Social Media Fatigue
Especially as businesses return to more regular hours and mask mandates begin to lift, there seems to be an increase in activity on social media like Facebook and Instagram. With more and more weddings, parties, baby showers, and the like, it seems that the limits preventing us from spending time with our friends and family are starting to disappear. With the growing expectation of returning to business as usual, the fear of missing out or “FoMO” seems more daunting than ever. Still, even before the pandemic, social media fatigue had already been lurking.
What is it?
Social media fatigue has been described as a feeling of uneasiness experienced when presented with a large amount of information on the internet at once. It seems that information overload is hard to avoid no matter which platform or website you use. Whether it's news, advertisements, or updates from friends and family, taking in so much at once can be exhausting. Constant reminders of friends' major announcements and life updates can pressure us to present a similar picture of “all is well” when the pandemic has seen record high rates of depression and anxiety across all age groups. Participants of studies conducted worldwide have listed reduced productivity, poor life satisfaction, and social burnout as just a few effects of this phenomenon.
What Can I do?
Although difficult, Understanding that the way you’re feeling is entirely normal given how social media is today is the first step to overcoming it. While some people are more inclined to share more about their lives than others, we generally see the good while the bad and the not-so-pretty remain behind closed doors. It can be easy to forget that nobody is perfect, and the parts of life that make it difficult to socialize are conveniently excluded from the boatload of information that floods our way each time we open an app like Facebook or Instagram. Like any area in life, it’s important to maintain a healthy balance between social media usage and using both self-care and emotion regulation techniques which can take place independently or with a therapist in a private setting. For more information and tips on how to deal with social media fatigue, please visit any of the links below.
Helpful Links and Further Reading
https://childmind.org/article/social-media-stress-mindfulness/ (strategies to cope)
https://oasisapp.com/wellbeing-strategies-for-social-media-fatigue/ (more about signs and symptoms)
References
Dhir, A., Yossatorn, Y., Kaur, P., & Chen, S. (2018). Online social media fatigue and psychological wellbeing—a study of compulsive use, fear of missing out, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. International Journal of Information Management, 40, 141–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.01.012
Świątek, A. H., Szcześniak, M., & Bielecka, G. (2020). Trait Anxiety and Social Media Fatigue: Fear of Missing Out as a Mediator. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 14, 1499-1507. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S319379
Vindegaard, N., & Benros, M.E. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic and mental health consequences: Systematic review of the current evidence. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 89, 531-542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.05.048
Wolfers, L. N., & Utz, S. (2022). Social media use, stress, and coping. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45, 101305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101305
Zheng, H., & Ling, R. (2021). Drivers of social media fatigue: A systematic review. Telematics and Informatics, 64, 101696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2021.101696