Computers in Human Behavior 61 (2016) 245e254

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Computers in Human Behavior

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Full length article

Effects of social and technology overload on psychological well-being

in young South Korean adults: The mediatory role of social network
service addiction
Suk Bong Choi a, Myung Suh Lim b, *
a
College of Business & Economics, Korea University, 2511 Sejong-ro, Sejong City 339-700, Republic of Korea
b
Department of Business Administration, Sangji University, 83, Sangjidae-gil, Wonju, Ganwondo 220-702, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study examined the effects of social and information technology overload on psychological well-
Received 28 June 2015 being. It also explored the mediating role of social network service (SNS) addiction in the hypothe-
Received in revised form sized relationships between these variables. A sample of 419 college students and employees in their 20s
6 February 2016
and 30s, who were SNS users in South Korea, participated in the study. The results showed that social and
Accepted 10 March 2016
information technology overload did not exert a direct impact on psychological well-being. SNS addiction
served as a mediator in the relationships between these variables. The theoretical contributions and
useful managerial implications of the study, with respect to reducing SNS users' addiction and improving
Keywords:
Social overload
their psychological well-being, were described.
Information technology overload 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
SNS addiction
Psychological well-being

1. Introduction
Supported by the technological advancement of the Internet,
which people are able to access at any time and from most loca-
tions, Social Network Services (SNSs) have penetrated our daily
lives (LaRose, Connolly, Lee, Li, & Hales, 2014, p. 88). The positive
aspects of SNSs, such as social support, perceived usefulness, and
perceived enjoyment, have been found to increase user satisfaction
(Turel & Serenko, 2012; Xu & Tan, 2012). Individuals expect the use
of SNSs to result in improvements in their relationships and pro-
ductivity with respect to communication and technology. Accord-
ingly, users invest a considerable amount of time in SNSs. However,
recent research has shown that users become depressed (Sagioglou
& Greitemeyer, 2014), and their productivity at work is affected due
to increases in the time spent using SNSs. New communication
technologies, including SNSs, offer benets but also create new
problems and ultimately lead to a dilemma regarding the extent of
technology usage (Karr-Wisniewski & Lu, 2010).
The aim of this study was to perform an empirical analysis, from
a theoretical perspective, of the results of previous research
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: sukchoi@korea.ac.kr (S.B. Choi),
(M.S. Lim).
indicating that the effects of social support provided via SNSs and
technology on the well-being of users, which are deemed to be
positive, could be negative. This study is similar to previous
Internet paradox studies conducted in the context of SNSs
(Bessiere, Kiesler, Kraut, & Boneva, 2008; Kraut et al., 1998, 2002)
and extends the research exploring the negative consequences of
Internet usage (Byun et al., 2009; LaRose et al., 2014; Tokunaga &
Rains, 2010). The researchers expected social and technology
overload resulting from SNS use to lead to SNS addiction and ulti-
mately exert a negative impact on users' psychological well-being,
and that the effects of this situation would be counterproductive
and cause problems as SNS usage increases. This claim can also be
predicted by the theoretical models described below (Karr-
Wisniewski & Lu, 2010, pp. 1062e1063):
First, cognitive load theory, which posits that people experience
cognitive limitations, could be used to explain this phenomenon.
According to cognitive load theory, this phenomenon occurs when
users seek capability beyond usability prior to using software. The
addition of new features increases marginal utility to a certain
extent but reduces it thereafter. Ultimately, a complex collection of
factors causes feature fatigue (Thompson, Hamilton, & Rust,
2005).
Second, there is a limit to human rationality. This is referred to
mslim@sangji.ac.kr as bounded rationality theory. Overload occurs when input

