’. Informanterna har ett behov av enkla sociala medieplattformar där en mer verklig självrepresentation är normen.

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Self-control has been measured using a variety of methods including self-report measures, cognitive inhibition tasks, delay discounting and delay of gratification tasks, and persistence and willpower tasks. Although these are all theoretically linked to processes involved in self-control, recent evidence has shown that these diverse measurement techniques relate only minimally to one another. Assuming that self-control is a reflective construct, this would indicate that many of these tasks are poor indicators of self-control. The present research challenges the common assumption that self-control is a reflective construct and instead proposes that self-control is a formative construct. Conceptualizing self-control as a formative construct could reconcile some of the inconsistencies in the literature, in particular the fact that many indicators for self-control do not correlate highly. To examine the possibility of a formative model of self-control, this research examines 13 commonly used measures of self-control and investigates indicator intercorrelations, indicator relationships with the theoretical consequences of self-control, and performs a vanishing tetrad test (Bollen & Ting, 2000). Results show that in general, indicator intercorrelations are low and nonsignificant as well as indictor correlations with theorized construct consequences. The results of the vanishing tetrad test suggest a reflective interpretation of self-control, but concerns with uniformly low covariances between indicators limit the interpretation of this test.

Internet social networking sites have been the source of much speculation and controversy in the few years that they have been in existence. These sites (the most popular being MySpace and Facebook) allow their users to create online profiles, with which they can post pictures of themselves and interact with other users via text-based messaging. These sites are especially popular among teens and young adults, many of whom find their lives controlled by these sites. Utilizing the Uses and Gratificatioons approach in combination with the theory of the niche, the aim of this study is to understand the gratifications that are derived from the use of social networking sites, and how those gratifications compare with those obtained from the use of other communications methods (face-to-face communication and e-mail). Additionally, the study explores whether or not there has been a displacement effect for these older media with the introduction of social networking. A sample of 340 undergraduate and graduate students from a large western university were surveyed in-class regarding their use of three communications media (internet social networking, e-mail, and face-to-face communication). Students responded to 25 gratifications statements for each medium, rating how often they had used it for that particular purpose. They also responded to a question regarding whether their use of e-mail and face-to-face conversation has changed since they started using social networking sites. Answers from the gratification statements were subjected to principal component factor analysis using varimax rotation. After throwing out 10 statements due to their incompatibility across the three media, three gratification factors emerged: Gratification Opportunities, Social Utility, and Entertainment. Then using niche formulas, the media was compared across these three factors. Overall, face-to-face communication had the broadest niche, signalling that is best capable of fulfilling media gratifications. It also had the broadest niche in the Social Utility and Entertainment Factor, while e-mail had the broadest niche in the Gratifications Opportunities dimension. The results suggest that social networking may be popular because it acts as a convenient place to hang out — combining its relatively broad niches in Gratifications Opportunities and Entertainment gratifications, but shows little support for a displacement effect caused by its adoption.

Digital hostility has become an issue on social media, while discussing mentalhealth has become more recognized. Previous research has shown that influencersmost likely are not viewed as the ideal victim, thus leading to harassment becominga normalized and accepted behavior directed at them. The aim of this study is,therefore, to find out how the media audiences interact with influencers who openlyhave addressed their mental health issues online. In order to study the interaction, amixed method content analysis has been made on the comment sections of theinfluencers Gabbie Hannas and FouseyTubes TikTok accounts, as well as on thevideo responses made by the audiences. Parasocial interactions- as well as uses andgratifications-theory, were applied to this study due to their relevance to the subjectof interactions between the active audience and media content, or in this case, socialmedia influencers. Study 1, the quantitative content analysis, concluded that amajority of the comments were positive and supportive of Gabbie Hanna, while thecomment section under FouseyTubes videos often consisted of negative comments.The result for this part of the study aligned partly with previous research, whichstated that influencers often are victims of harassment and stalking-like behaviorsfrom the audience. Moreover it concluded that previous research regardinganonymous accounts being more likely to be hostile towards influencers, werecorrect. Study 2, the qualitative content analysis, concluded that a majority ofTikTok users use a negative tonality when making video-responses towards GabbieHanna and FouseyTube. Furthermore, the results aligned with previous researchwhich claimed society justifies digital hostility towards influencers. The observationshowed how the audience, generally, paid low- or no- regard towards the subject oftheir mental health. In conclusion, this study presents how the interaction betweentwo influencers, who have encountered a public scandal in regards to their mentalhealth, and TikTok users can look like. While the study may not be applicable toevery influencer, understanding of how the interaction can, and has, manifested isshown. In addition the study provides more context to how the culture online looksin regards to Gabbie Hanna and FouseyTube.