Conflicting norms around mobile media dis/connection and state awareness A vignette experiment

Contemporary mobile media users are facing expectations of being available anytime and anywhere, but sill using mobile media in moderation. It is unclear, however, how these conflicting norms of availability and disconnection unfold their effects in daily life. This study examines the effects of situation-salient norms on affective responses, perceived decisional conflict, intention to use one’s smartphone, and how state awareness serves as a resource to handle conflicting expectations. We conducted a vignette-based 2 (availability norm: salient vs. non-salient) × 2 (disconnection norm: salient vs. non-salient) × 2 (state awareness: low vs. high) experiment (N = 1,509). The results suggest that situation-salient norms of availability are more influential than norms of disconnection, but when disconnection norms are salient as well, the influence of availability norms is reduced. State awareness did not mitigate the effects of conflicting norms, although it associated with lower decisional conflict to use the smartphone. Our findings point to important theoretical and practical implications of studying normative influences on mobile media use in situational contexts.