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.032
0747-5632/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
246 S.B. Choi, M.S. Lim / Computers in Human Behavior 61 (2016) 245e254
demands exceed information processing ability (Eppler & Mengis,
2004; Farhoomand & Drury, 2002; Ho & Tang, 2001).
Third, human interruption theory suggests that communication
overload occurs when too many messages disrupt routine tasks
(Cohen, 1980). As a result, the individual is unable to maintain
current tasks. This theory posits that there is an adequate level of
arousal for a given task; however, beyond this level, the effective-
ness of attention enhanced by arousal deteriorates, and stimuli are
processed poorly (Yerkes & Dodson, 1908). For example, if current
work is interrupted by an unplanned task, the original work cannot
be completed properly (Rennecker & Godwin, 2005).
Given these theories, social support, even as a positive stimulus
for SNS users, and technologies that are accessible at any time and
location could lead to psychological or behavioral side effects if
they exceed the users' capability.
In this study, an empirical analysis involving young adults in
their 20s and 30s was performed to achieve the research aims
described above and provide practical suggestions. We had two
reasons for choosing young people for this study:
First, examination of the effects of SNS use in young people is
particularly important, as they are at a critical stage in the devel-
opment of social skills. During adolescence, people need social
skills, particularly those related to self-dependence, career orien-
tation, and relationship maintenance, more than ever (Arnett,
2000). Because adolescence is the stage at which the initial step
toward long-term well-being, identity formation, and the devel-
opment and maintenance of friendships and family relationships is
taken, SNS use is most important during this period (Connolly,
Furman, & Konarski, 2000; Montgomery, 2005).
Second, as young people use SNSs on a daily basis (Quan-Haase,
2007), they are more susceptible to the issues surrounding exces-
sive SNS use (Koc & Gulyagci, 2013). In addition, their responses to
technological advances, such as SNSs, are more sensitive (Agarwal,
Animesh, & Prasad, 2009). For these reasons, the inclusion of the
younger generation, as a major SNS user group, their psychological
and behavioral reactions, and the consequences of cognitive over-
load resulting from SNS usage should provide practical suggestions
and contribute to theoretical perspectives.
This study involved three objectives intended to make both
theoretical and practical contributions to the eld. The rst was to
determine whether SNS-related overload would exert a negative
impact on users' psychological well-being. The second was to
examine the mediating role of SNS addiction in the relationship
between SNS overload and psychological well-being. The third was
to provide information that could have implications for managerial
policy makers and affect SNS providers and users.
2. Theoretical background and hypotheses
2.1. Social overload and SNS addiction
The rst reference to social overload was made in a theory that
accounted for the social crowding phenomenon in social psychol-
ogy in the 1980s (Baum, Calesnick, Davis, & Gatchel, 1982; Evans &
Lepore, 1993; McCarthy & Saegert, 1978). This phenomenon is
known as social overload. McCarthy and Saegert (1978) suggest that
high densities contribute to social and cognitive overload by
increasing the number of other people with which an individual may
have to deal and that some experience of them is difcult for the
individual to avoid (McCarthy & Saegert, 1978, p. 254). This concept
also applies to virtual space. For example, social overload in the SNS
environment means that users bear the burden of caring about
other users' existence and issues and occasionally provide enter-
tainment for them (Maier, Laumer, Eckhardt, & Weitzel, 2012). In
studies examining SNS, this burden can also be dened as social
interaction overload and indicates that the individual is engaged in
social exchange beyond his or her communicative and cooperative
capability (Ljungberg & Sorensen, 1998).
Social overload occurs in SNSs due to individual limitations on
SNS users' resources. Cognitive ability and emotional capital must
be limited. Emotional effort is required to maintain close relation-
ships (Dunbar, 2010); however, the quality of relationships de-
teriorates, due to the limitation of cognitive ability and sentimental
capital, as the number of relationships increases. SNS users try to
relieve excessive relationship burdens that exceed their capability,
to compensate for deterioration. However, individual burdens in-
crease considerably as the size of the network expands (Wang,
2013). As a result, the frequency and duration of users' access in-
crease constantly due to social overload, leading to SNS addiction.
The concept of SNS addiction has been the focus of recent
studies. One such study was conducted by Turel and Serenko (2012)
but involved little theory-guided investigation. Terms such as
excessive use, addiction, dependency, and problematic use
have often been used interchangeably to refer to the negative as-
pects of SNS usage. In particular, SNS addiction refers to spending
too much time on SNSs. This is diagnosed as addiction because it is
categorized as cyber-relationship addiction (i.e., an addiction to
online relationships; Young, 1999), and users display behavioral
addiction symptoms. In a similar manner to that of material-
association addictions, some users demonstrate typical addiction
symptoms. SNSs are used to modify feelings (favorably), which can
lead to signs of addiction such as salience (behavioral, cognitive,
and emotional concentration), generosity (SNS usage continues to
increase), withdrawal (unpleasant feelings with suspension of SNS
usage), conict (between people or internally), and regression
(rapid return to SNS usage once the period of abstinence is over;
(Grifths, Kuss, & Demetrovics, 2014).
Some researchers have claimed that social overload can exert an
impact on SNS addiction according to the conceptual research
model used in this study, for the following reasons:
First, SNSs are no longer separable from our daily lives, and daily
access leads to social overload; however, SNS usage cannot be
terminated, due to its connection to people's lives. For this reason,
continuous usage ultimately leads to addiction. SNSs are a form of
media to which the intention to form a society, which previously
existed in individual communities, applies. Although the number of
small, traditional communities has declined, and new types of so-
ciety are pursed due to increased mobility, the demand for com-
munities remains. For this reason, the activities of small
communities are maintained, and from this perspective, SNSs
perform similar functions to those of traditional communities
(Grifths et al., 2014). Therefore, SNSs serve as an effective means of
both managing ofine networks and strengthening personal re-
lationships. It is difcult to terminate the addiction process, even
when social overload is recognized, because SNSs are ultimately
grounded in social relationships and connected to employment and
leisure (Kuss & Grifths, 2011), and complete cessation is techni-
cally infeasible due to their connectivity to the Internet. Daily use of
SNSs causes social overload but cannot be terminated, indicating
that it does not differ from addiction.
Second, the growth of networks encourages users to invest more
energy and time therein. SNSs are of merit, as they provide social
support including advice, information, and companionship
(Hampton, Sessions, & Her, 2011). However, size also plays a
negative role, demanding more time and energy to sustain re-
lationships (Sacks & Graves, 2012). Consequently, individuals must
endeavor to maintain good-quality information and relationships
