Study on Social Media Burnout from Perspective of Dramaturgical Theory -- Taking WeChat as an Example

Abstract

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, social media such as WeChat has gone deeper into daily life, and users' use of social media has been increasing. However, some users have suffered social media burnout because of the continuous penetration of social media into their lives. Based on the dramaturgical theory, this paper conducts research on the influencing factors and formation process of social media burnout through questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The research results show that social media are affected by many factors, such as the gap between social feedback and expectations, the repetition rate of performance content,and worries about background exposure. Whether the WeChat friends in strong-ties or weak-ties will have a certain impact on the gap of users' social feedback and the worries about background exposure. Epidemic factors will lead to an increase in the repetition rate of performance content. However, some extension functions of WeChat reduce the incidence of exit behavior.