COVID-19, social media, algorithms and the rise of indigenous movements in Southern Africa: perspectives from activists, audiences and policymakers.

The Unprecedented Measures Regarding Population Mobility and dwelling that have been taken by states across the world have led the philosopher Giorgio Agamben to wonder whether the coronavirus pandemic represents the perfect opportunity for governments worldwide to take advantage of “collective panic” and instate the use of a state of exception as “a normal paradigm” (Agamben, “Invention of an Epidemic”). Agamben's intervention in the global conversation about the impact of the pandemic has been met with outright criticism among some commentators for at least two reasons. First, it seemed that he gave in too easily to the temptation of reading the reality of the quarantine zone containing potentially infected individuals as a confirmation of his own views of the state's minimization of the life of its citizens to the status of a bare/naked life (nuda vita) (Agamben, Homo Sacer 6; Agamben, Means without End 3). Second, the great contrast between the theoretically profound thinking with which Agamben accustomed the public and the philosophical thinness of the short essays exposing his views on the pandemic, also including hasty titles, such as his 2020 articles “The Invention of an Epidemic” and “The State of Exception Provoked by an Unmotivated Emergency” brings Agamben dangerously close, perhaps unfairly, to conspiracy theorists.This explains the prompt intervention of Sergio Benvenuto, who considers that “it is difficult to imagine an equally superficial reaction” than that of Agamben's (Benvenuto), or Anastasia Berg's opinion that “Agamben dresses up outdated jargon as courageous resistance,” worrying that corona skeptics worldwide acting as if responding to Agamben's calls for resistance have nothing in common with the “moral heroes” he might hope for (Berg). In a more conciliatory tone, Jean-Luc Nancy calls Agamben “an old friend,” but does not hesitate to argue that this old friend might simply be wrong in this case, although, generally speaking, governments “are nothing more than grim executioners” (Nancy 27). Equally dismissive of Agamben's original view that the states might have some interest in inventing or promoting a pandemic, Slavoj Žižek argues that the collective “distrust in state power,” which has emerged on the occasion of the governments implementing measures of containment of the virus, prevention of infection, and medical treatment of the sick, is enough to remain skeptical about such an argument (Žižek). Žižek's essay does not focus on criticizing Agamben, but rather takes Agamben's “radically different” position as an opportunity to bring into debate his own reflection on the coronavirus pandemic. It is mainly on Agamben's and Žižek's views that the reflection proposed in the subsequent sections of this essay will focus.* * *An essential feature, potentially one of the most important reasons behind Agamben's reaction, has been the early association by state authorities of SARS-CoV-2 with an enemy against which the efforts of limiting its spread and deadly effects are actual wartime measures. Agamben denounces this approach, which makes it tempting for citizens to sacrifice freedom for “so-called ‘security reasons’” (Agamben, “Clarifications”) and accept as reasonable enough the perpetual extension of the state of emergency for the sake of a society “living in a permanent state of fear and insecurity” (“Clarifications”). Besides, “a war against an invisible enemy that can nestle in any other human being is the most absurd of wars. It is, to be truthful, a civil war. The enemy isn't somewhere outside, it's inside us” (“Clarifications”). Perhaps the concise character of these arguments has prevented Agamben's critics from speculating about their profound resonances. To be sure, it is not a “civil war” in the sense of a state's internal war, which threatens the legitimacy of the incumbent state administrations, and not even in the Hobbesian basic sense of a war of “every man against his neighbour” (Hobbes 138) for the simple reason that the other human being that is perceived as a threat does not have the intention to kill me.This time, Agamben suggests, it is in the state's own interest to encourage its citizens to think that they are engaged in a civil war, some against others. It can be understood that the high stakes behind this shift consist in determining citizens to vicariously appropriate responsibility (Colburn and Lillehammer 153) for the biopolitical measures of the state. In other words, the biopolitics implemented by official measures gets translated into a biopolitical culture among citizens who will tend to become more and more inclined to apply biopolitical principles in their social relationships. As part of these relationships, not only the Other (e.g., the immigrant, the homeless, the minority), but even the neighbor or the family member is stripped of the multiple layers of their social life or bios to become bare or naked life. The fear of the Other is not primarily motivated by the Other's ill intention, but rather by the possibility that the Other might have become “infected,” or as it has lately been indicated by a “contradictory formula,” an “asymptomatic patient” (il malato asintomatico), that is, a potential carrier of the virus without even knowing it (Agamben, “La nuda vita”). This is not a fear of the human Other, but rather a fear of sick life. It is, in my eyes more than in the eyes of the state, that the Other is losing the contours of a human being. It is in my perception that the Other is becoming more and more an amorphous conglomerate of cells, a potentially infected organism, denuded indeed by an involuntary but no less unholy communion of a bare life intimately permeated by an alien virus slowly sucking it into non-existence.This aspect of a biopolitical education for the masses is also alluded to by Žižek, who observes the extent to which “our most elementary interactions” have been deeply affected by the state measures of disease control. In this view, previously apparently harmless gestures, such as touching things, shaking hands, sitting on benches or on public toilets, embracing others, touching one's own nose, or rubbing one's own eyes, have become potential indicators of disorderly behavior of a potentially infected body: “[I]t's not only the state and other agencies that will control us; we should learn to control and discipline ourselves!” (Žižek). Nevertheless, it is less the biopolitical dimension of this self-control and discipline that preoccupies Žižek, who prefers to reflect on the anti-humanist dimension involved in the relation of humanity not only with this or another virus, but also with nature sending us “a zero-level life,” a “biological caricature” as a response for the human's own viral-like grasp of nature's processes (Žižek).This anti-humanist dimension of human relationships with their environment serves as a framework for Žižek's reflection on the possibility of new forms of solidarity between people despite their characterization as rational and “egotistic” animals endowed with a virus-like “spirit” (Žižek). Žižek seems rather interested in the potential contributions of these new forms of solidarity that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, to the resilience of Western political culture. He rejoins Agamben in the aspect that the “new forms of local and global solidarity” are called to proclaim “the need for control over power itself” (Žižek), but at the same time, he addresses the limitations of the Western political culture in the context of globalization: “The challenge that Europe faces is to prove that what China did can be done in a more transparent and democratic way” (Žižek). It is not because China is a rising global power that the Western culture needs a re-evaluation of its values, but rather because population growth itself and globalization pose some challenges that China has been able to deal with effectively, while the Western world lags behind not knowing how to formulate an ideological response that would integrate coherently both the need for preserving individual freedom and the necessity for legitimate measures of “control and regulation” (Žižek). This is the aspect emphasized also by Jean-Luc Nancy, who argues that there is a need for reflection over a certain kind of legitimacy of the state's involvement in dealing with concrete issues of globalization that nation-states have not encountered before, such as the ever-increasing number of “elderly people” and “people at risk” in the context of an ever-intensified population movement facilitating the spread of viruses, or the heightened risk of pollution in a world affected by “technical interconnections of all kinds” (Nancy 27).* * *The great challenge of the Western world, Žižek admits, quoting Bratton, still consists in finding the right “vocabulary of intervention” as to distinguish blunt “surveillance” from other “forms of sensing” and “social control” from “active governance” (Žižek). This view can be interpreted as a departure from Agamben's refusal to make any concession regarding the potential extension of the state's involvement in protecting citizens even when threats such as terrorism are on the rise (Agamben, “Invention of an Epidemic”). After all, Agamben reminds the reader that the norm asserting that “we must renounce the good to save the good is just as false and contradictory” as the norm “which, to protect freedom, orders us to renounce freedom” (“Question”). This renouncing of longtime Western values for the sake of punctual efficient solving of a political or social problem might become tempting for the state apparatus, especially in a context such as the COVID-19 pandemic where the identified signs of a potential infection overlap with the signs of a common flu or other diseases or are simply absent in the “asymptomatic patient” (Agamben, “La nuda vita”).What kind of “vocabulary of intervention” may then be formulated that would justify the state's growing authority in matters as yet thought of as part of one's personal initiative and freedom? Would not the state be tempted to sacrifice a few people who are actually not infected, or even as many as needed in order to save or maintain social comfort among the majority and their sense of protection by those in power? This is a challenging issue not only for countries having adopted a