Social media fatigue during the lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus pandemic has led to deleterious effects on health, physical, and mental. The pandemic, onset since the end of 2019, has negatively impacted individuals across all sociodemographic variables. The widespread pandemic pushed global governments to enforce sanitizing, masking, and maintaining physical distancing. This lockdown meant that everyone was restricted at home, pushing academic, and work activities to take virtual means. Furthermore, this implicated excessive screen use due to increased virtual means of working. Methodology: The present study investigates social media fatigue (SMF) and the psychological effect of the same among participants of India and Nigeria. The study deploys 299 participants (males and females) for the same. Results: The findings from the study indicate that though SMF exists, it is not a prominent effect seen, considering that social media use helped people emotionally connect to their loved ones. Conclusion: This study provides data on SMF in participants from India and Nigeria during the lockdown period of the pandemic, an area of research that has not been looked into much. The study builds a scope for further research to delve into the impact of SMF at a global level, studying it with more robust statistical methods.

Keywords

• coronavirus
• lockdown
• screen use
• social media fatigue