Social Media Fatigue in Today’s Digital Era: Exploring its Effects on Users’ Health and Well-being in Urban and Rural Punjab

Description

Savita and Babita Kumar (School of Business Studies, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab)

India, the country with the largest social media user base (491 million active social media users), following China, the world’s largest social media market, is exhibiting the prevalence of Social Media Fatigue (SMF). An emerging issue with serious health effects that remains largely neglected. Literature shows extensive research work has been done on SMF and the antecedents or causes leading to the onset of Social Media Fatigue. However, no research has explored its effects on users’ psychological, physiological health and overall well-being. In order to address this research gap, the present study has been undertaken to explore the effects of SMF in urban and rural Punjab. A Multistage sampling and Simple random sampling techniques were used to collect data from 600 social media users (300 from urban & 300 from rural), using a structured questionnaire as the primary research instrument. Respondents were selected using an inclusion criterion (based on review) and their willingness to participate. Four major effects, mental and emotional effects, physical health effects, addictive behaviour and cognitive decline were identified by Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using principal varimax rotation. Further, the significance of these effects was tested using a one-sample t-test. Moreover, independent t-test revealed no significant differences in the effects experienced by urban and rural users of Punjab. These findings represent SMF as a distinct stage in the life cycle of social media, a stage of saturation, can be measured by harm to users’ physiological, psychological and behavioural health. Thus, highlighting the need for marketers, social media providers and policymakers to address this phenomenon of Social Media Fatigue and its growing health implications on users.