The Influence of Infobesity on the Information Seeking Behaviour of Undergraduate Students in Tangaza University College

Abstract

Infobesity is the condition of individuals who exhibit difficulty in understanding issues and effectively making decisions because they have too much information about that issue. Persons who suffer from infobesity exhibit queer information seeking behaviour characterised by skimming of just a few pages of information and then bouncing off never to return. Most of the undergraduate university students are netizens who are intensive users of emerging technologies to create, collect or share information. Available evidence indicates that although netizens wallow in vast volumes of information, they hardly benefit from the information due to the consequences of infobesity. This chapter investigates the characteristics and prevalence of infobesity amongst university students in Tangaza University College as well as its impact on their information seeking behaviour. The study leading to this chapter applied exploratory research design. Data was collected from undergraduate university students through online questionnaires using Google Forms. The collected data was analysed thematically and presented using descriptive statistics. The findings confirm the fact that infobesity is real amongst undergraduate students in Tangaza University College. It is evident that infobesity is a consequence of vast amounts of information they are exposed to and the ease with which they are able to create, use or share information.