Perceived News Overload and Its Cognitive and Attitudinal Consequences for News Usage in South Korea

• Published in: Journalism & mass communication quarterly Vol. 94; no. 4; pp. 1172 - 1190
• Main Authors: Song, Haeyeop, Jung, Jaemin, Kim, Youngju
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-12-2017; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Burnout; Computers; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Consumption; Coping; Cultural Influences; Demographics; Digital media; Emotions; Energy consumption; Fatigue; Fatigue (Biology); Gender; Helplessness; Hypotheses; Individual Characteristics; Information overload; Information Processing; Intention; Internet; Literature Reviews; News; News media; Online Surveys; Paralysis; Perceptions; Population; Smartphones; Social Media; Social networks; Social research; Studies; Wireless networks; South Korea; news curation; news avoidance; news overload; news fatigue; analysis paralysis
• ISSN: 1077-6990; 2161-430X
• DOI: 10.1177/1077699016679975

This study focuses on the ironic situation in which news is more available than ever but people are becoming overwhelmed and thus avoid it. A theoretical model is suggested to investigate the relationships between perceived news overload and its cognitive and attitudinal consequences among South Korean Internet users. A structural model reveals that perceived news overload induced news avoidance by increasing news fatigue and news analysis paralysis. Furthermore, this study finds evidence that news consumers are willing to use news curation services to alleviate news avoidance and thus stay informed.