The dark side of social media: Stalking, online self‐disclosure and problematic sleep

Abstract

Social media platforms include social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snapchat (Kane, 2017). In addition to offering tremendous opportunities for communication, social media also serves as a channel for social change (Yannopoulou et al., 2019) and product promotion (Sreejesh et al., 2020). Though these online modes of communication have transformed the way individuals interact, yet, they have also raised various concerns (Lim et al., 2012). The extensive usage of different social media platforms to satisfy various social needs in the online environment has exposed users to several issues, such as social media fatigue, sleep problems, compulsive use, online regret and fear of missing out (Dhir et al., 2019). These negative outcomes are collectively referred to as the 'dark side' of social media (Baccarella et al., 2018;

Information overload and fake news sharing: A transactional stress perspective exploring the mitigating role of consumers’ resilience during COVID-19

“…The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). By applying covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM), the data analysis followed many recent and adjacent studies on the dark side of social media ( Dhir et al, 2018 , 2019 , 2021 ; Talwar et al, 2019 ), as the study's objective was to test the proposed hypotheses rather than engage in theory building. Moreover, SEM can depict concrete interrelationships among endogenous and exogenous variables, thus determining the exact effect strengths while controlling for measurement errors ( Steenkamp and Baumgarter, 2000 ).…”

“…This study's finding also contributes to the extant literature in related areas, such as the dark side of technology, as various negative effects of heavy internet and social media use could potentially be mitigated by resilience. This could mean further investigations into the role of consumers' resilience as a shield against problems such as social media fatigue ( Dhir et al, 2018 , 2019 ), sleep disturbances ( Dhir et al, 2021), internet addiction ( Dhir et al, 2015 ), or cyber-slacking ( Nusrat et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Scholars refer to these negative aspects as the ‘dark side’ of social media and acknowledge that they bring substantial threats to the well-being of consumers ( Dhir et al, 2018 ; Talwar et al, 2019 ). Excessive internet and social media use has been associated with problems such as social media fatigue ( Dhir et al, 2018 , 2019 ), stalking ( Dhir et al, 2021 ; Kaur et al, 2021 ), the fear of missing out ( Przybylski et al, 2013 ), problematic sleep ( Evers et al, 2020 ; Tandon et al, 2020 ; Dhir et al, 2021 ), perceived overloads ( Zhang et al, 2016 ), cyber-slacking ( Nusrat et al, 2021 ), compulsive social media use ( Tandon et al, 2020 ; Dhir et al, 2021 ), and the dissemination of fake news ( Talwar et al, 2019 , 2020a ). The latter is of particular concern for society ( Talwar et al, 2020a ) because not only does it have profound individual, but also political ( Allcott and Gentkow, 2017 ), economic ( Clarke et al, 2020 ), and financial ( Visenti et al, 2019 ) consequences.…”

“…The first salient contribution of this research is to expand the existing literature on reasons for sharing fake news by examining the phenomenon from a transactional stress perspective. Therein, the study followed Dhir et al’s (2021) recommendation to comprehensively assess the outcomes of increased social media consumption during the pandemic with emphasis on its dark side by utilising theories from interdisciplinary literature, such as the stressor-strain-outcome model. Second, the study advanced the literature on the prevention of fake news sharing by being among the first to focus on consumer behaviour and introduce the concept of resilience as a mitigating mechanism in the consumer realm, thereby meeting both the requests of Laato et al (2020b) and Simonson (2015) , which are to identify mechanisms preventing the dissemination of unverified information and to integrate new constructs into consumer studies, respectively.…”

Social Media Marketing as a Branding Strategy in Extraordinary Times: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…This refers to objective information regarding identity, e.g., name and gender, but also aims to represent a broader spectrum of subjective identities rooted in different types of self-expression, e.g., thoughts, feelings, and likes [33]. Online self-disclosure increases user satisfaction but can become problematic when the user spends extensive amounts of time online to stay informed about the engagement they receive from their social circle [34]. Regardless, as consumers willingly share their identities online, they are still protective over their information [33].…”