zero-tolerance policy regarding the spread of the virus, but actually for all political cultures reclaiming a legitimacy based on values such as freedom and the common good. Perhaps the explosion of online hate messages against those who have been considered as the origin of the spread of the virus in some countries or regions is indeed a public signaling that at least some citizens are willing to empower their official administrations beyond what has been traditionally agreed upon publicly as the state's legitimate use of violence (Pearce 166).Although adopting the opinion of the necessity of a more nuanced view on state's “intervention,” Žižek is nevertheless not willing to weaken the focus on freedom predominant in Agamben's argument. Anticipating the shift in scientists’ and some governments’ discourse, from a zero-tolerance to a co-existence with the virus strategy, after failed attempts to contain the spreads and keep it at bay (Perng 151; Frost), Žižek suggested that there are two forms of collective “acceptance” that the virus will continue to be with us for a longer time than initially believed. These two forms of acceptance remain compatible with the idea of freedom, but one of them is more passive, “OK, people will be dying, but life will go on, maybe there will be even some good side effects,” while the other is meant to boost the idea of freedom in an active direction, “[o]r acceptance can (and should) propel us to mobilize ourselves without panic and illusions, to act in collective solidarity” (Žižek). This might mean that, in the context of a revised vocabulary of intervention, people might accept that the state has been extraordinarily given extended powers to investigate and identify clusters of infection, but at the same time, “new forms of global and local solidarity” are needed to exert “control over power itself” (Žižek).Žižek's preference for the second version of solidarity makes Agamben's unwillingness to accept any extension of the state of emergency appear as a lack of confidence in the human capacities to counter exaggerated claims for uncontrolled power of the states. If co-existence with the virus is in the making, this situation needs to be turned into the human beings’ advantage, as an opportunity for the resilience of human political cultures in general and of the Western paradigm in particular to cope with totally new challenges. Appropriating Daniel Dennett's view that “a person is a hominid with an infected brain” (Dennett 173), Žižek argues that viruses have always been with us and, in an anti-humanist key of interpretation, the human spirit itself may be defined as “some kind of virus that parasitizes of[f] the human animal, exploits it for its own self-reproduction, and sometimes threaten[s] to destroy it” (Žižek). In short, this position can be translated into the Latin form of Homo naturae virus, but since human history has been built rather on the threat to destroy the other human animal's body, the Homo homini lupus formula, which lies at the basis of modern political theory (Terrel 249), may be interpreted in the context of the coronavirus pandemic as Homo homini virus. Žižek does not use any of the formulas, but the striking argument at the end of his essay contains elements that can be synthetically represented as such.The discovery that the human spirit can be seen as a virus is taken by him as an opportunity for finding new ways of co-existence—not only a co-existence with the virus but also a dynamic version of co-existence among peoples or communities within certain nations and among governments. Moreover, there is an explicit connection in Žižek's argument between the human “spirit” as a virus and cultural production, spread, and domination in some regions of the world. Žižek takes inspiration from Leo Tolstoy's “unique theory of art and humanity in general” and interprets Tolstoy's anthropology as an “infection: a human subject is a passive empty medium infected by affect-laden cultural elements that, like contagious bacilli, spread from one individual to another” (Žižek). Žižek's overall point is that if, at least from a cultural point of view, humans are viruses to each other, and they have still learned how to co-exist, co-existence implies choosing which kind of infection to capitalize on toward boosting human personal and cultural capacities for resilience: “The only struggle [in Tolstoy's view] is the struggle between good and bad infections: Christianity itself is an infection, if—for Tolstoy—a good one” (Žižek).This may be read as a broadly formulated answer to Agamben's rather passive understanding of co-existence. It emphasizes the need for an active engagement at all levels of society that would bring new ways, especially if we are talking about the Western culture, to go through an unexpected cultural or viral infection by being mindful of the potential evolutionary advantages this infection might bring. The Western world has been able to go through the Christian infection and leave it behind, while preserving the incentives and the antibodies that have led to the philosophical and political formulation of values that make Western culture recognizable.* * *Žižek's critique of Agamben's position and his wider reflection occasioned by it, regarding the further challenges for the Western political culture—in particular, in the context of globalization and, in general, in the interaction between cultures—may be read as an attempt to initiate a shift in orientation toward the co-existence with or the existence in the proximity of the human Other or the culturally defined Other. Agamben had also pointed out how problematic the very idea of “proximity” has become in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, being straightforwardly identified as “a possible source of contagion” (Agamben, “Question”; emphasis in original). Žižek chooses to engage with the current perception of the idea of proximity as to re-widen its understanding as indeed a source of contagion, but not only viral. Nevertheless, by advancing the idea of a cultural contagion within the area of proximity between cultures and communities, especially when backed by his argument about the human spirit itself as a virus for nature, for other human beings, and even for one's own body, Žižek leaves open a door that Agamben would have preferred to keep shut.If a community that is predominantly “infected” with a certain cultural virus finds itself in the proximity of another community “infected” with a different kind of culture, Žižek seems to suggest that “contagion” between the two communities may generate new kinds of cultural interactions that in the end may help both communities not only survive the encounter, but also acquire new features and new strengths. This view largely ignores the biopolitical power of those governing such communities: What if the political power comes up with an ideological vaccine meant to prevent any cultural infection from outside the sphere of the established values? Agamben seems to hint toward this virtual possibility when he interprets the vaccine administered in the coronavirus pandemic as “the baptism of a new religion,” which, unlike the Christian baptism, needs to be repeated as many times as authorities will decide (Agamben, “La nuda vita”). What if this new kind of ideological vaccine is not something so new after all, but only now understood in its new facet, thanks to the coronavirus crisis? Perhaps the principle of an ideological vaccine has already been applied in modern and contemporary politics, if not even earlier, to ensure that the political authority's subjects have an acceptable level of ideological antibodies against any potential contagion from foreign viral cultures and ways of doing politics.If we are to follow this implication of Žižek's argument, we may realize that perhaps the pandemic has only revealed to us that both at the national and international levels, communities of people and collective subjects are caught in an agonistic game of co-existence. This means that such communities are struggling on one hand to stay impermeable to potentially viral influences from outside and doing their best, on the other hand, to become themselves as contagious as possible, at least for the individuals and communities in their proximity so as to gain hegemony over other communities (Mouffe 90). Žižek hopes that new forms of solidarity among individuals, communities, nations, and international organizations will finally close the biopolitical door through which governments worldwide will escape from public scrutiny. Nonetheless, once we take into account ideological vaccines, it can be observed that they sometimes offer more than enough antibodies to the citizens of a certain country—enough to make them immune to cultural infection even if they spend years or decades studying or working in another country, guaranteeing upon their return home an even more hardened embracing of nationalist pride.Contagious co-existence countered by ideological vaccines may indeed be a serious issue for the politics of the twenty-first century, especially when the passivity sought by the inoculation of the vaccine may determine subjects to be firmly established in feelings of nationalist pride, even when talking about or being effectively engaged in the opening to economic and technological relationships. Those people who only wish to co-exist with the Other (e.g., the migrant worker, the foreign resident, the minority)—that is, to only benefit from the Other's work, knowledge, or capital without any other commitment—will forever be inclined to find a close ally in the biopolitical power of the state. While in Western contemporary culture, this power may not be seen as providential or paternalistic anymore, it will still be tacitly or more explicitly welcomed to make citizens immune to the perceived threats of the day: the historical enemy, the terrorist, the alien, and even the potentially threatening “asymptomatic” person coming from abroad, having had the experience of another culture, or simply a different cultural experience within a minority community of a certain nation. Perhaps it is in this direction that we may read Agamben's short essays about the coronavirus pandemic, without the temptation of mixing his somehow hastily formulated arguments with the opinions of conspiracy theorists, and may appreciate the philosophical depth of his effort at touching a societal wound, although with incorrectly sterilized thinking.

