Book Title: Multidisciplinary Research in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Chief Editors: Dr. Jagdish Kumar Sahu, and Dr. Byram Anand
Associate Editors: Dr. J. Jayamani, and Albeen Josebh Ahmed
Co-Editors: Dr. Sunakshi Verma, and Mr. Pankaj Bharat Devre
ISBN: 978-93-7183-018-8
Chapter: 5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59646/781/5
Author: Dr. Alpa Srivastava
Abstract
The explosion of digital technologies has created a lot more options for people in their lives, impacting how people make decisions in their daily lives, from personal, career and online decisions. This research paper examines the psychological impacts of decision fatigue in the digital era, focusing on the consequences of choice overload on cognitive performance, decision-making, emotional health and behavior. The research employs a mixed-method design that includes quantitative data to be collected for digital choice experience and patterns of decision making, and qualitative data collected using structured interviews about people’s perceptions of excessive choices and the cognitive burden they feel. The findings show that having more choices of digital media via e-commerce, social media networks, streaming services, and online applications increases the cognitive load, decreases the quality of decision making, and increases psychological stress. While digital platforms offer increased access, personalization and convenience, the multitude of options also presents a challenge in comparing options, delay in decision making and decrease in overall satisfaction with the selected options. Furthermore, the results indicate that people have different levels of decision fatigue, depending on their level of digital engagement, personal preference, cognitive resources and complexity of the choices available. The paper also notes several psychological strategies and digital management approaches that could help mitigate the negative impacts of choice overload, such as less is more in decision environments, digital information literacy, and mindful engaging with digital information.
Keywords: Decision fatigue, choice overload, digital age, cognitive load, decision-making, psychological well-being, digital behavior, information overload, consumer psychology, technology use