From revisitations to negative emotions: Exploring the psychological impact of smartphone web-browsing patterns

This study explores the association between smartphone web browsing behavior and negative emotions among college students. By tracking the screen behavior of 30 participants for 7 consecutive days, combined with the data of the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Emotional Diary, the following results were found: (1) User browsing patterns can be divided into two categories: one-way linear browsing and circular browsing; (2) The frequency of daily content revisits was significantly positively correlated with the intensity of negative emotions (r = .62, p <.001); (3) People with high rumination and depressive tendencies had more frequent revisit behaviors (p <.05); (4) Content analysis shows that users tend to repeatedly expose themselves to high-arousal neutral content. Studies have shown that frequent content revisits can serve as behavioral markers of negative emotions, and that high-arousal neutral stimuli may maintain this behavioral pattern through emotion regulation mechanisms. • Revisitation is positively correlated with negative emotions. • Frequent content revisitation may serve as behavioral markers of negative emotions. • Individuals with high ruminative thinking and depression show more revisitations. • People prefer repeated exposure to high-arousal neutral content.