on the network (Burt, 2009). Connection overload occurs within
this process, in association with technological changes in social
media, when use exceeds users' ability to cope, leading to
 S.B. Choi, M.S. Lim / Computers in Human Behavior 61 (2016) 245e254
addiction. Overload-related excessive use of SNSs refers to
spending too much time on SNSs and losing track and control of
time. The risk of SNS addiction is greater in those who already have
and maintain relationships with others. Although each occasion
upon which an SNS is accessed constitutes a trivial action that re-
quires little time to perform, if all such occasions are combined in
terms of time, the result shows that the user has spent a consid-
erable amount of time using the SNS. This is no different from the
issues that lead to problematic internet use (Caplan, 2010; Grifths,
2010).
Third, social norms can lead to social overload in users who
immerse themselves in SNSs further to reduce the burden of reci-
procity, leading to addiction. SNS users are more susceptible to
social support relative to nonusers. Individuals within social re-
lationships are inuenced by reciprocity and therefore feel obliged
to respond to others' social support requests, which can become
burdensome (Maier et al., 2012). For example, SNSs provide a
function that allows users to check whether receivers have read
messages, which creates a burden for the receiver, who could fail to
adhere to the law of reciprocity by postponing replies. This inter-
action stress demonstrates why a number of users strive to check,
send, and receive messages regularly and ultimately become
addicted to excessive use (Oulasvirta, Rattenbury, Ma, & Raita,
2012). Social norms are extensively applicable to users. The
notion that social overload helps users to care for and entertain
friends and solve problems (Blackwelder & Passman, 1986) can
sometimes become an obsession. Moreover, the real-time con-
nectivity of SNSs imposes strong social pressure on users and re-
quires immediate and exible reaction (Sahami Shirazi et al., 2014).
This level of social demand is excessively high. Due to their re-
sponsibility to reciprocate, users are forced to increase the duration
and frequency of SNS usage to relieve social overload, which ex-
ceeds their capability. Social overload caused by unwanted social
demands (Evans & Lepore, 1993) is a minor everyday issue (Helms
& Demo, 2010) but eventually becomes a serious condition dened
as addiction. Following this line of reasoning, or hypotheses were as
follows:
Hypothesis 1. Social overload is positively related to SNS
addiction
2.2. Social overload and psychological well-being
In the eld of psychology, well-being refers to a complex
concept of optimal experience and function. From a eudaimonic
perspective (Ryan & Deci, 2001), well-being is dened as an in-
dividual's full functionality. Psychological well-being is described
according to the basic concept of eudaimonic well-being (Ryff,
1989). Psychological well-being is the pursuit of perfection
reecting realization of true potential (Ryff & Keyes, 1995). Psy-
chological well-being focuses on positive relationships with others,
autonomy, purpose in life, and personal growth. It can be dened as
the representation of a state in which a fully functioning individual
values him/herself. In this sense, self-esteem is strongly related to
subjective well-being. Self-esteem refers to the extent to which one
sees oneself as a person of worth (Rosenberg, 1965) and positive
feelings about self-worth (Lefcourt, 1982). In this context, self-
esteem is deemed as a component of psychological well-being
(Bizumic, Duckitt, Popadic, Dru, & Krauss, 2009). Similarly, self-
esteem in the virtual societies within SNSs is also a determinant
of psychological well-being. Prior studies have found that, from the
perspective of coping with stress (Cobb, 1976; Lazarus & Folkman,
1984), the social support function of SNSs boosted users' psycho-
logical well-being; however, the researchers in this study provided
the following reasons to account for the possibility that SNSs would
247
exert a negative effect on psychological well-being when social
support is transformed into overload.
First, too much social support can reduce a user's self-esteem,
which is a component of psychological well-being. Social over-
load can exert a negative impact on self-efcacy, which diminishes
psychological well-being. Social support helps people to reduce
fatigue, but feelings of inefcacy increase due to the burden
created. According to social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997, 2001),
failure to cope with problems and the resultant need for social
support could be related to a lack of self-efcacy.
Second, the burden created by an excess of relationships within
SNSs can reduce psychological well-being, because the law of
reciprocity in social relationships, which is grounded on equity
theory, can also apply to SNS environments (Adams, 1965). In other
words, users experience a sense of duty to respond to social support
and believe that all support must be repaid due to the law of
reciprocity in social relationships. In reality, social relationships
beyond one's communicative ability in SNSs encourage users to
immerse themselves in SNSs excessively. Despite such immersion,
when a response is judged to be inadequate, the individual realizes
that he/she was not functioning properly. Therefore, social overload
has negative psychological and behavioral consequences (Maier
et al., 2012). These negative consequences lead to exhaustion and
become psychological, social, and physical hazards in the long term
(Tarafdar, Tu, & Ragu-Nathan, 2010). Consequently, social overload
alerts the user to his/her inefcacy, which leads to the deterioration
of psychological well-being. Therefore, our second hypothesis was
as follows:
Hypothesis 2. Social overload is negatively related to psycholog-
ical well-being.
2.3. Technology overload and SNS addiction
Technology overload is one of many aspects of technostress
(Brod, 1984). Technology overload creates an environment in which
ICT users are required to perform tasks more rapidly and for a
longer period (Tarafdar, Tu, Ragu-Nathan, & Ragu-Nathan, 2007). It
also leads to users receiving more information than they can pro-
cess or use (Davis, 2002) and exchanging more information than
required (Fisher & Wesolkowski, 1999). Technology overload causes
SNS addiction for the following reasons:
First, in the context of ICT, the technological nature of SNSs can
lead to overload and ultimately cause addiction. The technological
nature of SNSs, which encourages interpersonal utility, passtimes,
information seeking, and entertainment, engenders continuous
usage, even under overload conditions, and therefore induces
addiction (Greeneld, 2011; Song, Larose, Eastin, & Lin, 2004). The
Internet itself also induces addiction (Greeneld & Sutker, 1999;
Griffths, 1998), due to its mediational nature, involving easy ac-
cess, lack of limitation of time or space, disinhibition, loss of contact
with reality, loss of control, strong intimacy, and anonymity
(Loytsker & Aiello, 1997), combined with the social function of
SNSs. Unfavorable habits are formed via enhanced interest
(Ouellette & Wood, 1998), and in this sense, SNS is an addiction-
prone technology (Echebura & de Corral, 2010), which is consol-
idated via addiction-inducing smartphones. Individual instances of
smartphone use are momentary; however, over the course of a day,
serve as a medium for technological overload, which develops into
SNS addiction.
Second, the use of SNSs becomes habitual due to distorted be-
liefs about the benets of IT, and the resultant overload leads to
addiction. Despite technology overload, SNS-addicted people
believe that IT services are more useful, easier to use, and more
enjoyable relative to non-addicted individuals (Turel, Serenko, &
248 S.B. Choi, M.S. Lim / Computers in Human Behavior 61 (2016) 245e254

