Social media fatigue: Causes and concerns.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Social Media Fatigue (SMF) has seen a significant increase through the COVID-19 pandemic. It refers to high levels of information overload experienced due to extensive usage of social media. AIM: To understand the causes and consequences for mitigating social media fatigue. METHODS: PRISMA model was followed, and 20 papers were consolidated from the years 2014 to 2021. Seven papers were screened out due to duplication and exclusion criteria. RESULTS: The studies found implicated the existence of four umbrella factors, like Cognitive Factors, Self and Personality Factors, Environmental Factors and Social Factors. Self and Personality Factors include personal and intrinsic factors that make one susceptible to developing SMF more easily, whereas aspects like increased boredom and information overload include cognitive factors that increase susceptibility to SMF. Environmental and Social Factors include aspects like parenting and social media role conflict respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings have implications to promote research to assess the levels of social media fatigue among the individuals and to evolve psychotherapeutic interventions and digital literacy programs to manage social media fatigue among the community.