Understanding the emotional response to COVID‐19 information in news and social media: A mental health perspective

Abstract

The impact of the Covid‐19 pandemic and ensuing social restrictions has been profound, affecting the health, livelihoods, and wellbeing of populations worldwide. Studies have shown widespread effects on mental health, with an increase in stress, loneliness, and depression symptoms related to the pandemic. Media plays a critical role in containing and managing crises, by informing society and fostering positive behavior change. Social restrictions have led to a large increase in reliance on online media channels, and this can influence mental health and wellbeing. Anxiety levels, for instance, may be exacerbated by exposure to Covid‐related content, contagion of negative sentiment among social networks, and “fake news.” In some cases, this may trigger abstinence, leading to isolation and limited access to vital information. To be able to communicate distressing news during crises while protecting the wellbeing of individuals is not trivial; it requires a deeper understanding of people's emotional response to online and social media content. This paper selectively reviews research into consequences of social media usage and online news consumption for wellbeing and mental health, focusing on and discussing their effects in the context of the pandemic. Advances in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, for example, Natural Language Processing, Sentiment Analysis, and Emotion Recognition, are discussed as useful methods for investigating effects on population mental health as the pandemic situation evolves. We present suggestions for future research, and for using these advances to assess large data sets of users' online content, to potentially inform strategies that enhance the mental health of social media users going forward.

Patterns of Internet Use, and Associations with Loneliness, amongst Middle-Aged and Older Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Social restrictions during the COVID pandemic have led to an increase in reliance on online social media channels, influencing mental health and well-being [ 37 ]. Importantly, the current study included social networking use as a separate use category, but we did not find any associations between older people’s use of social media and loneliness.…”

Investigating the Emotional Response to COVID-19 News on Twitter: A Topic Modeling and Emotion Classification Approach

“…Another example is a COVID-19 news post on Twitter that was perceived as inaccurate and politically loaded by the audience 3 . Published by a popular Nigerian media account (Punch Newspaper) the news post, arguably, instigated a high level of anger in the user responses to the posted news.…”

“…M EDIA has played a pivotal role in containing the COVID-19 pandemic through public information [1]. But COVID-19 news often contains distressing contents, e.g., death tolls, which may contribute to negative feelings in the audience [2,3], discouraging them from following the news. Due to the multifaceted nature of this problem, it would be hard to hypothesize that COVID-19 news has been the primary factor in people experiencing certain emotions.…”

Media consumption and psychological distress among older adults in the United States

“…Recent COVID-19 studies have begun to document the emotional and psychological effects of the pandemic for older adults related to, among other things, loneliness and isolation, familial perceptions of concern, and institutional trust and trust in political leadership [11][12][13][14][15]. To date, however, relatively few studies have examined the relationship between COVID-19 news consumption and wellbeing among adults residing in the US or in other areas of the world [16][17][18][19]. Most research has focused on younger populations, though one recent study found a positive effect of COVID-19 media dependency on anxiety for both women and men [20].…”