Giles, 2011). From a psychological perspective, there are several
biased belief-modication mechanisms, and those that lead to
emotional bias are involved in SNSs. Perceived enjoyment derived
from SNS use is a major factor in habit formation and irrational
expectation of enjoyment and eventually leads to addictive
behavior. SNS users experience an urge a feeling of being impelled
to do something (West & Hardy, 2006, p. 88) to continue use,
which provides them with an enjoyable experience, but perpetual
urges have the potential to become addictive behaviors (Chan,
Cheung, & Neben, 2014). According to the cognitive model of
addictive behavior, prediction of enjoyment and expectation of
erasure of uncomfortable feelings induce addictive behaviors
(Marlatt, 1985; Tiffany & Drobes, 1991). Unhealthy overuse of
technology can be problematic and may have negative conse-
quences (Caplan, 2010; Yellowlees & Marks, 2007).
Third, technology, once users are habituated, requires less
attention, and induced overload develops into addiction. From the
perspective of perception of SNS use as a rational process, attending
to negative consequences less frequently due to habitual use leads
to addiction (Becker & Murphy, 1988). In this respect, SNS users
who pay little or no attention to their habitual usage patterns
consequently develop SNS addiction at a serious level. From a
cognitive decision perspective, this means that they no longer pay
attention to habits, thereby becoming cognitive misers. Given a
friendly environment or situational cues, individuals do not
participate in full cognitive deliberation but engage semi-
automatically in habitual behaviors (Verplanken, Aarts, & Van
Knippenberg, 1997; Wood, Quinn, & Kashy, 2002). Moreover, the
younger generation, as the main group of SNS users, are at greater
risk of technology addiction (Ferraro, Caci, D'amico, & Blasi, 2006).
Their habitual use of SNSs elevates their resistance to SNS stimuli
via growing hypersensitivity; therefore, they fail to react to mod-
erate stimuli, leading to an increased marginal stimulus level and
overload, and the resultant lack of attention develops into
addiction.
Fourth, uncontrolled technology overload leads to addiction.
SNS usage without self-control has various negative consequences;
for example, elevated overload encourages perpetual SNS checking
and an excessive increase in the time spent using SNSs (Chan et al.,
2014). People who lack self-regulation in using pervasive technol-
ogies in their daily lives eventually succumb to technology addic-
tion (Ko, Yen, Yen, Lin, & Yang, 2007; Van Rooij, Schoenmakers,
Vermulst, Van Den Eijnden, & Van De Mheen, 2011). Therefore,
our third hypothesis was as follows:
Hypothesis 3. Technology overload is positively related to SNS
addiction
2.4. Technology overload and psychological well-being
Technology overload is similar to technostress. Wang, Shu, and
Tu (2008) stated that reection of discomposure, fear, tension,
and anxiety is experienced directly or indirectly when one is
learning and using computer technology. Technostress is a negative
state caused by threatening ICT, and this experience leads to anx-
iety, mental fatigue, skepticism, and inefcacy (Salanova, Llorens, &
Cifre, 2013). Technology overload reduces psychological well-being
for the following reasons:
First, people expect enjoyment from technology, but loss of
control induces negative emotion. People expect SNS use to alle-
viate negative emotion and reduce the occurrence of negative life
events; however, this expectation proves pointless and emotions
do not improve, leading to depression (Sagioglou & Greitemeyer,
2014). Uncontrolled negativity in self-reaction during Internet us-
age is believed to induce addictive usage and negative
consequences (Tokunaga & Rains, 2010). Uncontrolled usage en-
genders negative emotion, which reduces psychological well-being
and ultimately leads to the neglect of important aspects of the
users' lives such as family, work, and school.
Second, some technological factors cause SNS stress. With
respect to stressful technological characteristics (Ayyagari, Grover,
& Purvis, 2011), SNSs are plagued by complexity and uncertainty,
arising from frequent updates. However, the pervasive technolog-
ical characteristics of SNSs are more serious than their stressful
technological characteristics. Unrestricted access represents inse-
cure boundaries between workplace and the home (via pervasive
connectivity results), and technology overload hinders users' psy-
chological well-being. While there are many different denitions
for stress, including technology overload (Brod, 1984; Weil & Rosen,
1997), the majority are accompanied by psychological and physical
technostress reactions (Al-Fudail & Mellar, 2008; Cooper, Dewe, &
O'Driscoll, 2001). Therefore, our fourth hypothesis was as follows:
Hypothesis 4. Technology overload is negatively related to psy-
chological well-being.
2.5. SNS addiction as a mediator
Previous studies have shown a strong relationship between
social overload and psychological well-being. In addition, we ex-
pected SNS addiction to perform a mediating role in the relation-
ship between these two factors.
First, SNSs that are deeply incorporated into users' daily lives, in
the form of a new social life, induce addiction, because environ-
ments that involve deep engagement (SNS friends, leisure, and
work) interact with users and lead to certain behaviors, according
to Social Cognitive theory. Therefore, if individuals who are online
for long periods feel overloaded, SNS use develops into addiction,
and their well-being deteriorates (Barbera, Paglia, & Valsavoia,
2009; Echebura & de Corral, 2010).
Second, the growth of a network translates into social overload
when demands exceed the social support provided. Users purse
excessive usage to reduce the effects of such conditions, which
leads to SNS addiction. Ultimately, this exerts a negative impact on
the user's psychological well-being. There is a curvilinear rela-
tionship between network and psychological well-being (Kim &
Lee, 2011; LaRose, Wohn, Ellison, & Steineld, 2011; Steineld,
Ellison, & Lampe, 2008). For example, well-being increases in line
with the number of friends the user has; however, once the point of
overload is reached, the addition of new friends creates circum-
stances that require additional time, which leads to addictive
behavior and ultimately undermines the user's well-being.
Third, if reciprocity becomes too demanding, due to social
norms applied to SNS, it creates social overload and extreme con-
centration on assessment by others, which develops into SNS
addiction (Valkenburg, Peter, & Schouten, 2006). Individuals
perceive themselves as inefcacious when they nd themselves
unable to resist (Schaufeli & Salanova, 2007). When this perceived
inefcacy is chronic, this results in anxiety, fatigue, and skepticism,
which leads to the deterioration of psychological well-being
(Salanova et al., 2013). Therefore, our fth hypothesis was as
follows:
Hypothesis 5. SNS addiction is negatively related to psychological
well-being.
The sixth hypothesis concerned the mediatory role of SNS
addiction in the relationship between social overload and psycho-
logical well-being, as follows:
Hypothesis 6. SNS addiction mediates the relationship between
 S.B. Choi, M.S. Lim / Computers in Human Behavior 61 (2016) 245e254
social overload and psychological well-being.
SNS addiction was expected to mediate the relationship be-
tween technology overload and psychological well-being for the
following reasons:
First, the technology itself attracts interest and is easy to use
(Turel & Serenko, 2012; Xu & Tan, 2012); consequently, the
enjoyment that users experience in using SNSs provides a strong
incentive for increased use, which ultimately leads to addiction.
Addiction caused by excessive demand results in conict between
work, school, and home commitments, thereby undermining users
well-being (Turel & Serenko, 2012).
Second, distorted beliefs regarding technology, such as the
expectation that SNS use will provide enjoyment, encourage people
to use the technology for longer periods, resulting in overload and
addiction. However, it then becomes less meaningful, less useful,
and more of a waste of time, which then leads to the deterioration
of the users mood. This is a typical affective forecasting error
(Sagioglou & Greitemeyer, 2014), and users psychological well-
being deteriorates when they realize that their efforts have been
meaningless.
Third, technology overload contributes to lack of attention and
loss of control resulting from frequent and long-term SNS use. This
leads to dependence upon technology, which develops into need
and long-term habits that evolve into addiction. Technology
addiction is dened as uncontrolled compulsion to use freely
available ICT and unrestrained usage over a long period of time.
Empirical studies have shown that technology addiction under-
mined psychological well-being via anxiety and fatigue. (Huang,