BackgroundExcessive social media consumption leads to addiction and affects mental health. It is a phenomenon that is difficult to avoid. Previous research on the effects of excessive Internet use shows that people who engage in social media (SM) without restraint experience over-involvement, over-disclosure, technostress, and social media fatigue (SMF). SMF, conceptualized as an emotional and cognitive feeling of being overwhelmed, manifests itself in mindless browsing of content, limiting the amount of time spent on SM, or quitting SM altogether. Self-control, although present in the technology addiction literature and psychology research, has been rarely described in relation to both excessive SM use and SMF. Therefore, the main goal of the present study was to verify whether there is a direct relationship between problematic smartphone use and SMF, and whether this association is mediated by self-control.MethodsThe study included 210 respondents (M = 25.85, SD = 9.84) living in different Polish cities. The survey was conducted online, and the respondents consented to participate in the study. They completed the following measures: the Mobile Phone Problematic Use, the Self-Control Scale, the Social Media Fatigue Scale, and a brief questionnaire with socio-demographic data.ResultsStatistical analysis was performed to verify the relationship between problematic mobile phone use, level of self-control, and SMF. The outcomes indicate that there are significant interrelationships between the three studied variables. The association between problematic smartphone use and SMF is mediated by self-control.ConclusionA lack of impulse-inhibition skills, such as compulsive checking of notifications, can be a significant factor in SM exhaustion, fatigue, or frustration. SMF can also be understood as a natural defensive response, triggered in situations where individuals are overwhelmed, when the self-control is insufficient to stop the compulsion to use SM, and the use of a smartphone for this purpose is excessively engaging.

