Doomscrolling during COVID-19: The negative association between daily social and traditional media consumption and mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

Objective: Consumption of traditional and social media markedly increased at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as new information about the virus and safety guidelines evolved. Much of the information concerned restrictions on daily living activities and the risk posed by the virus. The term "doomscrolling" was used to describe the phenomenon of elevated negative affect after viewing pandemic-related media. The magnitude and duration of this effect, however, is unclear.Furthermore, the effect of doomscrolling likely varies based on prior vulnerabilities for psychopathology such as a history of childhood maltreatment. It was hypothesized that social and traditional media exposure were related to an increase in depression and PTSD and that this increase was moderated by childhood maltreatment severity. Method: Participants completed a baseline assessment for psychopathology and 30 days of daily assessments of depression, PTSD, and pandemic-related media use. Results: Using multilevel modeling, social media exposure was associated with increased depression and PTSD. This association was stronger for those with more severe maltreatment histories. Furthermore, those with more severe baseline psychopathology used more social media during this period. These relations were not observed for traditional media sources. Conclusions: These results suggest that regular viewing of pandemic-related social media is associated with increases in psychopathology for those with existing vulnerabilities. Those with such vulnerabilities should adopt strategies to limit social media consumption.

The Contributions of Pandemic Severity, Government Stringency, Cultural Values and Internet Usage to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Data From 35 Countries

“…Though a negative association between Internet usage and PTSD symptoms was observed in this analysis, this finding was just below the threshold for statistical significance. While certain aspects of Internet usage, such as consumption of pandemic-related media (“doomscrolling”) have been associated with PTSD (Price et al, 2022 ), the Internet may also be used for social connection, communication of vital information, purchase of essentials and even healthcare (“telemedicine”) during periods of confinement or isolation (Farsi et al, 2022 ). The role of the Internet in shaping positive or negative psychological responses to COVID-19 is complex, and requires further elucidation along multiple vectors in diverse populations.…”

“…There is some evidence of a link between higher social media usage and PTSD symptomatology. This may be due to the “sensitizing” effect of repeated exposure to pandemic-related images and stories on vulnerable individuals exposed to pandemic-related traumatic stressors (Ikizer et al, 2021 ; Price et al, 2022 ).…”

Anxiety and depression in individuals with and without cancer during the early COVID-19 pandemic period

“…Unlike previous pandemics, the intense use of social media today has caused the news of illness and death, the photos and videos of diseased persons, to be constantly present in lives of individuals. All of these factors have a great potential to provoke additional anxiety and depression [26].…”

“…Management of cancer patients with COVID-19 is difficult during the outbreak. Stress, anxiety and depression worsen the clinical outcomes of cancer [24][25][26][27]. In the management of cancer patients, psychological evaluation is quite important, and there is a need for emergency screening and intervention programs.…”

Quantifying Changes in the Language Used Around Mental Health on Twitter Over 10 Years: Observational Study

“…The Crisis Text Line service reported receiving a higher-than-average volume of messages every day since March 16, 2020, with the main topics being anxiety, depression, grief, and eating disorders [ 7 ]. Price et al [ 8 ] also found that daily doomscrolling —repeatedly consuming negative news and media content on the web—was associated with same-day increases in depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. The pandemic also influenced the type of content that people discussed on social media, with users shifting away from “self-focused” perspectives and toward more “other-focused” topics that used to be taboo to discuss [ 9 ].…”