Explaining Social Media Use Reduction As an Adaptive Coping Mechanism: The Roles of Privacy Literacy, Social Media Addiction and Exhaustion

This study integrates privacy calculus and stress-coping theories to understand social media (SM) use reduction. Findings using a survey of 255 SM users show that privacy concerns are a stressor that drives adaptive coping mechanisms and later use reduction. Further, it was demonstrated that the translation of privacy calculus considerations into adaptive coping depends on privacy literacy. Moreover, adaptive coping’s impact on use reduction decreased in users addicted to, but not exhausted by SM use.