The impact of techno-stressors on social media fatigue among elderly Jordanians: empirical study

Digitalization has expanded social media use among elderly people while also exposing them to technology-related demands that may generate technostress. This study examines the effects of five techno-stressors—information overload, communication overload, complexity, privacy concerns, and fear of missing out (FoMO)—on social media fatigue among older users in Jordan. A cross-sectional survey of 260 Jordanian adults aged 60 years and above was guided by the stressor-to-strain logic of the Stressor–Strain–Outcome (SSO) framework. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4.0 to assess reliability, validity, and the hypothesized relationships. All five techno-stressors significantly increased social media fatigue and jointly explained 89% of its variance. Privacy concerns had the largest effect, followed by complexity and communication overload. The findings support the applicability of the stressor-to-strain segment of the SSO framework among elderly people in an Arab setting. They also suggest that age-friendly platform design and context-sensitive digital-literacy initiatives may help reduce social media fatigue and support sustainable digital inclusion.