This study examined the relationship between university students' SNS (Twitter, Instagram) usage and mental health from both quantitative and qualitative approach during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on differences by grades. Subjective well-being (SWB) and loneliness were measured as the indicators of mental health. Analysis of quantitative data from 408 university students who responded to an online survey conducted between August and September 2022 revealed that connecting with university friends on Twitter led to higher levels of SWB and lower levels of loneliness, and posting on Instagram led to lower levels of loneliness among second-year students. For third-year students, posting and browsing on Twitter led to lower levels of SWB. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted between October 2022 and February 2023 with 23 of the university students who answered the online survey. The results showed that those who used Twitter in a way that reinforced their interpersonal relationships in real life exhibited adaptive mental health, regardless of their grading years. However, those who communicated only with online friends tended to be less adaptive in their mental health, but some maintained at least their current mental health through self-protection by avoiding opinions with which they disagreed. Furthermore, those in the higher grades with lower levels of social skills who did not force themselves to explore their networks on Twitter and who hung out with a small number of friends tended to maintain their mental health, at least at that point the survey was conducted. However, some of these students still attempted to explore their networks through Twitter postings in their first and second years. The results suggest that, under conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, creating opportunities for first- and second- year students to increase their real-life friends through social media might be able to reinforce their real-life relationships and lead to a good mental health.

There are two main opposing positions on the merits and demerits of games. One side focuses on game addiction and aims to prevent or treat it, while the other side aims to use games in various fields. Either way, games have some appeal and have the power to immerse and engage people.

In this paper, we focus on the engagement in games and first overview the definition of game engagement in psychology based on the Game Engagement Questionnaire (GEQ) and the definition of “flow” proposed by Csikszentmihalyi and the conditions under which it occurs. We focus on flow not only because it is an element of engagement but also because it has a high affinity with games and, in particular, has the potential to be connected to the utilization of games (i.e., gamification). Next, we will analyze flow from a philosophical aspect and clarify the relationship between flow and mind-body from the standpoint of mind-body dualism. We will then clarify the difference between flow, which is a positive concept, and assimilation, which is a negative concept (in the sense that it is close to dependence) and discuss what elements can be used in gamification. In the process, the GEQ itself, as a starting point, will be re-examined. Finally, the problems with the GEQ will be clarified, and directions will be provided for the creation of a new questionnaire.