COVID-19 information overload and

generation Z's social media discontinuance

intention during the pandemic lockdown
Keywords:

social media, GEN, LOCKDOWN, INFORMATION, PSYCHOLOGICAL, HEALTH, RESEARCH, pandemic

lockdown, COVID-19 information, COVID-19 pandemic

Digest:

...COVID-19 information overload and generation Z's social media discontinuance intention during
the pandemic lockdown Hongfei Liu a, Wentong Liu b,*, Vignesh Yoganathan c, Victoria-Sophie
Osburg d a Southampton Business School, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ,
United Kingdom b School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law,
No.182 Nanhu Avenue, Wuhan, Hubei 430076, China c Sheffield University Management School,
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, United Kingdom d Montpellier Business School, University
of Montpellier, Montpellier Research in Management, France A R T I C L E I N F O Keywords: Mental
health Generation Z Information overload Social media fatigue Fear of COVID-19 A B S T R A C T
While previous research highlights the benefits of social media in times of a pandemic, this research
focuses on the potential dark side of social media use among Generation Z (Gen Z) in the UK during
the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown between March and May 2020....

...The study reveals that COVID-19 information overload through social media had a negative impact
on Gen Z social media users' psychological well-being....

...Moreover, perceived information overload heightened both social media fatigue and fear of
COVID-19, which, in turn, increased users' social media discontinuance intention....

...In addition, considering that social media is the predominant method of maintaining connectivity
with others for Gen Z users during the lockdown, the fear of missing out (FoMO) buffered the impact
of social media fatigue and fear of COVID-19 on Gen Z users' social media discontinuance
intention....
...We offer a series of practical suggestions for social media users, social media platform providers,
and health officials, institutions, and organizations in the effective and sustainable use of social
media during the global COVID-19 pandemic and in the post-pandemic time....

...Although social media usage carries many benefits to users, especially during the pandemic
lockdown (Sheth, 2020), studies also underscore the dark side of social media and point out that the
detrimental effects of social media use during the pandemic lockdown remain underexplored (Dhir
et al., 2018; Dhir et al., 2019; Islam et al., 2020)....

...Against this unique backdrop, this study investigates the impact of COVID-19 information overload
on Gen Z social media users' psychological well-being and social media behavior during the
pandemic-induced lockdown....

...The impact of increased social media use and growing pandemic information on social media
during the pandemic lockdown has been subject to limited investigation (GlobalWebIndex, 2020)....

...However, the information overload relating to COVID-19 on social media and its impact on Gen Z
remains underexplored....

...Although most observation shows that lockdown led to increased social media use among Gen Z,
research found that, after the initial stage of the lockdown, young people demanded a social media
detox (Gilsenan, 2020; Mehta, 2020)....

...Gen Z's social media disengagement intention developed during this period and was reflected in a
social media usage drop in a later stage of the lockdown (Bulik, 2020)....

...First, in underlining the significance of COVID-19 information overload on social media, this study
explores the psychological mechanisms of Gen Z's social media discontinuance intention during the
pandemic lockdown....

...We highlight the inner psychological processes (i.e., social media fatigue and fear of COVID-19)
through which COVID-19 information overload on social media affected social media discontinuance
intention....
...Drawing upon the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this paper responds to a series of
important calls in previous research on social media and makes several important theoretical
contributions....

...First, our research extends social media research by focusing on the dark side of social media use
among digital natives during the time of the pandemic lockdown....

...Second, this paper provides novel insights into the psychological mechanism of Gen Z's social
media disengagement during the COVID-19 lockdown....

...In practical terms, this study offers crucial and timely insights for social media users, social media
platform providers and institutes and organizations that use social media for public
communication....

...We advise members of Gen Z to self-monitor, self-evaluate and self-regulate their social media use
and mental health in order to safeguard their psychological well-being....

...Social media platform providers are advised to reduce information overload by empowering social
media users and allowing customized use....

...We also provide fresh insights for health officials, institutes and organizations into effective social
media use during emergency events....
Studi tersebut mengungkapkan bahwa kelebihan informasi COVID-19 melalui media sosial
berdampak negatif pada kesejahteraan psikologis pengguna media sosial Gen Z....

