Information and communication technology overload and social networking service fatigue: A stress perspective

In an always connected communication environment, users of social networking services (SNSs) need to pay continuous attention to the overwhelming volume of social demands from SNSs. These increased energy requirements may cause SNS fatigue, which can lead to physical and psychological strain. Using the transactional theory of stress and coping as the overarching theory, this study regards overload (i.e., stressors) as a core determinant of SNS fatigue (i.e., strain) and identifies three dimensions of overload – information overload, communication overload, and system feature overload. It also includes SNS characteristics as the antecedents of overload.