Emotion regulation, procrastination, and watching cat videos online: Who watches Internet cats, why, and to what effect? Jessica Gall Myrick The Media School, Indiana University, 1229 East 7th St., Bloomington, IN 47405, United States article info Article history: Keywords: Internet use Guilty pleasure Procrastination Enjoyment Social media Cats abstract Anecdotes abound about the frequent use of the Internet to view cat-related media. Yet, research has yet to seriously address this popular culture phenomenon rooted largely in social media platforms. It is pos- sible that viewing of online cat media improves mood, but this activity may also foster negative outcomes linked to using the Internet for procrastination. The present survey of Internet users (N = 6795) explored the correlates of viewing ‘‘Internet cats,’’ motivations for consuming this media, and its potential effects on users. It also tested a conceptual model predicting enjoyment as a function of the relationships between procrastination, guilt, and happiness. Results reveal significant relationships between viewing and personality types and demonstrate conceptual nuances related to the emotional benefits of watching Internet cats. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Anecdotes and news reports suggest that viewing videos and photos of cats is a common use of the Internet. As of 2014 there were more than 2 million cat videos posted on YouTube.com with nearly 26 billion total views (Marshall, 2014). That is an average of 12,000 views for each cat video—more views-per-video than any other category of YouTube content (Marshall, 2015). There are even annual in-person festivals devoted to ‘‘Internet cats,’’ includ- ing the Internet Cat Video Festival in Minneapolis and Chicago (Walker Arts Center, 2015) as well as the Los Angeles Feline Film Festival (LA Feline Film Festival, 2015). Internet users spend so much time with cat-related media they have turned household tabbies into celebrities. ‘‘Perma-kitten’’ Lil BUB has nearly 1.5 million Facebook fans and the constantly-frowning Grumpy Cat makes more money than many prominent human celebrities (Millward, 2014). Beyond famous cats, Internet users frequently post images of their own felines on social media platforms (Marshall, 2014), further increasing the amount of online cat-related visual content available to Internet users. In fact, industry research indicates that Internet users are more than twice as likely to post pictures or videos of cats than they are to post a ‘‘selfie’’ (i.e., a picture taken of oneself) online (Williams, 2014). The Internet cat phenomenon has spurred news articles with titles such as ‘‘Why do cats dominate the Internet?’’ (Thornton, 2013) and ‘‘The million dollar question: Why does the Web love cats?’’ (Elliot, 2010). Yet, very little empirical evidence exists to help answer these questions or others like them, such as what motivates people to view online cat content and what type of peo- ple are more likely to enjoy cat-related Internet content. Considering the large viewership of online cat media, this topic is understudied. Consumption of online cat-related media deserves empirical attention because, as the news accounts suggest, Internet users spend a significant amount of time consuming cat-related media, some of that while they are supposed to be doing other tasks like working or studying. If this genre is as pop- ular as the online analytics suggest, then there are likely important effects of such media on users, particularly on their emotional states. Moreover, research on pet therapy indicates that time spent with real pets can improve mood and wellbeing across a variety of populations (Nimer & Lundahl, 2007). Research on ‘‘the media equation’’ argues that media users typically react to mediated con- tent as if it were occurring in real life (Reeves & Nass, 1996). Therefore, mediated exposure to cats could possibly result in sim- ilar outcomes found in pet therapy studies, although perhaps to a lesser degree given no physical interaction with Internet cats. If viewing online cats does improve mood, such media could poten- tially serve as a low-cost and easily distributed intervention to (at least temporarily or at times of stress) improve emotional wellbe- ing. However, there are also potential negative impacts of watching Internet cats. For instance, if Internet users are watching online cat videos to procrastinate, they may instead experience guilt after http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.06.001 0747-5632/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. E-mail address: jgmyrick@indiana.edu Computers in Human Behavior 52 (2015) 168–176 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers in Human Behavior journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh