Digital Information and Communication Overload Among Youths in Malaysia: A Preliminary Review

The negative impacts on productivity and concentration of living in an always-busy and plugged-in environment is on the fast rise. The advent of information and communication era has resulted in an over-saturation of information to society, and the new phenomenon is known as ‘information overload’. Youths are the most probable affected society members who are considered vulnerable to the negative impact that comes with overload information and communication. The advent of information and communication era has led to information overload, whereby understanding an issue, and making decisions are difficult without distraction. Coping with the presence of many social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Blogs, E-mails and LinkedIn which are inevitably necessary for daily communication is becoming a day-to-day challenge. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review previous studies based on the challenges of information and communication overload and to give future empirical studies a basic idea in that context. This study will further consider the ‘overload of digital information and communication’ among students in Malaysia with the intention to produce an academic-enhanced model to mitigate information and communication overload syndrome. The study aims to produce a more comprehensive and attainable model of managing the ‘overload of digital information and communication’ that can provide a significant impact on students’ academic achievement and attitude. The study has practical relevance for parents and educators to understand the basic understanding of the overload of information and communication among youths in Malaysia which helps to shape a healthier and better generation of Malaysia as stated by the Human Capital Policy.