Producing solidarity in social media activism: The case of My Stealthy Freedom

Privacy concerns and social media usage continue to increase in parallel for many online consumers. While researchers have suggested the negative impact of privacy concerns on social media engagement, it is also observable that privacy concerns do not prevent users from disclosing their personal information online while using social media, in other words a privacy paradox exists. Noting this interesting discrepancy, our research investigates various factors influencing the relationship between privacy concerns and social media engagement. Privacy related factors are examined along with social media constructs as potential moderators that would explain why privacy concerns do/do not affect social media engagement. To explore these relationships, an online survey was conducted with a total of 760 US social media consumers. Results determined that privacy concerns negatively influenced social media engagement to the extent that users have privacy protection behaviors, social media trust, and social media fatigue. Interestingly, when users have high trust on social media platforms, social media engagement is more likely to increase despite privacy concerns. To increase engagement from consumers on these platforms, brands should look to establish transparent interactions with consumers that ensure data privacy and limit data surveillance.

Purpose This study explores configurations of social media stressors (i.e. fear of missing out, malicious envy, and social media craving) and distractions (i.e. distractions outside and distractions within social media) that predict university students’ social media fatigue. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected via a survey of university students in France. Complexity theory and accurate case-outcome modeling were used to analyze the data. Findings The results show that social media fatigue is most likely to occur when all three stressors—fear of missing out, malicious envy, and social media craving—are high; or when all three stressors are high, and at the same time, there are low levels of both distractions outside and within social media, or when any one of these stressors is high, and there is also a lack of distractions. Conversely, low levels of stressors combined with high levels of both distractions predict low social media fatigue. Practical implications This study informs firms/brands and social media platforms about the phenomenon of social media fatigue among students that is driven by fear of missing out, malicious envy, and social media craving. In addition, the study advocates the implementation of strategies that encourage firms/brands and social media platforms to regulate social media habits among users, thereby reducing social media fatigue. Originality/value This study highlights the complex interplay among stressors and distractions in shaping social media fatigue. The study enriches the theoretical body on the dark side of social media and may help practitioners develop strategies to mitigate university students’ social media fatigue. This study considers the joint contribution of stressors and distractions as well as measuring their independent influence. The study sheds light on the complexity of social media fatigue and offers valuable findings.

This study investigates the educational implications of the association between social media use and mental well-being in the post-pandemic period. As educational practices increasingly incorporate digital platforms, understanding the impact of students' social media engagement on their mental health is imperative. The role of education in the transformation of information and knowledge within the realm of social media contributes to the significant influences towards individuals’ mental well-being, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Education also serves as an instrument of social change to help reduce anxiety of COVID-19 among people. This research, therefore, aimed at investigating the association between social media use and COVID-19 Anxiety and mental well-being among Malaysian adolescents. It focused on the importance of educational implications in the associations among the study variables. Using a convenience sampling technique with a correlational research design, 329 adolescents, 18 to 25 years old, were selected for this study. Social Networking Usage Questionnaire (SNUQ), Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) were uutilised to measure social media use, anxiety of COVID-19 and mental well-being of the adolescents respectively. Three scales showed high internal consistency with α = .92 for SNUQ, α = .90 for CAS, and α = .94 for WEMWBS. The findings of the study indicated a significant positive association between social media use and COVID-19 anxiety (r = .12, n = 329, p < .05), and a significant positive relationship between social media use and mental well-being (r = .19, n = 329, p < .001). However, results showed an insignificant association between COVID-19 anxiety and mental well-being among adolescents (r = -.051, n = 329, p > .001). The study concluded that the use of social media as a platform for educational transfer and information change abstains from anxiety of COVID-19 and uplifts awareness among Malaysian adolescents on the salient positive influences of it towards their mental health.

