Exploring social media burnout, anxiety, and self-control in Turkish University students: Gender and engagement as moderators

Abstract

Social media still plays a dominant role in individuals' lives today. These environments, where negative emotions such as burnout and anxiety are fostered, are examined in terms of various variables. The current study investigated the multifaceted relationship between the social media burnout levels of Turkish students who are social media users and their self-control, anxiety, age, and duration of social media use. The moderating effects of gender and active or passive social media use on these relationships were examined. The study included 347 university students, 140 women and 207 men. A personal information form, social media burnout scale, social media anxiety scale, and self-control desire scale were used to gather the data. Partial least squares structural equation modelling the proposed structural model indicated that individuals with low self-control in social media use have high social media anxiety. Social media burnout was found to be high in individuals with high social media anxiety. In addition, the results demonstrate a positive relationship between social media anxiety and burnout, and this relationship is moderated by active-passive social media use.