Why does Japanese youth use secret accounts?
The influence of anxiety about future, desire to show off, and low self-esteem.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51094/jxiv.776Keywords:
generation Z, social media, secret account, self-esteem, anxiety about futureAbstract
This study examines how and why Japanese youth (Generation-Z) use secret account in the social media such as X (twitter). Use of secret accounts are considered as the typical behavior that the Japanese youth takes when communicating in the social media. It is thought that the primary reason for using secret account is to avoid public scrutiny to reduce the risk of online criticism or harassment. We hypothesized that the specific psychological conditions that the youth generation has may affect such behavior to avoid online criticisms. Based on a survey of 581 undergraduates in the eastern and western regions in Japan (Kanto and Kansai), this study found that the anxiety about future, desire to show off, and low self-esteem have positive relations with the use of secret account. Furthermore, heavy usage of the social media and high internet literacy have also positive influence on it. Those results indicate that young generations’ specific psychological status like expectations and worries about future accelerate the use of secret accounts, suggesting that they experience some level of stress in internet society.
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Submitted: 2024-06-26 01:37:40 UTC
Published: 2024-07-04 10:34:36 UTC
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Koki Higuchi
Fumiaki Nakamura
Koichi Nakagawa
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