Communications in Humanities Research

- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences


Communications in Humanities Research

Vol. 15, 20 November 2023


Open Access | Article

How Information Overload Affects the Usage of WeChat Moment among University Students During the COVID-19

Wu Zhiyan * 1
1 Beijing Normal University·Hongkong Baptist University United International College

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Communications in Humanities Research, Vol. 15, 99-105
Published 20 November 2023. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by EWA Publishing
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Citation Wu Zhiyan. How Information Overload Affects the Usage of WeChat Moment among University Students During the COVID-19. CHR (2023) Vol. 15: 99-105. DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/15/20230599.

Abstract

This study navigates the effect of information overload on university students’ usage of WeChat Moment during the COVID-19 pandemic. WeChat has become a prominent platform with a large number of monthly active users since people are increasingly relying on social media for socializing and accessing health-related information. However, users have reported experiencing social media fatigue (SMF) due to the overwhelming amount of COVID-19 information on the platform. This study aims to explore the relationship between information overload, social media fatigue, and discontinuous usage intention among young WeChat users. A survey was conducted with 324 Chinese university students. The results revealed that a significant portion of respondents experienced information overload while using WeChat, which was positively correlated with social media fatigue and discontinuous usage intention. Notably, living or isolating in areas at middle or high risk from the pandemic did not contribute to a greater perception of information overload. This study provides valuable insights for improving WeChat Moment and enhancing the well-being of young users in the context of information overload during the pandemic.

Keywords

information overload, social media fatigue, WeChat moment, COVID-19, discontinuous usage intention

References

1. Pang, H. (2021). How Compulsive WeChat Use and Information Overload Affect Social Media Fatigue and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Stressor-Strain-Outcome Perspective. Telematics and Informatics, 64, 101690.

2. Ngien, A., & Jiang, S. (2022). The Effect of Social Media on Stress among Young Adults During COVID-19 Pandemic: Taking Into Account Fatalism and Social Media Exhaustion. Health Communication, 37(10), 1337-1344.

3. Bawden, D., Holtham, C., & Courtney, N. (1999). Perspectives on Information Overload. Aslib Proceedings, 51(8), 249-255.

4. Klapp, O. E. (1986). Overload and Boredom: Essays on the Quality of Life in the Information Society. Greenwood Publishing Group Inc.. Retrieved from https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.5555/536373

5. Case, D. O., Andrews, J. E., Johnson, J. D., & Allard, S. L. (2005). Avoiding versus Seeking: The Relationship of Information Seeking to Avoidance, Blunting, Coping, Dissonance, and Related Concepts. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 93(3), 353.

6. Schick, A. G., Gordon, L. A., & Haka, S. (1990). Information overload: A Temporal Approach. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 15(3), 199-220.

7. Heylighen, F. (2002). Complexity and Information Overload in Society: Why Increasing Efficiency Leads to Decreasing Control. The Information Society, 1(44), 11.

8. Shenk, D. (1997). Data Smog: Surviving the Info Glut. Technology Review, 100(4), 18-26.

9. Gao, W., Liu, Z., Guo, Q., & Li, X. (2018). The Dark Side of Ubiquitous Connectivity in Smartphone-Based SNS: An Integrated Model From Information Perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 84, 185-193.

10. Liu, Y., & He, J. (2021). “Why Are You Running Away From Social Media?” Analysis of the Factors Influencing Social Media Fatigue: An Empirical Data Study Based on Chinese Youth. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 674641.

11. Ling Z., Lu Y., Yang J., Zhang S. (2015). Get Tired of Socializing as Social Animal? An Empirical Explanation on Discontinuous Usage Behavior in Social Network Services. Retrieved from https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2015/125/

12. Bright L. F., Kleiser S. B., Grau S. L. (2015). Too much Facebook? An Exploratory Examination of Social Media Fatigue. Comput. Human Behav, 44, 148–155.

13. Ravindran, T., Yeow Kuan, A. C., & Hoe Lian, D. G. (2014). Antecedents and Effects of Social Network Fatigue. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 65(11), 2306-2320.

14. Li, X. (2018). Research on Social Media Users’ Burnout and Negative Use Behavior in the Context of Information Overload. Shandong University of Finance and Economics. Retrieved from https://kns.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?dbname=CMFD201902&filename=1018208506.nh

15. Zhang, S. W. (2016). An Empirical Study on Discontinuous Use Behavior of Social Network Users. Wuhan: Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Retrieved from https://kns.cnki.net/KCMS/detail/detail.aspx?dbname=CMFD201702&filename=1016780103.nh

Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.

2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.

3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open Access Instruction).

Volume Title
Proceedings of the International Conference on Global Politics and Socio-Humanities
ISBN (Print)
978-1-83558-119-3
ISBN (Online)
978-1-83558-120-9
Published Date
20 November 2023
Series
Communications in Humanities Research
ISSN (Print)
2753-7064
ISSN (Online)
2753-7072
DOI
10.54254/2753-7064/15/20230599
Copyright
20 November 2023
Open Access
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Copyright © 2023 EWA Publishing. Unless Otherwise Stated