...Selain itu, informasi yang berlebihan yang dirasakan meningkatkan kelelahan media sosial dan
ketakutan akan COVID-19, yang, pada gilirannya, meningkatkan niat penghentian media sosial
pengguna....

...Selain itu, mengingat media sosial adalah metode utama untuk menjaga konektivitas dengan orang
lain untuk pengguna Gen Z selama penguncian, ketakutan akan ketinggalan (FoMO) menyangga
dampak kelelahan media sosial dan ketakutan akan COVID-19 pada Gen Niat penghentian media
sosial pengguna Z ....

...Kami menawarkan serangkaian saran praktis bagi pengguna media sosial, penyedia platform media
sosial, dan pejabat kesehatan, institusi, dan organisasi dalam penggunaan media sosial yang efektif
dan berkelanjutan selama pandemi global COVID-19 dan pascapandemi waktu....

...Meskipun penggunaan media sosial membawa banyak manfaat bagi pengguna, terutama selama
penguncian pandemi (Sheth, 2020), penelitian juga menggarisbawahi sisi gelap media sosial dan
menunjukkan bahwa efek merugikan dari penggunaan media sosial selama penguncian pandemi
masih belum diselidiki. (Dhir dkk., 2018; Dhir dkk., 2019; Islam dkk., 2020)

Dengan latar belakang unik ini, penelitian ini menyelidiki dampak kelebihan informasi COVID-19
pada kesejahteraan psikologis pengguna media sosial Gen Z dan perilaku media sosial selama
penguncian yang disebabkan oleh pandemi....

...Dampak dari peningkatan penggunaan media sosial dan informasi pandemi yang berkembang di
media sosial selama penguncian pandemi telah menjadi subyek penyelidikan terbatas
(GlobalWebIndex, 2020)....

...Namun, kelebihan informasi terkait COVID-19 di media sosial dan dampaknya terhadap Gen Z
masih belum tereksplorasi....

...Meskipun sebagian besar pengamatan menunjukkan bahwa penguncian menyebabkan

peningkatan penggunaan media sosial di antara Gen Z, penelitian menemukan bahwa, setelah tahap
awal penguncian, kaum muda menuntut detoks media sosial (Gilsenan, 2020; Mehta, 2020)... .
...Niat pelepasan media sosial Gen Z berkembang selama periode ini dan tercermin dalam
penurunan penggunaan media sosial pada tahap penguncian selanjutnya (Bulik, 2020)....

...Pertama, dalam menggarisbawahi pentingnya informasi COVID-19 yang berlebihan di media sosial,
penelitian ini mengeksplorasi mekanisme psikologis niat penghentian media sosial Gen Z selama
penguncian pandemi....

...Kami menyoroti proses psikologis batin (yaitu, kelelahan media sosial dan ketakutan akan COVID-
19) di mana informasi COVID-19 yang berlebihan di media sosial memengaruhi niat penghentian
media sosial....

...Mengacu pada model stimulus-organism-respons (S-O-R), makalah ini menanggapi serangkaian

panggilan penting dalam penelitian sebelumnya tentang media sosial dan membuat beberapa
kontribusi teoretis penting....

...Pertama, penelitian kami memperluas penelitian media sosial dengan berfokus pada sisi gelap
penggunaan media sosial di kalangan penduduk asli digital selama masa penguncian pandemi....

...Kedua, makalah ini memberikan wawasan baru tentang mekanisme psikologis pelepasan media
sosial Gen Z selama penguncian COVID-19....

...Dalam istilah praktis, studi ini menawarkan wawasan penting dan tepat waktu bagi pengguna
media sosial, penyedia platform media sosial dan lembaga dan organisasi yang menggunakan media
sosial untuk komunikasi publik....

Kami menyarankan anggota Gen Z untuk memantau sendiri, mengevaluasi diri, dan mengatur sendiri
penggunaan media sosial dan kesehatan mental mereka untuk menjaga kesejahteraan psikologis
mereka....

...Penyedia platform media sosial disarankan untuk mengurangi kelebihan informasi dengan
memberdayakan pengguna media sosial dan memungkinkan penggunaan yang disesuaikan....
...Kami juga memberikan wawasan baru bagi pejabat kesehatan, lembaga dan organisasi tentang
penggunaan media sosial yang efektif selama peristiwa darurat....