Mental Health, Information and Being Connected: Qualitative Experiences of social media use during the Covid-19 pandemic from a trans-national sample

Abstract

Background
 Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the strict national policies regarding social distancing behavior in Europe, America and Australia, people became reliant on social media as a means for gathering information and a tool for staying connected to family, friends and work. This is the first trans-national study exploring the qualitative experiences and challenges of using social media while in lockdown or shelter in place during the current pandemic.
 Methods
 This study was part of a wider cross-sectional online survey conducted in Norway, UK, USA and Australia during April/May 2020. The manuscript reports on the qualitative free text component of the study asking about the challenges of social media users during the Covid-19 pandemic in UK, USA and Australia. 1991 responses were included in the analysis. Thematic analysis was conducted independently by two researchers. 
 Results
 Three overarching themes identified were: Emotional/Mental Health, Information and Being Connected. Participants experienced that using social media during the pandemic amplified anxiety, depression, fear, panic, anger, frustration and loneliness. They felt that there was information overload and social media was full of misleading or polarized opinions from which was difficult to switch off. Nonetheless, participants also thought that there was an urge for connection and learning which was positive and stressful and the same time. 
 
 Conclusion
 Using social media while in shelter in place or lockdown could have a negative impact on the emotional and mental health of some of the population. To support policy and practice in strengthening mental health care in the community, social media could be used to deliver practical advice on coping and stress management. Communication with the public should be strengthened by unambiguous and clear messages and clear communication pathways. We should be looking at alternative ways of staying connected.

Social Media and COVID-19: A Mixed-Methods Analysis to Document Canadian Adults’ Perceptions of the Positive and Negative Sides of Their Social Media Use

“…Other research reported that social media use was linked to less positive well-being (Geirdal et al, 2021;Lee et al, 2022), lower levels of happiness (Muñiz-Velázquez et al, 2021), and increased feelings Psychology of loneliness (Rumas et al, 2021;Schoultz et al, 2021). Some individuals even felt exhausted from spending too much time online to stay connected with others (Schoultz et al, 2021). Similarly, entertainment use of social networking sites was found to be associated with psychological distress symptoms (Al-Dwaikat et al, 2020).…”

“…The sustained exposure to the volume of (mis)information and conversations about COVID-19 online induced anxiety (Muñiz-Velázquez et al, 2021) and overwhelmed users (Fu et al, 2020;Islam et al, 2020). Information overload was often linked with anger, frustration, and fear (Schoultz et al, 2021). Because the prevalent themes listed above coincided with the pre-pandemic social media literature, the current study still focused on perceived changes in three needs: socialization, information, and entertainment in response to the social distancing requirements of the pandemic.…”

“…When individuals used social media specifically for social support, they experienced more positive mental health (Gilmour et al, 2020). Other research reported that social media use was linked to less positive well-being (Geirdal et al, 2021;Lee et al, 2022), lower levels of happiness (Muñiz-Velázquez et al, 2021), and increased feelings Psychology of loneliness (Rumas et al, 2021;Schoultz et al, 2021). Some individuals even felt exhausted from spending too much time online to stay connected with others (Schoultz et al, 2021).…”

“…Whereas another study found that using social media to watch and share funny videos was positively related to feelings of happiness (Cauberghe et al, 2021). Last, social media has played a pivotal role in disseminating information, making it easy for people to stay informed about the pandemic, their social networks, and their communities (Rosen et al, 2022;Schoultz et al, 2021). This also means, however, that people had access to an extraordinary amount of information, that which could be factual, contradictory, or false.…”

“…During the planning phase for the current study (March 2020), there was no research into adults' social media use in response to physical distancing requirements in Canada. Three years later, however, multiple empirical studies cite social media experiences that took place around the world during the initial stages of the pandemic (e.g., Boursier et al, 2020;Ellis et al, 2020;Muñiz-Velázquez et al, 2021;Rosen et al, 2022;Schoultz et al, 2021). From the relevant literature, three themes are apparent: 1) social media use increased in many countries around the world, 2) social media was intentionally selected to fulfill socialization, information, and entertainment needs, and 3) social media use was associated with both positive and negative outcomes.…”