Technostress and social networking services: Explaining users' concentration, sleep, identity, and social relation problems

Abstract

It is common for users of social networking sites and services (SNS) to suffer from technostress and the various associated strains that hinder their well-being. Despite prior SNS stress studies having provided valuable knowledge regarding SNS stressors and their use consequences, they have not examined the various strains related to well-being that those stressors can create nor the underlying SNS characteristics. To address this gap in the research, we used a qualitative approach involving narrative interviews. As a contribution, our findings reveal four types of strains related to well-being (concentration problems, sleep problems, identity problems, and social relation problems) as well as two different patterns with distinct sets of SNS stressors and SNS characteristics that generate those strains. As practical implications, the findings of this study can help technostressed users to identify their strains, understand their underlying SNS characteristics and SNS stressors, and increase the possibility that they will be able to avoid the strains in the future.

The Motivations for and Well-Being Implications of Social Media Use at Work among Millennials and Members of Former Generations

“…Other mental and physical symptoms such as fears and sleeping problems contributed to employees’ strain. Indeed, social media use has been associated with, for example, sleeping problems in prior studies [ 43 , 44 , 107 ]. Millennials also longed for clear social media rules and guidance, which can help them solve difficult social media situations, hence reducing the burden.…”

“…Social media can increase communication, information, and social overload [ 32 ]. In particular, constant connectivity is induced by social media push notifications and messages, which can distract people from their work and lead to concentration and sleep problems, exhaustion, burnout and technostress [ 41 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. Employees experience technostress when technology use challenges their ability to cope with the technology related demands [ 46 , 47 ].…”

Motivation and Continuance Intention towards Online Instruction among Teachers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Effect of Burnout and Technostress

“…Previous studies reported that excessive technostress can have negative consequences for individuals regarding their personal life, their physical and psychological health (i.e., depression, concentration difficulties and social/relationship problems), as well as their professional life (i.e., decreased job satisfaction, reduced organizational commitment and low job performance) [ 82 ]. Other possible causes reported by teachers were the extra time needed to prepare online classes, unexpected errors, low technological reliability, and a lack of training in the use of technology.…”

Measuring university students’ technostress in technology-enhanced learning: Scale development and validation

“…Studies on the second topic have explored a wide range of consequences caused by excessive technostress, including psychological, physical, and social (Al-Fudail & Mellar, 2008;Salo, Pirkkalainen, & Koskelainen, 2018). In particular, much attention has been devoted to examining consequences to individuals' professional lives (Fuglseth & Sørebø, 2014;Joo et al, 2016;Tarafdar et al, 2015).…”