Background Social media has emerged as a common source of dermatological information. Monitoring the patterns of social media use and engagement is important to counteract the limitations of social media. However, evidence in Vietnamese dermatology patients is lacking. Objective This study aimed to explore social media use and engagement by dermatology patients and to identify factors associated with social media use and engagement. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with 519 participants at the Vietnam National Hospital of Dermatology and Venereology during September to November 2018. Data about sociodemographic characteristics, social media use, and social media engagement were collected. Multivariate logistic and tobit regression models were used to identify factors associated with social media use and engagement. Results Interest in information about “cosmetic, beauty, and skincare techniques” was the greatest (184/519, 46.2%). The mean engagement score was 8.4 points (SD 2.4 points). Female patients were more likely to use social media (odds ratio [OR] 2.23, 95% CI 1.23-4.06) and be interested dermatological information on social media (OR 3.09, 95% CI 1.35-7.09). Women also had higher social media engagement scores (coefficient=0.68, 95% CI 0.17-1.18). Higher social media engagement scores were related with Instagram use (coefficient=0.58, 95% CI 0.00-1.15) and higher credibility scores for “family members” (coefficient=0.15, 95% CI 0.03-0.26) and “dermatology companies” (coefficient=0.22, 95% CI 0.04-0.39). Conclusions This study discovered high social media usage among dermatology patients. However, only moderate utilization and credibility levels were reported regarding the use of social media as a source of dermatological information. More efforts should focus on involving dermatologists in the development of individualized information on social media targeting specific groups of dermatology patients.

This article compares the social media strategies and engagement metrics utilized by two prominent creative cities, Singapore and Bandung. Singapore and Bandung are creative cities using different social media techniques and measurements. This research examined how the Singapore Design Council and Bandung Creative City Forum used social media to brand their cities. This research further analyzes social media in terms of reach and sentiment. The study adopted descriptive and social media analyses. The purpose was to obtain social media strategies and compare their social media channels, mentions, reach, and sentiment. The research findings show that Singapore's leading creative city branding platform is Instagram, proposing a more focused strategy. Bandung communicates with its numerous online citizens via Instagram and Twitter. Bandung generates more social media mentions and reaches, indicating a more active and engaged online community. Despite this, Singapore's social media sentiment is overwhelmingly positive, reflecting a solid and favorable perception of the city as a creative center. In addition, the study emphasizes the significance of platform selection and content diversity when developing social media strategies. This comparative analysis contributes to a comprehension of the effective use of social media for creative city branding. The study informs stakeholders in Singapore and Bandung about the strengths, limitations, and opportunities of their social media engagement. By utilizing these findings, policymakers, urban planners, and creative industry professionals can enhance their efforts to promote their cities as thriving creative centers.

Excessive self-disclosure online may risk the reputations, mental health problems, and professional lives of nursing students. This study investigated nursing students' usage of social media, their attitudes towards social media, mental health problems and self-disclosures, and the relationships of these variables. A cross-sectional study was conducted online (n = 1054) with questionnaires of Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), Social Media Fatigue (SMF), Students' Uses and Views of Social Media (SUVSM) and self-disclosure in social media which included self-information shown on social media and information viewed by others. Although most of them held positive attitudes towards social media, 17.4% of the participants acknowledged that they had posted inappropriate contents online and 37.6% witnessed improper posts from schoolmates or teachers online. SMF was affected by familiar with relevant regulations on the social media usage (β = -.10, p < .001), FoMO (β = .41, p < .001), and SUVSM (β = .17, p < .001). Additionally, nearly 1/3 participants reported their net-friends could view following information: gender, age, occupation, education level and location. Self- disclosure in social media was positively influenced by education (β = .10, p < .001), sharing moments or Weibo, etc. (β = .009, P = 0.009), time spent on social media daily (β = .11, p < .001), accepting stranger's "friend request" (β = .06, P = 0.047), FoMO (β = .14, p < .001) and SMF (β = .19, p < .001). Furthermore, effect of SUVSM on self-disclosure in social media was mediated by FoMO and SMF. Inappropriate contents are posted and witnessed by appreciable proportions of nursing students. Positive attitude towards social media may strengthen FoMO and SMF, which may increase self-disclosure in social media in turn.

Studies have rarely investigated the association between extrinsic motivation and social media fatigue. This study aims to examine the mediating role of Fear of missing out (FOMO) and problematic social media use in the association between extrinsic academic motivation and social media fatigue. A total of 399 college students (43% males) completed measures of extrinsic academic motivation, FOMO, problematic social media use, and social media fatigue. The results showed that FOMO mediated the relationship between extrinsic academic motivation and problematic social media use; problematic social media use mediated the association between FOMO and social media fatigue; extrinsic academic motivation fostered social media fatigue either through FOMO or problematic social media use, or through these two factors together; and the indirect mediation effects between extrinsic academic motivation and social media fatigue through problematic social media use were larger than the single mediation effect of FOMO and their serial mediation effects. In addition, the indirect effects of the three subconstructs of extrinsic academic motivation (external regulation, introjected regulation, and identified regulation) on social media fatigue follow a trend of gradual decline. The findings and implications of this study are presented and discussed.

