Online Information Overload and Decision-Making Difficulties among University Students: The Mediating Role of Cognitive Fatigue

Abstract

Continuous exposure to digital messages and notifications may overload young adults’ cognitive resources and impair everyday decision-making, yet the mechanism is unclear. This study examined whether cognitive fatigue mediates the association between online information overload and decision-making difficulties among university students. A cross-sectional design was used in a sample of 156 university students aged 18–29 years (analytic n = 151). Online information overload (Connection Overload subscale, Multidimensional Digital Stress Scale), cognitive fatigue (mental fatigue subscale, Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire), and decision-making difficulties (hypervigilance, buck-passing, and procrastination subscales, Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire) were entered into a simple mediation model (PROCESS Model 4-equivalent; 5,000 bootstrap resamples). Overload significantly predicted cognitive fatigue (B = 0.362, p < .001, R² = .196). Cognitive fatigue did not predict decision-making difficulties (B = 0.034, p = .590), the total effect was not significant (B = 0.082, p = .077); and the indirect effect was not significant (0.012, 95% CI [−0.034, 0.057]). In this sample, overload was associated with greater cognitive fatigue, but no mediation of decision-making difficulties was supported.