Enhancing the User Experience in Fragmented Reading Applications: A Study on Information Anxiety and Design Strategies

With the rapid development of Internet technology, the large amount of fragmented information in mobile reading applications leads to the lack of concentration and the decline of reading quality among college students, which triggers generalized information anxiety. This paper investigates the causes of information anxiety in fragmented reading among college students, and aims to improve the quality of reading and independent learning and alleviate anxiety through the experience design of mobile reading applications. The Information Anxiety Rating Scale and Reading Behaviour Questionnaire were used to investigate 180 college students, of which 154 questionnaires were valid. It was found that information source, information medium and information quality in the environmental factors, and information discrimination, expectation management, time management, concentration and inductive ability in the internal factors were the most important factors for information anxiety. Then, a model of information anxiety formation was constructed and targeted suggestions for alleviation were made. In terms of reading tools, combining the linguistic summarization capabilities of AI and knowledge visualization theory, design suggestions in the three directions of reading management, reading scaffolding and note management are proposed.