Effects of Perceptions of Information Overload, Noise and Environmental Demands on Wellbeing and Academic Attainment

The present research considers components of information overload, which may have a negative impact on wellbeing and academic attainment. 179 university students completed a survey consisting of an information overload scale (IOS) and the wellbeing process questionnaire. Their academic attainment scores were also added to the database. The IOS scale also included questions relating to noise exposure. Both the noise scores and non-noise IOS scores were associated with greater negative wellbeing and lower positive wellbeing. There were no significant effects of noise or IOS scores on academic attainment. Wellbeing is predicted by a number of factors such as exposure to stressors, negative coping, social support and psychological capital. When these established factors were included in the analyses, the effects of noise and other aspects of IOS could be accounted for by exposure to other stressors and were no longer significant predictors of negative or positive wellbeing.