The effect of individual perceived dissimilarity on social media fatigue: the mediating role of social anxiety

Abstract

PurposeThe increasing social media use has been widely recognized for its adverse effects, such as social media fatigue. With the continuously increasing friends on social media, the dissimilarity of individuals in terms of age, personality, and values has increased. It is unclear whether perceived dissimilarity with others is associated with social media fatigue. The authors attempted to bridge this gap by constructing a “perception–emotion–behavioral” research framework. This study investigated the influence of individual perceived dissimilarity on social media fatigue. The authors further investigated the mechanisms mediating the three dimensions of social anxiety in the model.Design/methodology/approachThis study examined the mechanisms by which individual perceived dissimilarity influences social media fatigue, particularly using WeChat application. A field survey study conducted in China with 408 subjects of WeChat app users was used in this study to analyze the study model.FindingsThe obtained results demonstrate that individual perceived dissimilarity has a significant positive effect contributing to social media fatigue, perceived dissimilarity is positively correlated to social anxiety. Social anxiety positively affects social media fatigue, and social anxiety partially mediates the positive effect between perceived dissimilarity and social media fatigue.Originality/valueFirst, the study confirmed the influence of perceived dissimilarity on social media fatigue, which may enrich the antecedent mechanisms of social media fatigue. Second, the authors demonstrated the social anxiety-mediated development of fatigue. The findings provide an in-depth understanding of users' fatigue. Third, the findings of this study provide valuable insights for preventing of social media fatigue.

The Effect of Social Media Attachment on Subjective Well-being in a College Student Population

“…(Zhang and Han, 2022) There is a consensus in the academic community that the state of people is more relaxed and authentic due to the strong anonymity of weakly connected social media and the invisibility of class and economic status among users. (Yang and Zhang, 2023) Therefore, hypothesis H4 is proposed: Social media connection, as the basis of the internal working model of social media attachment, exerts indirect effects on college students' subjective well-being by influencing self-presentation, information acquisition and selfesteem on social media.…”

Psychological wellbeing and avoidance strategies as moderators between excessive social media use and academic performance among Indian college students

“…Earlier researchers reported that individuals’ widespread use of social media has both a bright side and a dark side (Ali et al , 2023; Gao et al , 2018; Gong et al , 2020; Lin et al , 2023; Shan et al , 2021; Yang et al , 2022). The bright side is seen in terms of building social capital and psychological well-being (Zhang and Jung, 2022), perceived social support and decreased loneliness (Choi and Noh, 2020; Gerke et al , 2020; Zhang et al , 2021), life satisfaction (Raza et al , 2020a) and happiness (Chae, 2018).…”

“…The technological revolution, followed by the growth of the internet and the availability of mobile devices, has resulted in the rapidly increasing use of social media worldwide (Gong et al , 2020; Nikolinakou and Phua, 2023; Yang et al , 2022). While social media use is quite common among individuals, the use of social media by students in academic settings has received little attention by academic scholars.…”