Overloaded By the News: Effects of News Exposure and Enjoyment on Reporting Information Overload

Abstract

Recent increases in the amount of news and information available in society have prompted claims that citizens are becoming psychologically “overloaded.” To investigate the validity of these claims, a secondary data analysis on the 2008 Pew Biennial Media Consumption Survey is performed. Results show increased news exposure is indeed positively associated with feeling overloaded. Conversely, news enjoyment is negatively associated with overload. There is also a moderating effect of news enjoyment, such that high news enjoyment reduces overload effects of high news exposure. These results imply that while news exposure may have various beneficial outcomes, such as increased political knowledge, it simultaneously relates to greater psychological discomfort. Motivated news processors, however, appear to be better insulated from this discomfort. Implications for news exposure and democratic citizenship are discussed.

Keywords:

• Information Overload
• Media Effects
• News Enjoyment
• News Exposure
• Public Opinion

Notes

Note. N = 1,818. The news exposure measure was comprised of 24 print, radio, television, and Internet news items, including print or online versions of a daily newspaper, a local weekly newspaper, news magazines such as Time, business magazines such as Fortune, the National Enquirer or similar publications, personality magazines such as People, current affairs magazines such as The Atlantic, political magazines such as The New Republic, technology magazines such as Wired, nightly network news, cable news, local television news, news magazine shows such as 60 Minutes, The PBS NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, The Weather Channel, sports news on ESPN, late night talk shows such as The Late Show With David Letterman, celebrity programs such as Entertainment Tonight, early morning shows such as The Today Show, Sunday morning public affairs shows such as Meet the Press, Comedy Central programs such as The Daily Show, and programs on National Public Radio (NPR). Social network site (e.g., Facebook®) news and mobile smartphone (e.g., iPhone®) news were also included in the scale.

Note. N = 1,818. A Hosmer and Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test suggested the model fit the data well, p = .598. Tests for multicollinearity did not reveal significant correlations between variables. The strongest variance inflation factor (1.657) was in the acceptable range.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chance York

Chance York (MS, Kansas State University, 2010) is a doctoral candidate in the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University.