On Social Media Fatigue

We are now about smack dab in the middle of Week 3, and I have to say I'm already starting to get a little tired. Is that ridiculous to say? Well, I'm still gonna throw it out there. This week the tools that we are focusing on are YouTube, Reddit, and LinkedIn, and I am starting on the full version of the community assignment where I am focusing on a subreddit and a group within Facebook, not to mention this blog! Before this class I thought that social media influencers didn't have "real jobs" but I think I very well just might change my tune after this semester. It is a lot to juggle, and honestly I think if you're just a normal human being like little ole me it might be too much.

This got me thinking: is there such a thing as too much social media? Is there any research on not wanting to participate in social media? I turned to a trusted source, the FSU library, and found this article that introduced me to a new concept, social media fatigue. The authors define social media fatigue as "a user's tendency to back away from social media participation when s/he becomes overwhelmed with information" (pg. 148). Although the study described in the article doesn't really measure how long it takes social media users to develop social media fatigue, which is really what I was look for, it does describe the factors that make it up. These include social media confidence, or how effective people think they are at using social media tools; social media self-efficacy, or people's beliefs in their abilities to successfully organize and execute a particular course of action; privacy concerns; and social media helpfulness, or how much people feel like they gather useful resources and information from social media. 

After reading about these variables, it made me take a step back and reconsider my relationship with the social media that I am consuming for class. Do I feel confident in my ability to use these tools? So far, yes. Do I think that I could organize and execute a successful social media campaign? Sure, it probably depends on what the campaign is about. Do I have privacy concerns about my social media? Yes, but not so much with how I use it than with the actual companies themselves (looking at you, Facebook.) Do I find these tools helpful in gathering information and resources? Absolutely. So maybe if I'm feeling a bit tired, I should reconfigure my news feeds and make sure that I'm seeing what I want to see and find inspiring/informative/etc. instead of content that doesn't enrich my life in any way whatsoever.


Comments

  1. KendylMay 28, 2020 at 7:18 AM

    Erin, thank you for this perspective. I found the article you shared interesting. I would like to see this study conducted specifically on a younger sample. I am sure this fatigue is felt by those under the age of 18 and I wonder how an early burn out may effect their digital lives long term.

    I agree that there is power in re-configuring news feeds! Having an account that only follows "good news" and inspirational accounts has helped my mental health without fully disconnecting.

    I hope you are able to combat your fatigue!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Omer ArslanMay 28, 2020 at 2:47 PM

    Ahh.. I wanted to take a video clip recently using TikTok, as part of my tool exploration! I just gave up after a while!!! As you've noticed, I highly appreciated the time, effort, knowledge, and skills that people put into such processes. Didn't even want to imagine 'influencers'.

    Hmm.. Thanks for sharing that study, sounds really interesting! I'll make sure to check it out. I also liked the idea of reconfiguring news resources! Sometimes, it may be wonderful to let go those resources, I should do that, too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. LeeJune 3, 2020 at 4:38 PM

    If you need a research subject who doesn't like participating in social media, give me a ring. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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