The Bureau of Market Research (Pty) Ltd at the University of South Africa (Unisa) recently released the results stemming from an innovative study on online fatigue among 1 485 respondents across all nine provinces of South Africa.
The study is most relevant given the increased trend of remote working as well as the tendencies of working online full-time, as well as online learning, social media usage, online buying and banking, online sales/business, video conferencing, gaming, and streaming content. Overall, the study aims to measure the prevalence of online fatigue given the greater propensity of people to work/buy/bank/learn/communicate online and to identify contributing factors leading to online fatigue in South Africa.
The salient findings of the BMR study include the following:
• High levels of online fatigue are notable across varied types of online activities, such as online business meetings, online studies, online banking, online shopping, online entertainment, and social media.
• The most frequently used digital devices to engage in online activities are cell phones (93.10%), followed by laptops (74.9%).
• The widespread use of email and Internet for online activities is prevalent across all demographic cohorts.
According to Professor Deon Tustin, CEO of the BMR study revealed the following fascinating statistics:
• About eight in every 10 (84.6%) people use digital devices for more than four hours per day.
• About seven in every 10 (68.9%) people are engaged in online activities for more than four hours per day.
People devote an average of about 6 hours per day on digital devices, of which an average of 5 hours per day is spent on online activities. This computation presupposes that about 83% of time devoted to digital devices are allocated to online activities.
• On average 55 minutes are available between online commitments or engagements.
• The average daily online presence is 60.0%
• More than half (57.3%) of the respondents indicated that recurring online duties present them with little rest time between meetings.
• People devote an average of about three hours of their free time per day by browsing online platforms.
• More than eight in every 10 respondents (81.7%) confirmed that their online activities have become more strenuous over time.
According to Tustin, more than eight in every ten (82.4%) people experience online fatigue due to participation in online activities. About a third of people are mostly or extremely fatigued due to their persistent involvement in online activities. When considering different personality types, it is evident from the BMR study that people who are inclined to be emotional, anxious and sceptic, are more likely to experience, or be affected by, online fatigue. In turn, self-reliant, self-disciplined, and self-driven individuals seem least likely to experience or be affected by online fatigue.
The BMR study also revealed that online fatigue has intensified over time for about six in every 10 people, with about seven in every 10 people (73.0%) at least weekly experiencing a sense of information overload while engaging in online activities. This finding confirmed that information overload constituted the leading factor contributing to digital fatigue. Of those who, weekly, feel overwhelmed, more than a quarter (27.4%) was exhausted several times a day by the sheer volume of online notifications and messages. Likewise, for about half of the people, online fatigue has a negative impact on their productivity.
Furthermore, 80.5% of respondents confirmed that they, to a varied extent, feel emotionally drained after spending time online. About seven in every 10 respondents (71.8%) felt irritated after spending time online. The BMR study also revealed that social media platforms can contribute to feelings of fatigue through FOMO (fear of missing out), and the pressure to constantly curate and share content.
The BMR study shows that people with a high propensity to participate in online activities are at risk of experiencing online fatigue, often being associated with heightened cognitive and psychological stress, exhaustion, and burnout.
Tustin stressed that full-time employed, remote workers and telecommuters, females and young adults (18 – 25 years) are at a higher risk level of experiencing digital fatigue and that online fatigue conditions require sound planning and strategising to create a better balance between on- and offline activities in support of a healthy work and personal life balance, digital wellbeing, productivity, job satisfaction and time management. Overall, the BMR study underscores the value of business intelligence regarding the online fatigue phenomenon, which serves to guide future online work management policies and strategies aimed at enhancing employee well-being and a healthy work-life balance.
The BMR research report entitled “A case study on the prevalence and potential consequences of online fatigue” is available from the Bureau of Market Research.
Pretoria News