Information Anxieties and Information Distrust: The effects of Overload Information about COVID - 19

Abstract

Covid-19 is the world's main focus, so the mass media is competing to provide details information. The amount of information related to Covid-19 in the communities raises information overload. The purpose of the study is to know the effects of overload information about Covid-19 on the information of anxiety and distrust of information about the people of Semarang. This research uses quantitative methods. The samples in this study were one hundred and fifty seven respondents which is acquired using random sampling. The Data in this research was obtained through online questionnaires. Data is presented descriptively because in this study using an open-ended questionnaire. The results showed that overload information about Covid-19 triggers the occurrence of anxiety information. The anxiety of the information itself has an impact on the rise of laziness to searching information and fatigue of information, where both lead to information distrust.