Social media users feel overwhelmed by the amount of information inundated by followers and friends they have on various platforms of social media. They devote a lot of time to maintaining these online connections. This causes social media fatigue and poses a serious risk to social media users' wellbeing and productivity. Students could become victims of compulsive social media usage, which could lead to a decline in their academic performance. With the help of the stress-strain-outcome framework, this study attempts to establish the indirect relationship between compulsive use of social media and academic performance decrement via social media fatigue. Further, this study examined the moderating role of self-control (SC) in the relationship between social media fatigue and its negative effect on academic outcomes, which has not been analyzed so far. The effect of moderated mediation was assessed using the PROCESS Macro. The findings of the study suggest the mediating role of social media fatigue between compulsive use of social media and academic performance decrement. Further, the moderating role of self-control was established between social media fatigue and academic performance decline. The originality of the study lies in associating social media fatigue with decrement in academic performance and showing how self-control is helpful in mitigating its effects. This analysis can be insightful for students and educators who tend to ignore the negative impact of students' over-reliance on social media on their academic performance. The findings suggest that social media overuse by students requires self-regulation and requires careful scrutiny by educators in creating appropriate solutions to lessen social media's detrimental influence on higher education. The research provides useful recommendations for self-control on social media usage behavior.

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss major influencing factors causing users’ mobile social media fatigue and divides them into three hierarchies, including causal factors, intermediary factors and outcome factors. The study also sorts out connections between different levels of factors, thus providing effective guidance for the sustained development of social media.Design/methodology/approachBased on the grounded theory and by collecting data through in-depth interviews, the authors use open coding, axial coding and selective coding to analyze major influencing factors of users’ mobile social media fatigue, build a model using the software NVivo 11, organize and analyze mobile social media fatigue behavior and identify the relationships by combining the interpretive structural model and explore connections among the factors.FindingsThe influencing factors of mobile social media fatigue behavior conform with the stressors-strains-outcomes (SSO) theoretical framework, where stressors (S) include the five factors of fear of missing out, perceived overload, compulsive use, time cost and privacy concerns; strains (S) include the five factors of a low sense of achievement, emotional anxiety, reduced interest, social concerns and emotional exhaustion; outcomes (O) include the six factors of neglect behavior, diving behavior, avoidance behavior, tolerance behavior, withdrawal behavior and substitution behavior.Research limitations/implicationsIt focuses on the discussion of the interactions between users’ stressors, strains and outcomes without fully considering the impact of social environment and educational background on social media fatigue behavior. This study only focuses on one social media platform in the Chinese context, namely, WeChat. We reply on the qualitative research method to construct the relationships between social media fatigue factors because we were mainly interested in how users would respond psychologically and emotionally to social media fatigue behavior.Practical implicationsThe study has extended the application of the SSO theory. Additionally, the research method and model used in this paper may serve as guidelines to other interested scholars who intend to explore relevant variables and conduct further research on the influencing factors of social media fatigue. In analyzing the causality of social media fatigue, the study has integrated the intermediary factor strain to display users’ strains from social media stress with a more detailed path discussion on the causality of social media fatigue, which has not received broad attention in previous research literature on social networking services users’ use.Social implicationsIn this study, text data are collected in a diversity of forms combined, allowing respondents to answer questions without being limited by the questions in the questionnaire, which helped us to identify new variables of social media fatigue. As a result, we were able to dig out the fundamental causes of social media fatigue and potential connections between the factors. Relevant scholars, users and businesses may analyze, manage and forecast users’ social media fatigue behavior by analyzing the type of social media stress and users’ state, providing guidance for the proposal of corresponding management strategies.Originality/valueMost relevant studies focus on the sustained use of social media, and there is a scarcity of studies on social media fatigue in China. There is very limited research that conducts model analysis of social media fatigue through the integration of stressors, strains and outcomes.

BackgroundInterdisciplinary literature indicates different correlates of social media fatigue (hereinafter: SMF). Some studies show that high levels of anxiety may induce lowered Internet use and lead social media users to withdraw from Internet activities. Since the relationship between anxiety and social media use is complex, it is important to investigate mediating factors that may indirectly contribute to or exacerbate this association. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to verify whether fear of missing out (hereinafter: FoMO) is a potential factor accounting for why anxiety is associated with SMF.Participants, Methods and Data CollectionThe research was conducted on a group of 264 adolescents and adults (85% women). The mean age of the respondents was M = 23.76 with SD = 5.98 (range = 14–50 years). The data were collected via online social networking among college students, their family members and friends. The participants answered the Trait Anxiety Scale (TAS), Social Media Fatigue Scale (SMFS), Fear of Missing Out Scale (FoMO), and Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R).ResultsThe outcomes showed that respondents with higher levels of trait anxiety report more intense cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and overall online fatigue. Concurrently, individuals who experience FoMO on the Internet declare being tired of social media use. Moreover, FoMO mediates the association between trait anxiety and all three dimensions of SMF, and its overall result.ConclusionThe present research increases our understanding of the possible role of apprehension related to missing out on the anxiety and fatigue connected to engagement in social media. It is possible to assess that trait anxiety might induce higher SMF when individuals experience a general apprehension that others are doing or having things that they do not.

