Digital Stress

This chapter addresses the role of media in contributing to digital stress. This chapter suggests that there is weak evidence that social media is causally related to negative psychosocial outcomes, but there is consistent evidence of a small, negative association between psychosocial outcomes and social media use. The chapter suggests that the subjective experience of using social media, not use itself, may explain this negative relationship. This chapter introduces five types of digital stress: availability stress, approval anxiety, fear of missing out, connection overload, and cost of caring. This chapter explains why individuals experience digital stress and why they continue to engage in behaviors that contribute to digital stress.