2010; Schiffrin, Edelman, Falkenstern, & Stewart, 2010). As tech-
nology addiction creates a compulsion to use ICT, if it is not avail-
able, users becomes anxious and depressed, which diminishes their
psychological well-being. Upon reconrming the relationship be-
tween SNS addiction and psychological well-being (Hypothesis 5),
we hypothesized that SNS addiction would have a mediatory role in
the relationship between technological overload and psychological
well-being; therefore, our seventh hypothesis was as follows:
Hypothesis 7. SNS addiction mediates the relationship between
technology overload and psychological well-being.
3. Method
3.1. Sample
Data were collected from undergraduate students (n 208)
during several marketing classes, for which they received course
credits in return for their participation. In addition, an online sur-
vey was conducted to collect data from employees (n 211). The
respondents' mean age was 25.98 years (SD 5.48), and their ages
ranged from 19 to 39 years; 215 (51.3%) were men and 204 (48.7%)
were women. For the purposes of this research, Facebook (n 116),
Kakao Talk (n 264), Naver Band (n 24), and etc (n 15) users
were recruited as participants, as these are the most popular SNSs
in South Korea.
3.2. Measurements
Unless otherwise indicated, participants responded using
seven-point Likert scales ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7
(strongly agree). A six-item scale developed by Maier et al. (2012)
was used to measure social overload. To capture social overload,
we focused on the users' perceptions of irritation; examples of the
questionnaire items included I feel irritated, because I take too
much care of my SNS-friends' well-being on the SNS and I feel
249
irritated, because I feel too responsible for my SNS-friends' fun.
Five items from the Technology Overload Scale used in a study
conducted by Tarafdar et al. (2010) were used in the study. Exam-
ples of these items included This technology forces me to work
much faster and I am forced to change my working habits to adapt
to new technologies. An adapted version of the Facebook Addic-
tion Scale developed by Koc and Gulyagci (2013) was used to
measure SNS addiction. The Facebook Addiction Scale consists of
eight items related to the symptoms of cognitive and behavioral
salience, conict with other activities, euphoria, loss of control,
withdrawal, and relapse and reinstatement. In accordance with
Steineld et al. (2008), we measured psychological well-being us-
ing seven items from the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg,
1965).
3.3. Assessment of common method variance
According to Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, and Podsakoff (2003),
the relationships between constructs can be inated or deated by
the common method bias. Therefore, we followed Podsakoff et al.'s
suggestions regarding minimization of the common method bias.
To this end, we guaranteed the condentiality of the participants'
responses on the cover letters attached to each questionnaire.
Second, in order to overcome potential evaluation apprehension on
the part of the respondents, we informed them that there were no
correct or incorrect answers. The common method bias was
assessed via post-hoc analysis using Harman's single-factor test,
according to which there must be more than two extraction sums
for squared loadings, and the variance of the rst item must not
exceed 50%, for all items. No single factor emerged, and there was
no general factor that accounted for the majority of the variance.
For our data, test revealed that an unrotated factor analysis
extracted four distinct factors that accounted for 73.3% of the total
variance. The largest factor explained 42% of the variance. These
results provided additional evidence indicating that the common
method bias was not likely to have been a signicant problem in
this analysis.
4. Results
4.1. Reliability and validity
The reliability of the constructs was assessed using Cronbach's
alpha value analysis. The Cronbach's alpha coefcients for the
constructs ranged from 0.886 to 0.932. These results indicated
adequate internal consistency for most of the measures. To deter-
mine validity, we performed factor analysis on the construct
measures, using principal component analysis as the extraction
method. The results indicated that four factors emerged with ei-
genvalues greater than 1, which accounted for 73.44% of the vari-
ance. The factor loading results for each factor were required to
exceed 0.7 to ensure construct validity; accordingly, one technology
overload item, two SNS addiction items, and three self-esteem
items were eliminated as they did not reach this cut-off value.
Each item loaded onto its appropriate factor, and the factor loading
values ranged from 0.704 to 0.898. In addition, the factor loading
values for each item's loading onto its construct were higher rela-
tive to those for the other constructs, indicating that the items were
part of their corresponding constructs. These results demonstrated
acceptable adequacy (Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, & Tatham,
2006). Conrmatory factor analysis was also performed to ensure
convergent and discriminant validity; the t indices were X2
(147) 315.674; p < 0.001; X2/df 2.147; GFI 0.931; IFI 0.972;
RMSEA 0.052; NFI 0.950; TLI 0.964; CFI 0.972 and indicated
that the hypothesized four-factor model was a good t.
250 S.B. Choi, M.S. Lim / Computers in Human Behavior 61 (2016) 245e254
Convergent validity refers to the degree of statistical relatedness
between theoretically related items (Barclay, Higgins, & Thompson,
1995). Convergent validity is veried when the standardized factor
loading for each construct exceeds 0.70, with a t value greater than
1.96 and average variance extracted (AVE) of greater than 0.50
(Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Appendix A indicated that all standard-
ized factor loadings exceeded the required minimum of 0.70; in
addition, all AVE values exceeded the required minimum of 0.50.
Discriminant validity refers to the extent to which factors that
should not be related are in fact unrelated and is measured ac-
cording to the criterion stipulating that the square root of AVE for
each construct should be greater than the corresponding correla-
tion coefcient (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). The square root of each
AVE exceeded the corresponding correlation coefcient, as shown
in Table 1. Therefore, all of the factors in the measurement model
demonstrated adequate reliability and validity. Table 1 also shows
the descriptive statistics for the constructs. Of all four constructs,
the means for self-efcacy and SNS addiction were the highest
(3.806) and lowest (3.618), respectively. With respect to the cor-
relations between the constructs, all were statistically signicant
(p < 0.05), with the exception of the correlation coefcients for the
relationships between social overload and psychological well-being
(p 0.081) and technological overload and psychological well-
being (p 0.260).
4.2. Hypothesis testing
To test the proposed hypotheses, the study used Amos to
perform structural equation modeling. The path diagram of the
structural model is demonstrated in Fig. 1 (also see Table 2). The
model t indices demonstrated that the model was a good t (X2
(147) 315.674; p < 0.001; X2/df: 2.147; NFI 0.950, GFI 0.931,
RMSEA 0.052, CFI 0.972, TLI 0.964; Hair et al., 2006).
Hypothesis 1, concerning the relationship between social over-
load and SNS addiction, was supported (b 0.484, p < 0.01). In
contrast, Hypothesis 2, concerning the relationship between social
overload and psychological well-being, was not supported
(b 0.051, p 0.614). Hypothesis 3, concerning the relationship
between technology overload and SNS addiction, was supported
(b 0.264, p < 0.01). Post-hoc analysis provided interesting results,
in that social overload was found to exert a stronger impact on SNS
addiction relative to that of technology overload (Z 2.006,
p 0.0449). However, Hypothesis 4, concerning the relationship
between technology overload and psychological well-being was
not supported (b 0.082, p 0.284). Hypothesis 5, concerning the
relationship between SNS addiction and psychological well-being,
was supported (b 0.300, p < 0.01).
In order to test the mediational effect of SNS addiction on the
relationships between social overload, technology overload, and
psychological well-being, we conducted a bootstrapping test with a
bootstrap sample of 200. The results, presented in Table 1, show
that SNS addiction had a full mediating role in the relationship
between social overload and psychological well-being (b 0.145,
p < 0.001); therefore, Hypothesis 6 was supported. SNS addiction
was also shown to fully mediate the relationship between
Table 1
Descriptive statistics and correlations for the study constructs.
Constructs Mean
1. Social Overload 3.717
2. Technology Overload 3.804
3. SNS Addiction 3.618
4. Psychological Well-being 3.806
ns ***
Note: non-signicant, p < 0.001.