Social media has increasingly been recognized as a powerful instrument for mobilizing and engaging individuals in contemporary social movements. This study was conducted to examine the relationship between social media usage and participation in societal movements. Within this context, the role of social media in mobilization has been observed to grow in significance. The variables related to social movements included Political Ideological Alignment (PIA), Perceived Impact of Social Media (PISM), Frequency of Social Media Use (FSM), Engagement with Content (EC), and Type of Social Media Platforms (TSMP). Data were collected through surveys administered to 512 participants, among whom 243 were identified as active social media users engaged in social movements. The survey contained items addressing participants’ social media usage, political orientations, and levels of involvement in various movements, with responses measured using Likert scales. The aim was to evaluate the extent of interaction with different platforms, perceived effectiveness of social media in activism, and the influence of ideological stance on levels of engagement. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 28. Descriptive statistics were utilized to summarize trends in social media usage and movement participation, providing insights into patterns of engagement based on usage frequency, platform preference, and political alignment. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to explore the linear relationship between continuous variables, particularly the association between frequency of social media use and engagement in social movements. Additionally, ANOVA was applied to identify differences in participation across categories defined by platform type and ideological alignment. The findings demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between social media use and participation in social movements. It was found that frequent usage, platform selection, and political alignment significantly influenced the extent of activism. Social media platforms were shown to effectively facilitate user mobilization, foster engagement, and amplify collective actions. These results underscore the critical role played by digital platforms in modern activism and offer strategic implications for the planning and execution of future digital mobilization and advocacy campaigns.

