Too Much to Process: Investigating Digital Fatigue and Information Overload in PhD Scholars

Description

Page: 67-71

Navika Bansal¹ and Amin Ahmed Aman² (Counselling Psychologist¹ and
AIBHAS, Amity University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh²)

Research papers online are easily accessible, freely available, minimize redundancy, and speed up scientific progress Lawrence, S. (2001).. This encourages researchers to utilize online platforms for their review of literature. Considering the very intensive nature of a review of literature and the extended time period it takes to complete a doctoral dissertation, research scholars end up spending a lot of time surfing the internet to collect reviews, and by extension spending a lot of time on digital devices. Studies indicate the phenomenon of Digital Fatigue (Lawrence, 2001; Ocak et al., 2023; Vaishnavi et al., 2022). On prolonged exposure to screens and Information Overload Lawrence (2001due to a constant inflow of new information for a research review. Excessive screen time and digital device dependency have been found to adversely impact physical and mental health, contributing to sleep issues, stress, obesity, cardiovascular risks, and psychological effects like depression and suicidal tendencies Lawrence (2001), Graf and Antoni (2022), and Lawrence (2001) reported that information overload is linked to negative outcomes such as stress, burnout, and fatigue. Although digital fatigue and information overload have been explored among graduate students and office employees, research focusing on these issues in the context of PhD scholars remains underexplored. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a pilot research on a sample of PhD research scholars and administer the Screen Fatigue Scale and Perceived Information Overload Scale. A total of 47 scholars constituted the sample for this study. The data was collected through Google Forms. The results revealed a significant positive correlation between digital fatigue and information overload among PhD scholars. Information overload was found to be a significant predictor of digital fatigue. This suggests that as scholars experience greater fatigue from prolonged digital engagement, they are more likely to perceive an overwhelming volume of information. Further research could reveal the influence of physical fatigue, lifestyle stressors, academic pressure and other psychological problems among PhD scholars.