technology overload and psychological well-being (b 0.079,
p < 0.01). Accordingly, Hypothesis 7 was supported.
5. Discussion
5.1. Theoretical implications
This study aimed to examine the relationships between social
overload, technology overload, SNS addiction, and psychological
well-being. The results have two theoretical implications.
First, unlike the theoretical prediction, in examining the rela-
tionship between overload and psychological well-being, which
can occur in SNSs, results showed that neither social nor technol-
ogy overload exerted a direct impact on psychological well-being.
With respect to social overload, problems occur if social support
causes young people to reach their limits and engage in excessive
usage; however, the effect of reciprocity may encourage positive
interpretation or alleviate negative perception. Social relationships
within SNSs can be considered to provide positive support that
includes advice, information, and companionship (Hampton et al.,
2011). For the younger generation, social support has buffering
effect (Tennant, 2002) on depression and can be more effective and
complementary relative to consultations on campus or at work
(Moreno et al., 2011). While technology overload may be experi-
enced by young people, perceived use and enjoyment can be pos-
itive, and given their age, their technological adaptability may be
higher than average; therefore, their self-esteem may not be as
damaged as expected. Young people have been referred to as
growing up digital (Tapscott, 1998); therefore, they learn quickly,
and many SNSs target the younger generation, which implies that
they are familiar with technology (Sheldon, 2012). In light of this,
young people do not appear to view themselves as incompetent in
terms of their long-term and frequent use of SNS.
Second, we found that SNS addiction plays a mediational role
between overload and psychological well-being. Both social and
technology overload lead to SNS addiction, which affects psy-
chological well-being via overload. In the rst stage, reasoning
regarding the relationship between overload and psychological
well-being implies that increasing network size and immersion-
inducing SNS technology may have encouraged users to connect
to the network more frequently. Social and technology overload
at that stage then led to SNS addiction. Many schools provide
fast, easy Internet access on campus, and students access Wi-Fi
using various types of smart device in classrooms or dorm
rooms. Students' time is generally more manageable than that of
other adults (Koc & Gulyagci, 2013). Moreover, the younger
generation is more prone to technology addiction (Ferraro et al.,
2006). Therefore, habitual usage caused by overload could easily
evolve into addiction. In addition, determining whether social or
technological overload exerted a greater impact on SNS addiction
was meaningful. The results indicated that social overload exer-
ted a greater impact on SNS addiction relative to that of tech-
nology overload, because the motive for SNS usage was social
interaction. This was also reported in previous studies examining
Internet and SNS addiction (Koc & Gulyagci, 2013); however,
S.D. 1 2 3 4
1.427 0.828
1.407 0.670*** 0.846
1.340 0.661*** 0.588*** 0.725
1.443 -0.092ns -0.060ns -0.218*** 0.826
 S.B. Choi, M.S. Lim / Computers in Human Behavior 61 (2016) 245e254
Table 2
Standardized estimates from the structural model.
Paths
Direct effects
Social overload / SNS addiction (H1)
Social overload / Psychological well-being (H2)
Technology overload / SNS addiction (H3)
Technology overload / Psychological well-being (H4)
SNS addiction / Psychological well-being (H5)
Mediating effects
Social overload / SNS addiction / Psychological well-being (H6)
Technology overload / SNS addiction / Psychological well-being (H7)
X2 315.674 (df 147, p 0.000); NFI 0.950, GFI 0.931, RMSEA 0.052, CFI 0.972, TLI 0.964
Note: ns
non-signicant, *p < 0.05; **
p < 0.01; ***
p < 0.001.
Fig. 1. The path diagram of the structural model. Note:
***
p < 0.001.
further research is required to conrm this nding. In the second
stage, SNS addiction exerted a negative impact on psychological
well-being, and from the perspective of mediating SNS addiction,
users may experience deterioration of their self-esteem when
they realize that their bad habits have become strong patho-
logical and maladaptive psychological dependency or addic-
tion (Turel & Serenko, 2012). As a result, their psychological
well-being is undermined. Our nding that the link between
SNS overload and psychological well-being was mediated by SNS
addiction has also been reported in other recent studies. The
greater number of friends and time spent reading the updates
that they post on Facebook increase problematic Facebook use,
and this exacerbates Facebook-related depression, which reduces
psychological well-being (Blease, 2015). In addition, the
increasing unfriending phenomenon observed in young adult
Facebook users shows that users' application of coping behavior
is increased to defend against life stressors such as constant
unwanted social interaction (Bevan, Pfyl, & Barclay, 2012). This
indicates that SNS users who recognize that excessive SNS use
causes SNS addiction eventually regain their psychological well-
being by themselves. The results of these studies indicate that
uncontrolled SNS use leads to SNS addition, which affects users'
psychological well-being. This represents users' realization that
their well-being has been compromised when they perceive
themselves as addicted to SNS due to overload rather than
merely sensing that they are overloaded.
5.2. Managerial implications
As SNS use has become a routine occurrence in daily life,
excessive use produces similar symptoms to those of other addic-
tions (Grifths, 2013). Therefore, practical remedies should be
251
Coefcient T-value Results
***
0.484 7.116 Supported
0.051ns 0.614 Not supported
0.264*** 4.193 Supported
0.082ns 1.072 Not supported
-0.300*** 3.744 Supported
Indirect Direct Type of mediation
Coefcient
-0.145** -0.09ns Full mediation
-0.079** -0.06ns Full mediation
sought to alleviate SNS overload and addiction, which harm users'
psychological well-being as follows:
First, SNS providers should pay attention to addictive technol-
ogy. SNSs include features (such as social comparison features,
games, and auctions) that stimulate competition between users to
prevent them from switching to other sites and encourage them to
use the sites for longer, and these features involve highly addictive
technology (Peters & Bodkin, 2007). In addition, passive following,
whereby users stay on SNSs for longer without performing mean-
ingful behavior, inhibits other parts of users' lives and ultimately
affects their psychological well-being (Krasnova, Wenninger,
Widjaja, & Buxmann, 2013). Therefore, SNS providers should
ns
non-signicant, *p < 0.05; counteract the disadvantages resulting from the use of addictive
technology on SNSs by simplifying information to which users are
indiscriminately exposed or providing web-based personalization
agents (Tam & Ho, 2006) that support users in controlling infor-
mation themselves.
Second, users should manage their SNS usage habits and cope
with overload to preserve their psychological well-being. LaRose
et al. (2014) argued that bad habits created in SNSs lead to nega-
tive outcomes. In social overload conditions, it is worth considering
the momentary cessation of SNS usage or partial transfer to other
social sites. Moreover, virtual relationships established on SNSs are
less satisfactory than one-to-one relationships in terms of fulll-
ment. Macmillan cancer support (2012) found that the average
young adult has 237 Facebook friends, but only two to whom they
felt that they could turn for real support in a crisis. Technologically,
thousands of friends are possible, but the benet of this can be
limited (Dunbar, 2010). Therefore, the ultimate solution could be to
limit social relationships in SNS to reduce usage frequency, enhance
ofine relationships, and avoid negative outcomes (Maier, Laumer,
Eckhardt, & Weitzel, 2014).
5.3. Limitations and directions for future research
The main limitation of this study was that it failed to reect the
specic circumstances that may have generated overload for each
individual. Researchers who studied technology overload as
technostress identied various environments, which affected
stress factors such as technology overload, surrounding different
organizations (Ragu-Nathan, Tarafdar, Ragu-Nathan, & Tu, 2008).
In addition, this study only categorized participants as college
students in their 20s or 30s and workforce entrants and could not
separate the development of social overload that occurred in
colleges from that of organizations. Social overload at school,
where relationships are more equal in nature, appeared to be
experienced differently to that observed in the workplace, in
which the hierarchical structure of the organization is more
252 S.B. Choi, M.S. Lim / Computers in Human Behavior 61 (2016) 245e254

