Digital Overload: Understanding Social Media Fatigue in Higher Education Based on Demographics and Technology Usage
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25217/0020258654200Keywords:
Social media, Social media fatigue, student, Higher Education, EducationAbstract
Social media has become an important part of students' lives in today's internet era, helping them meet their academic, social, and entertainment needs. However, excessive exposure to social media can cause fatigue, known as Social Media Fatigue (SMF), which affects students’ behavioural, cognitive, and emotional levels. This study aimed to analyse the level of social media fatigue based on demographics and technology access patterns. This research used a quantitative descriptive survey design with stratum random sampling technique by taking samples from various batches or years of student entry to the University. A total of 386 students participated, consisting of various batches or years of student entry (Year 2021 = 143 / 37.1%; 2022 = 97 / 25.1; 2023 = 80 / 20.7; 2024 = 66 / 17.1). The scale used in this study is the Social Media Fatigue scale (SMFS). Data were analysed using descriptive analysis with the help of JASP 0.19.3 software. The findings of this study indicated that the level of social media fatigue in students is high. Cognitive experience has the highest mean value among the three components of SMF, compared to emotional and behavioural experiences. In addition, findings suggested a tendency towards Emotional Experience, which may indicate that social media has a greater impact on their emotional well-being. Moreover, long access duration may worsen the consequences of social media fatigue.
References
Alnjadat, R., Hmaidi, M. M., Samha, T. E., Kilani, M. M., & Hasswan, A. M. (2019). Gender variations in social media usage and academic performance among the students of University of Sharjah. Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences, 14(4), 390–394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2019.05.002
Baktiar, A. F., Angga Prasetya, & Imamul Arifin S,Sy. M.H. (2021). Pengaruh Kelas KBM Daring Terhadap Mental Mahasiswa Dalam Perspektif Social Media Fatigue (Studi Kasus pada Mahasiswa PENS Sistem Pembangkit Energi). Nathiqiyyah, 4(2), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.46781/nathiqiyyah.v4i2.306
Cao, X., Khan, A. N., Zaigham, G. H. K., & Khan, N. A. (2019). The Stimulators of Social Media Fatigue Among Students: Role of Moral Disengagement. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 57(5), 1083–1107. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735633118781907
Choi, C., & Mahoney, T. (2020). Social networking service fatigue and cessation: Focusing on cultural and gender differences. The Journal of the Korea Contents Association, 20(7), 547–559.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2017). Research Methods in Education. In Research Methods in Education. routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315456539
Dhir, A., Kaur, P., Chen, S., & Pallesen, S. (2019). Antecedents and consequences of social media fatigue. International Journal of Information Management, 48, 193–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.05.021
Dhir, A., Yossatorn, Y., Kaur, P., & Chen, S. (2018). 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, 40, 141–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.01.012
Engineering, I. (2019). Social media addiction and its analysis. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363468382_Social_Media_Addiction_and_Its_Demerits
Fan, X., Jiang, X., Deng, N., Dong, X., & Lin, Y. (2020). Does role conflict influence discontinuous usage intentions? Privacy concerns, social media fatigue and self-esteem. Information Technology and People, 34(3), 1152–1174. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-08-2019-0416
Firdaus, W., & Marsudi, M. S. (2021). Konseling Remaja yang Kecanduan Gadget Melalui Terapi Kognitif Behavior. Studia: Jurnal Hasil Penelitian Mahasiswa, 6(1), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.32923/stu.v6i1.1980
Haferkamp, N., Eimler, S. C., Papadakis, A. M., & Kruck, J. V. (2012). Men are from mars, women are from venus? Examining gender differences in self-presentation on social networking sites. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15(2), 91–98. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2011.0151
Ifdil, I., Fadli, R. P., Rangka, I. B., Suranata, K., & Situmorang, D. D. B. (2021). Anxiety, Depression, Psychological Symptoms, Negative Effects, and Other Symptoms of Nicotine Withdrawal. Addictive Disorders and Their Treatment, 20(4), 591–592. https://doi.org/10.1097/ADT.0000000000000288
Ifdil, I., Situmorang, D. D. B., Firman, F., Zola, N., Rangka, I. B., & Fadli, R. P. (2023). Virtual reality in Metaverse for future mental health-helping profession: an alternative solution to the mental health challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Public Health (United Kingdom), 45(1), E142–E143. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdac049
Ifdil, I., Syahputra, Y., Fadli, R. P., Zola, N., Putri, Y. E., Amalianita, B., Rangka, I. B., Suranta, K., Zatrahadi, M. F., Sugara, G. S., Situmorang, D. D. B., & Fitria, L. (2022). The depression anxiety stress scales (DASS-21): an Indonesian validation measure of the depression anxiety stress. COUNS-EDU: The International Journal of Counseling and Education, 5(4), 205–215. https://doi.org/10.23916/0020200536840
Koçak, O., Arslan, H., & Erdoğan, A. (2021). Social Media use Across Generations: from Addiction to Engagement. European Integration Studies, 1(15), 63–77. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.1.15.29080
Laato, S., Islam, A. K. M. N., Islam, M. N., & Whelan, E. (2020). What drives unverified information sharing and cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic? European Journal of Information Systems, 29(3), 288–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085X.2020.1770632
Lee, C.-C., Chou, S. T.-H., & Huang, Y.-R. (2014). A Study on Personality Traits and Social Media Fatigue-Example of Facebook Users. Lecture Notes on Information Theory, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.12720/lnit.2.3.249-253
