Discourse of anxiety in the social media of the region

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the anxiety and fears expressed by users of local Internet communities of the VKontakte social network during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The collection of primary sociological information was carried out using the content analysis procedure. The article presents the results of a qualitative analysis of the context of the use of the keyword "coronavirus". The manifestation of anxiety among community subscribers varied over the study period. At the first stage (the stage of denial), users of the social network doubted the reality of the impending danger. At the next stage (comprehension), there was an understanding of the seriousness of the situation. Awareness of the impending danger comes with the appearance of regular news about the statistics of morbidity and mortality among the inhabitants of the region. Lockdown, restrictive measures and information pressure of the media, seeking to correct the habitual behavior of people, led to the formation of collective fears among the population. The representation of medical and informational fears prevailed. The third stage (routinization) is characterized by a gradual decrease in the mention of the keyword and predominantly practice-oriented comments. A decline in the number of messages from users describing information and medical fears was recorded, at the same time, their anxiety about the economic consequences of the pandemic was revealed. Once the amount of information consumed is comparable to the daily experience of a person, the anxiety caused by the spread of the coronavirus pandemic decreases.