prominent; therefore, social overload appeared to be a more et al., 2009).

serious issue in the workplace relative to that experienced at
school.
Second, the results did not reect the differences between
relationship networks. Social network researchers have suggested
that social support differs according to the size and intensity of the
network (Barrera, 1986; Mitchell & Trickett, 1980). When
Granovetter's (1973) network concept is applied, weak and strong
ties are separated. In other words, overload, addiction, and psy-
chological well-being resulting from SNS use must differ according
to the size and connectivity of the network. In the context of such
SNS differences, the measure used in our study may require further
renement. Even though the measurements we used were adapted
from relevant SNS studies and are frequently used in Facebook
research, the differences in SNS could serve as an inhibitory factor
for research purposes. Therefore, future studies should include
improved measurements that consider the social and technical
differences between SNS types and interpret the results strictly to
improve validity.
Third, individual variables were not reected in the results.
Additional variables affecting overload, addiction, and psychologi-
cal well-being, such as individual propensity, were not included in
the research model. In terms of vulnerability to SNS addiction,
participants who are younger, more narcissistic (Barbera et al.,
2009), and less skilled in self-presentation are more likely than
those without these characteristics to choose virtual communica-
tion over face-to-face interaction (Turel & Serenko, 2012). Age
difference is also a factor in reaction to social overload. Older people
have more experience of negative stimuli and may react in a less
negative manner (Ragu-Nathan et al., 2008). In addition, sex dif-
Fourth, the sample (N 419) included in this study could be
considered very small when compared to 1.55 billion active
monthly Facebook users. In addition, adults in their 20s and 30s
living in South Korea are not representative of all adult SNS users.
Therefore, further research involving larger and more representa-
tive samples of SNS users should be conducted.
To overcome the above-mentioned limitations, future research
should increase the validity of ndings via an empirical research
model that reects the characteristics of individual SNSs and in-
cludes a larger and more diverse group of SNS users.
5.4. Conclusion
In conclusion, this study's greatest contribution was the nding
that overload induced by SNS use led to addiction issues and
undermined users' psychological well-being. If the diverse vari-
ables proposed in the descriptions of the study's limitations are
included in future research, they could produce various solutions to
the negative functions of SNSs. Although overload and addiction
issues in SNSs may not be considerable problems, they are of value
to research, because if they occur in everyday life, even minor SNS
stressors could ultimately exert a critical effect on the individuals
concerned (Helms & Demo, 2010).
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Sangji University Research Fund,
2013.

