Emotional State and Social Media Experience: A Pandemic Case Study

Abstract

The world has been experiencing an unprecedented global pandemic since December 2019. Lockdowns, restrictions in daily life, and social distancing characterize the new environment in which the world population finds itself, with minor variations depending on the country of residence. Television, social media, and other sources of information tend to influence and provide information about COVID-19 with varying tones. This study investigated the impact of alerts, news, and information about COVID-19 from social and mass media on the emotional state of the people a year and a half after the start of the pandemic. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 63 participants to assess the relationships between factors such as social media experience, perceived hope, worry, anxiety/depression, attentiveness, trust, health care, health risk, health safety, irritability, mental balance, and emotional state/distress. With the resulting information, a four-factor model was developed to demonstrate the relationships between social media experience, perceived hope, worry, and emotional state/distress. Additionally, a short interview was conducted among the participants in order to collect their opinions and qualitatively analyze them. The developed model demonstrates satisfactory performance characteristics and allows assessment of the delayed influence of incoming information on the people during this unprecedented pandemic.

Hybrid Natural Language Processing Model for Sentiment Analysis during Natural Crisis

“…A large number of scientific studies have been published that investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on emotions and sentiments. Previous studies have demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a lasting impact on various aspects of human needs, including physiological needs, safety needs, and the need for care or affection (for example, see [65,66]). Among vulnerable groups, increased stress has been observed in individuals with chronic illnesses, while anxiety and sleep disorders have been noted in those with existing mental health conditions [67].…”

A COVID-19 és a helyi válságkezelés jellemzői Magyarországon

“…A kormányzat a vélelmezhetően tudatos korlátos tájékoztatás helyett (Bán-Forgács 2021) transzparenciával, valódi társadalmi egyeztetéssel megteremthette, megerősíthette volna a társadalmi bizalmat, azonban az akarat mellett az idő is kevésnek bizonyult az ezt építő tevékenységek megvalósítására (Balázs 2021). A járványidőszak előrehaladtával a társadalmak világszerte egyre érzéketlenebbé váltak a koronavírussal kapcsolatos hírekre (Bitkina, Park 2021). Hazánkban e "természetes" folyamatok mellett az elégtelen tájékoztatás is kétségkívül hozzájárult a konteóhívők, vírusszkeptikusok és oltásellenesek (Brys 2021) táborának ütemes növekedéséhez, ami bizonyosan megnehezítette a járványkezelést is.…”