Dissertation Haiku Has Moved!

Need video games!
Distract from boredom, also stress.
Better for boredom though.

Nick Bowman

Michigan State University

I’m an assistant professor of communication studies at West Virginia University, where I study the psychology (uses and effects) of new media technologies such as social media and interactive entertainment media. My dissertation (Michigan State University, ’10) examined how video games can be used to regulate moods, especially boredom and stress. The three studies found that playing games that are increasingly demanding (i.e., require more input to be played) helped repair users’ bad moods, and the process worked especially well for bored people when compared to stressed people.