The genesis of this article is reflective of the times we live in. The two of us exchanged messages on Twitter, learned that we had common interests and goals, and decided to work together to explore how social media is shaping interactions within the orthopaedic community, which can ultimately impact the way surgeons care for patients. Perhaps now more than ever, social media platforms are essential for surgeons to network, educate one another about different ways to approach problems, learn about policies and practice structures around the world, and participate in conversations that help propel the field forward. However, social media is not without its risks, including concerns over patient confidentiality, the credibility of presented educational information, and the professionalism of those who choose to engage in online conversations. We interviewed physicians who are part of the #OrthoTwitter community to get their insights on social media utilization, and their thoughts are included below. Promoting and Sharing Research There is some evidence to suggest that increased social media presence of a research article is associated with greater dissemination and impact1-3. However, it remains unclear as to whether the higher impact is a cause or the result of the increased social media presence. Nevertheless, social media plays an important role in promoting and sharing research ideas. Dr. Grant E. Garrigues (@Grant_Garrigues), associate professor at Rush University and cochair of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Technology Committee, is a prolific researcher who utilizes Twitter to share his investigative work and engage with other researchers. He emphasized that social media allows researchers' and physicians' voices to be heard. "In this information age, if you toil away on a research project and it's simply filed away in a dusty library never to be read again, then you haven't helped any patients or physicians…Social media allows you to highlight impactful research and help realize the goal of improving patient care." Fostering More Inclusive Conversations For others, social media plays an important role in forming social connections and networking in a global orthopaedic community. This is all the more important as the COVID-19 pandemic limits travel and the ability to interact in person. Dr. Nancy Yen Shipley (@_NancyMD), a partner at Multnomah Orthopedic Clinic in Portland, Oregon, commented that Twitter can promote interactions that are often difficult in real-life settings by leveling the playing field. "A resident can be involved in a discussion with a world-renowned surgeon, and hierarchies are gone." Indeed, one of the biggest advantages of social media is its ability to democratize opportunities for learning by making educational content available to more people and for more diverse opinions to be heard as discussions occur between those from different countries and backgrounds. As noted by another surgeon we spoke to, who frequently posts educational information, "[The] intended audience is other surgeons, residents, and international surgeons who don't necessarily have access to our societies and journals. I…[also] learn a lot from the comments I receive." A note of caution from this physician: when posting information from a patient case, they get specific consent to share imaging that is separate from the surgical consent. They suggest staying as vague as possible when describing patient characteristics that do not impact the educational value while also avoiding or changing data that could potentially identify the patient. This includes waiting to post so that the date of surgery cannot be used to ascertain the patient's identity. They also try to restrict education to basic concepts as complex cases can often be identifiable. "I keep it strictly educational—there should be no posts going 'look at this gnarly injury' for the [sake of obtaining] 'likes'." This last point is very important and one that can be challenging to regulate. While social media can play an important educational role, its lack of nuance and context can lend itself to extorting the patient in order to gain "likes" and "follows," a violation of ethics in the patient-physician relationship. Varying Approaches to Engagement There is no single right way for orthopaedic surgeons to integrate social media into their practice. For many, social media pages serve a purely professional purpose. Dr. Yen Shipley has opted for a more holistic approach to social media that encompasses both professional and personal life. "I used to think that the different parts of my life had to be compartmentalized…but what I put out on social media encapsulates who I am as a person [who] holds many roles—surgeon, mother, wife, podcaster, and beyond." Such an approach, however, requires discretion. She added, "As surgeons, we are often used to casual OR banter but need to keep in mind that this is not always appropriate in all settings, including online public forums. Anything I post publicly, my barometer is whether or not I would want my 85-year-old patient to see it and still respect me as a surgeon." Still others prefer an anonymous account, allowing one to post more freely about controversial topics and eliminating any stress about a reader being potentially offended by a well-intended comment. Dr. Dustin Schuett (@djschuett), an orthopaedic surgeon at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, California, maintains both an anonymous account and a professional account. He sees multiple benefits from social media, including connecting with and making friends with peers, gaining insights into case management, finding recent journal articles, and developing mentoring relationships. He warned about the risks of social media: "I know several people on Twitter who have had things they said misconstrued or inaccurately interpreted and have gotten in trouble for it at work." He mentioned that those in training may be more susceptible to getting into trouble professionally as they may be excited to share cases and details without fully considering HIPAA patient-confidentiality rules, while there is also a tendency to think that social media is a safe place to vent. Having language misinterpreted at work is not a problem that is unique to social media, but it is certainly exacerbated by rigid character limits and the feeling of personal distance that is created by interacting online. While venting can be important for one's mental well-being, until recently, these conversations have always occurred privately, away from patients and employers. It is important to remember that anyone may be reading posts, and even well-intentioned venting can easily be seen as unprofessional. Dr. Schuett started his anonymous account as part of his work writing satirical content for the website GomerBlog in 2017. While initially he used the account to mostly share jokes and articles, it has transformed into a much more meaningful experience. He stated, "I started having people tag me in posts asking for my opinions and thoughts on cases, as well as tagging me on other threads talking about cases. That developed into getting cases sent to me via DM [direct message] and regular tweets from literally around the world asking my thoughts and advice. I've gotten cases sent to me from every continent except Antarctica so far." Dr. Schuett was selected to be the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Social Media Ambassador Chair. Since then, he noted, "I've been working on using my Twitter account in my name more to get out there a bit more in a less anonymous manner." While he acknowledged the benefits of anonymity in being able to speak more freely on controversial topics, he noted that anonymity has come with problems with credibility, which is why he has taken to revealing information about his true identity on his anonymous account over time. Yet his point about those in training being in a vulnerable position is a good one. A Canadian orthopaedic surgery resident maintains an anonymous Twitter account (@DInclinic). He stated, "Many of us—especially in medical training have a real fear of retribution/negative contribution from speaking our minds…I've spoken openly about issues I see and experience to other trainees, staff, prospective trainees, and the general public that I would [never] feel comfortable saying as a resident [because] of my anonymity." In this setting, anonymity gives a voice to a population that would otherwise feel powerless, making for a more robust and diverse conversation. However, another potential drawback of anonymity is that can be very difficult to determine whether people are representing themselves accurately. A person could share an opinion on how to manage a particular problem without being vetted as to whether he or she has the requisite level of training to be capable of making such a plan. There is also the potential for a surgeon's account to promote a product or technique without clear disclosure of any conflicts that may be informing its use. Dr. John Shields (@jointdocShields), an associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, enjoys the sense of academic collaboration that is made available by social media. He took the unique step of becoming verified by Twitter. Shields said, "Early in the COVID pandemic there was a lot of misinformation, and so Twitter opened applications to the verification process to physicians to help stop the spread of false information." Becoming verified by Twitter, in which Twitter reviews one's publications, links to one's profile at his or her academic institution, and uses other sources to confirm identity, is one way to establish credibility. Whether anonymous or not, the impersonal nature of internet connections may increase the opportunity for cyberbullying. Simon Fleming (@OrthopodReg) is a trauma and orthopaedic registrar on the Percivall Pott Rotation in London who cocreated the #HammerItOut Campaign, which combats bullying and harassment in medical education. Fleming stated, "Twitter, much like IRL (in real life) reflects many of the same challenges, cultures, attitudes, and biases that exist in health care and orthopaedics." He explained that, while social media has flattened the hierarchy, there is still a power dynamic in place in social media. People who hold a minority view are more likely to stay quiet, while those in the majority view are more likely to be outspoken, which pushes voices and opinions out and can lead to bullying. Fleming, however, is optimistic that this can be improved. "We can all play a part in changing our culture. Not everyone needs to be an outspoken culture-change advocate. But even making an effort to do better, once you know better, will make a difference." An Evolving Conversation Social media is a dynamic tool that was unavailable to prior generations of trainees and surgeons. It has the power to foster academic collaboration and share new ideas among researchers. It democratizes learning, although it can also make it more difficult to determine who the experts are. Attention to professionalism and adherence to HIPAA standards are paramount because the setting is casual and the audience is varied and difficult to define. Regardless of an individual's engagement in social media, this developing technology will continue to reshape the way in which surgeons interact with one another and with the public. For the two of us (@Shoulder2LeanOn and @memenendez1), social media has proved valuable in forming and maintaining meaningful relationships with other surgeons and team members in orthopaedics, particularly during this pandemic. By engaging in conversations about clinical and research topics, we have deepened our understanding and furthered our love for the field, and we hope to translate this growing passion and knowledge to provide better care to our patients.