Item l t-value

Social Overload (6-items, a .932, r .826, AVE .685)

I feel irritated, because I take too much care of my SNS-friends well-being in SNS. 0.76 e
I feel irritated, because I deal too much with problems of my SNS-friends in SNS. 0.813 20.6
I feel irritated, because I feel myself too strong responsible for the fun of my SNS-friends in SNS. 0.884 18.35
I feel irritated, because I am too often in the responsibility, to care for my SNS-friends in SNS. 0.901 18.49
I feel irritated, because I pay too much attention to posts of my SNS-friends in SNS. 0.829 17.08
I feel irritated, because I congratulate SNS-friends in SNS as a consequence of the birthday reminder, 0.771 16.97
although I would not congratulate them in the real life.
Technology Overload (4-items, a .911, r .802, AVE .717)
I am forced by this technology to do more work than I can handle. 0.808 e
I am forced by this technology to work with very tight time schedules. 0.857 22.16
I am forced to change my work habits to adapt to new technologies. 0.883 17.97
I have a higher workload because of increased technology complexity. 0.838 17.71
SNS Addiction (6-items, a .893, r .738, AVE .566)
I have difculties in focusing on my academic work due to my SNS use 0.722 e
I lose sleep over spending more time on SNS 0.735 15.49
My SNS use interferes with doing social activities 0.776 14.10
My family or friends think that I spend too much time on SNS 0.702 13.26
I feel anxious if I cannot access to SNS 0.765 13.47
I have attempted to spend less time on SNS but have not succeeded 0.809 14.04
Psychological Well-being (4-items, a .886, r .857, AVE .682)
I feel that I'm a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others 0.912 e
I feel that I have a number of good qualities 0.864 21.302
I am able to do things as well as most other people 0.734 17.307
I take a positive attitude toward myself 0.784 17.446

a Cronbach's a
r Composite Reliability.

ferences affect SNS usage patterns; therefore, perceptions of social Appendix. Measurement items and properties
overload may also differ according to sex. Research has indicated
that female SNS users have more SNS friends and engage in SNS
activities more frequently relative to male users (McAndrew &
Jeong, 2012; Moore & McElroy, 2012). Age is also an important
factor in terms of users' reactions to technology overload (Agarwal
 S.B. Choi, M.S. Lim / Computers in Human Behavior 61 (2016) 245e254 253

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