The Wear and Tear of Being “Always On”: An Allostatic Load Model of Communication Overload in Social Media Use

Abstract

Social media use has brought not only greater connectivity but also growing concerns about its psychological and physiological consequences. Guided by the conceptual framework of the allostatic load model, this study investigated the impact of communication overload—the feeling of receiving more social input than one can manage, as commonly experienced in social media use—on physical health, with social media fatigue and depressive symptoms as serial mediators. A national quota sample of 1625 adults in South Korea completed an online survey measuring communication overload associated with social media use, social media fatigue, depressive symptoms, and self-rated physical health, along with relevant demographic and behavioral covariates. Results revealed a significant indirect pathway from communication overload to physical health, sequentially through both social media fatigue and depressive symptoms. Our findings indicated that the strain of social demands associated with social media use may contribute to deterioration in both mental and physical health. By applying the allostatic load framework, this study contributes to the technostress literature by elucidating how communication overload associated with social media use and its underlying mechanisms affect health, laying the groundwork for future research integrating psychological and physiological perspectives.