Scroll, Stress, and Strain: A Model of Psychological Vulnerability in the Age of Social Media

Background Psychological vulnerability refers to a condition in which individuals are more likely to experience psychological disturbances when facing stress, particularly in the absence of adequate adaptive mechanisms. In the digital era, social media fatigue has emerged as a potential contributing factor that may exacerbate this vulnerability. Family functioning is considered a protective factor that may help buffer the adverse effects of digital stressors. Methods This study examined a model of psychological vulnerability, with social media fatigue as the independent variable, family functioning as the moderating variable, and psychological vulnerability as the dependent variable. A quantitative approach was employed using a cross-sectional design, involving 284 active social media users in Pekanbaru. Data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with a disjoint two-stage approach. Results The outer model evaluation showed that the indicators of the second-order constructs had outer loading values ranging from 0.805 to 0.913, composite reliability (CR) above 0.80, and average variance extracted (AVE) above 0.60, indicating satisfactory construct validity and reliability. In the inner model, social media fatigue was significantly associated with higher psychological vulnerability (β = 0.400; t = 8.718; p < 0.001). Family functioning showed a significant negative effect on psychological vulnerability (β = − 0.174; t = 3.426; p = 0.001) and a small but significant moderating effect in the relationship between social media fatigue and psychological vulnerability (β = 0.103; t = 2.621; p = 0.009). The R² value for psychological vulnerability was 0.239, indicating a moderate explanatory contribution of the model. Conclusions These findings suggest that social media fatigue is an important risk factor for psychological vulnerability, while family functioning may play a protective role in mitigating digital stressors. However, the effect sizes were generally small to moderate, indicating that other unmeasured factors may also play a role. This study provides preliminary evidence for the interplay between digital fatigue and family functioning in shaping psychological vulnerability, while highlighting the need for further research with more diverse samples and longitudinal designs.