Lindeman, M. I. H., Durik, A. M., & Dooley, M. (2019). Women and Self-Promotion: A Test of Three Theories. Psychological Reports, 122(1), 219–230. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294118755096
Maier, C., Laumer, S., Weinert, C., & Weitzel, T. (2015). The effects of technostress and switching stress on discontinued use of social networking services: A study of Facebook use. Information Systems Journal, 25(3), 275–308. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12068
Malik, A., Dhir, A., Kaur, P., & Johri, A. (2021). Correlates of social media fatigue and academic performance decrement: A large cross-sectional study. Information Technology and People, 34(2), 557–580. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-06-2019-0289
Marengo, D., Sindermann, C., Elhai, J. D., & Montag, C. (2020). One Social Media Company to Rule Them All: Associations Between Use of Facebook-Owned Social Media Platforms, Sociodemographic Characteristics, and the Big Five Personality Traits. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 936. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00936
Müller, K. W., Dreier, M., Beutel, M. E., Duven, E., Giralt, S., & Wölfling, K. (2016). A hidden type of internet addiction? Intense and addictive use of social networking sites in adolescents. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, 172–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.09.007
Ou, M., Zheng, H., Kim, H. K., & Chen, X. (2023). A meta-analysis of social media fatigue: Drivers and a major consequence. Computers in Human Behavior, 140, 107597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107597
Pew Research Center. (2024). Teens and social media fact sheet. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/teens-and-social-media-fact-sheet/
Putri, Y. E., Amalianita, B., Zola, N., & Fitria, L. (2021). Ecotherapy: an alternative therapy for social media addiction during covid-19 outbreak. COUNS-EDU: The International Journal of Counseling and Education, 6(4), 166–168. https://doi.org/10.23916/0020210640040
Rahardjo, W., Qomariyah, N., Mulyani, I., & Andriani, I. (2020). Social media fatigue pada mahasiswa di masa pandemi COVID-19: Peran neurotisisme, kelebihan informasi, invasion of life, kecemasan, dan jenis kelamin. Jurnal Psikologi Sosial, 19(2), 142–152. https://doi.org/10.7454/jps.2021.16
Ravindran, T., Yeow Kuan, A. C., & Hoe Lian, D. G. (2014). Antecedents and effects of social network fatigue. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 65(11), 2306–2320. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23122
Rees-Miller, J. (2011). Compliments revisited: Contemporary compliments and gender. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(11), 2673–2688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.04.014
Rui, J., & Stefanone, M. A. (2013). Strategic self-presentation online: A cross-cultural study. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), 110–118.
Sagita, D. D., Erwinda, L., & Syahputra, Y. (2020). Contribution of the Internet Uses to Student Morale: Study in High School. In International Conference on Progressive Education (ICOPE 2019), 330–332. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200323.144
Sandjaja, S. S., & Syahputra, Y. (2019). Has a fear of missing out contributed to phubbing among students? International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 5(6), 219–230. https://www.ijicc.net/index.php/volume-5-2019/178-vol-5-iss-6
Shi, C., Yu, L., Wang, N., Cheng, B., & Cao, X. (2020). Effects of social media overload on academic performance: a stressor–strain–outcome perspective. Asian Journal of Communication, 30(2), 179–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2020.1748073
Stacy Jo Dixon. (2023). Number of social media users worldwide from 2017 to 2027. Statista . https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/
Suranata, K., Ifdil, I., Rangka, B., Yazid, A., Bakar, A., Tamil, &, & Subramaniam, S. (2022). Strength-based counseling as self-help method to overcome Nomophobia and FOMO among students. International Journal of Research in Counseling and Education, 06(02), 107–114. http://ppsfip.ppj.unp.ac.id
Syahputra, Y., Ifdil, I., Hafni, M., Solihatun, S., Oktara, T. W., & Erwinda, L. (2022). Narcissism and Social Media Addiction: Gender, Social Demographics, and Social Media Use. COUNS-EDU: The International Journal of Counseling and Education, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.23916/0020220736310
Whelan, E., Najmul Islam, A. K. M., & Brooks, S. (2020). Is boredom proneness related to social media overload and fatigue? A stress–strain–outcome approach. Internet Research, 30(3), 869–887. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-03-2019-0112
Xie, X. Z., & Tsai, N. C. (2021). The effects of negative information-related incidents on social media discontinuance intention: Evidence from SEM and fsQCA. Telematics and Informatics, 56, 101503. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2020.101503
Zhang, S., Shen, Y., Xin, T., Sun, H., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., & Ren, S. (2021). The development and validation of a social media fatigue scale: From a cognitivebehavioral- emotional perspective. PLoS ONE, 16(1 January), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245464
Zhang, S., Zhao, L., Lu, Y., & Yang, J. (2015). Get tired of socializing as social animal? An empirical explanation on discontinuous usage behavior in social network services. Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems, PACIS 2015 - Proceedings, 53(7), 904–914.
Zhu, X., & Bao, Z. (2018). Why people use social networking sites passively: An empirical study integrating impression management concern, privacy concern, and SNS fatigue. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 70(2), 158–175. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-12-2017-0270
Zulvi, N. A. W., Ifdil, I., Ardi, Z., & Handayani, P. G. (2025). Analisis social media fatigue pada mahasiswa berdasarkan jenis kelamin dan usia. Jurnal Konseling dan Pendidikan, 13(1), 38-48.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Annisaislami Khairati, Ifdil Ifdil, Nur Adila Wafiqoh Zulfi, Dona Fitri Annisa, Yola Eka Putri
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
