Online Social Media Fatigue and Psychological Wellbeing—A Study of Compulsive Use, Fear of Missing Out, Fatigue, Anxiety and Depression

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This study seeks to show the empirical relationships between psychosocial wellbeing and social media fatigue, which previously were not well known. Using  the stressor-strain-outcome framework (SSO), this study examines whether psychosocial wellbeing measures, such as compulsive media use and fear of missing out, trigger fatigue and whether social media fatigue results in anxiety and depression.

The research model was tested with adolescent social media users in India. The relationship between psychosocial wellbeing and social media fatigue has not yet been well-studied; the present study addresses this by using repeated cross-sectional research methodology to investigate this relationship over time.

Findings suggest that compulsive media use significantly triggered social media fatigue, which later results in elevated anxiety and depression. Scholars have noted that social media fatigue has significant negative implications for both users as well as the businesses and service operators.

Amandeep Dhir, Yossiri Yossatorn, Puneet Kaur, Sufen Chen. Online social media fatigue and psychological wellbeing—A study of compulsive use, fear of missing out, fatigue, anxiety and depression. International Journal of Information Management, Volume 40, 2018, Pages 141-152.