OVERLOADING IN LOCKDOWN: EFFECTS OF SOCIAL, INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION OVERLOADS IN COVID-19 DAYS

Abstract

Many technologies such as Internet, smart tools, social networks have been involved in human life. This increasing prevalence of social networks leaves users facing an overwhelming amount of information, messages, sharing, and social demand. This excess amount is defined as overload. The amount of information constantly flowing in users’ networks, social support and communication requests from others can cause fatigue. Overload in social networks can have behavioral and psychological consequences. In this study, a model was used in the context of the SSO (Stress-Strain-Outcome) framework and the changes caused by social, communication and information overloading in an individual’s attitudes and behaviors were examined. The research was applied in survey technique and 274 participants’ responds analyzed in this study that examined the experiences of social network users during the Covid-19 process. Outliers in the data are arranged by Mahalanobis distance. Before the use of the scales, factor analyses were performed and their validity was measured. According to the results, only information overload has a significant effect on fatigue. Social and communication overloads do not significantly affect fatigue. Fatigue, on the other hand, has a significant relationship with discontinuous intentions. Users who experience information overloading may experience discontinuous intentions towards social networks. However, it cannot be said that social and communication overloads have caused discontinuous intentions. Although users have high averages in social overload and communication overload, it does not cause fatigue in social networks. Users who have to stay in homes, especially during the quarantine period, can continue to spend time on social networks, despite overloads. In terms of gender, women were found to feel more overloaded on social networks. Women experience more communication, information and social overload. In addition, the fatigue and discontinuous intentions averages are significantly higher.