Deliberate news consumption through the quantified self and the self-regulatory process

Abstract

Many internet news sites have introduced recommendation systems to help users mitigate information overload. However, these systems may exacerbate mindless information consumption by reducing opportunities for people to voluntarily select news. We propose prototypes of personal informatics tools based on a self-regulatory process and quantified self-theories, which can be used to help people fulfill a eudaimonic motivation through self-observation and self-control and thus lead to deliberate news consumption. A longitudinal field experiment demonstrates that self-control and self-observation tools promote deliberate news consumption and reveals synergistic effects between the two tools. Our results indicate that the effect of the self-observation tool persists longer. © 2021