Why Young Consumers Regret the Click: Attention Economy Interruptions and Micro-Regret in Social Media Marketing

Abstract

The study investigates how social media notification design shapes young consumers’ emotional and behavioural responses across the dominant platforms of Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Extending affect infusion theory, interruption science and digital choice architecture, the research introduces and validates micro-regret as an immediate, interruption-induced emotional reaction that arises prior to cognitive message processing. A cross-sectional survey of 300 young Indian social media users is analysed through structural equation modelling. Results demonstrate that four notification design attributes; frequency, timing, modality and persuasive message framing significantly increase micro-regret, which in turn negatively affects brand attitude and purchase intention while elevating disengagement behaviours. Mediation analyses confirm micro-regret as a central affective pathway linking design level features to downstream consumer outcomes. The study presents novel theoretical contributions by reconceptualising regret as a pre-decisional micro-emotion, reframing notification design as an affective architecture, and positioning disengagement as an emotional self-preservation strategy. Managerial implications highlight the need for emotionally sensitive notification systems, reduced digital intrusiveness and ethical attention practices. The research advances an emotionally grounded understanding of digital consumer behaviour in a hyper-connected environment.