Does the Student Feel Bothered by COVID-19 News?

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic generated copious amounts of news regarding COVID-19 that is circulating among the public. Both positive (e.g., vaccine development) and negative (e.g., COVID-19 cases increase) news affect emotional states on an individual level, specifically for the student in higher education. They are struggling in challenging situations while adapting to online learning, which is not easy for them. This study aims to gain knowledge and gather empirical data on the COVID-19 news impact on young adult students in one of the public universities in West Java, Indonesia. We used an experimental approach in this study. Sixty participants were randomly assigned into control and experiment (i.e., being exposed to COVID-19 news) groups. Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule was used to measure participants' emotional state before and after the experiment. This study shows that COVID-19 news significantly decreases participants’ positive affect when participants have personal experience with COVID-19. Therefore, information sharing regarding COVID-19 has to be done with caution to protect individual emotional states during the pandemic. The student also should restrict the abundant information relating to COVID-19 to maintain their positive emotional state.