Shared Virtual Reality Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring the Gratifications and Effects of Engagement with Immersive Videos

Abstract

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and recent economic recession have been impacting many people’s mental health. The experience of social distancing created new hardships for people who already reported symptoms of depression or anxiety. In these circumstances, new technologies, such as immersive virtual reality (VR) videos, could serve as useful tools for facilitating interactions, emotional sharing, and information processing within a virtual environment. In this study, researchers aimed to enrich the information processing literature by focusing on the uses and gratifications of 360-degree VR videos during the pandemic. Through employing survey research with 1422 participants located in the U.S. and structural equation modeling for data analysis, this study found that five types of gratification, including utilitarian (i.e., navigation), hedonic (i.e., enjoyment), sensual (i.e., realism), social (i.e., community), and symbolic (i.e., coolness), significantly motivated users to use such immersive videos. Simultaneously, data demonstrated that these five types of gratification could influence users’ cognitive engagement with virtual content. In addition, such VR engagement facilitated users’ positive attitudes toward immersive videos and continued usage of them. The findings provided practical implications for COVID-19 global recovery as well.

Do an Organization’s Digital Transformation and Employees’ Digital Competence Catalyze the Use of Telepresence?

“…In other words, it was confirmed that the experience of space and exchange provided by the metaverse that is similar to the real organization could increase the intention of continuous use by influencing the employees' motivation to use it. The results are similar to those of Fu et al [33] and Han et al [14], as the presence factor provided by the online platform increases the gratification of users' needs and induces positive behavior on the platform. Therefore, organizations must provide virtual reality technology for the metaverse platform in order to make it possible to feel that the exchange of information and interaction activities take place realistically and offer an entertainment element equipped with a sense of reality.…”

“…Han et al [14] confirmed that the social presence provided by social media increases the intention to use the platform continuously through the gratification of social connection needs. Fu et al [33] found that the virtual presence of social media is a hedonic gratification. It was confirmed that self-disclosure has increased in relation to virtual reality, and the sense of presence affects the formation of user motivation.…”

A World in Crisis, a World in Progress: Growing Better Together

“…Since the outbreak of the ongoing pandemic, the discussion and efforts surrounding digitalization have increased unprecedently. Almost every entity, whether affiliated to the state, society, or economy, has been working tirelessly to establish a virtual presence (Cheng, Wang, and Zhao 2022). The intergovernmental institutions have not been an exception and in some cases, they have been leading the way.…”

COVID‐19: Implications for Nursing and Health Care in the United States

“…Media and social conversations were dominated by large amounts of information about COVID-19, of which there was initially little known. Public health information communicated through social networks and traditional media was inconsistent, and messages conveyed were sometimes not well-received (Cheng et al, 2022;Clemente-Suárez et al, 2022). America's vast size and decentralized governance structure resulted in uneven implementation of often-conflicting recommendations coming from epidemiologists, media influencers and government officials.…”