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Introduction: The psychological well-being of individuals has become an essential issue during the global pandemic. As a pervasive activity for individuals to pull through COVID-19, social media use may play a role in psychological well-being. Drawing on the transactional model of stress and coping, the current study investigated the relationships between COVID-19-related stressors and the use of social media to facilitate specific coping strategies. We further investigated how social media coping strategies impact users' psychological adjustment. Methods: We collected the data from 641 quarantined residents through a two-wave survey that was conducted in two cities in China during government-mandated lockdowns. Results: The results showed that perceived COVID-19 stress was related to the intensity of social media use for problem-focused coping, socioemotional coping, and mental disengagement. In addition, individuals' psychological adjustment was positively associated with social media use for socioemotional coping and mental disengagement while negatively related to problem-focused coping. Age was also found to be a moderator of the relationship between socioemotional coping and psychological adjustment. Discussion: To relieve pandemic-related stress, individuals can actively utilize social media to implement various coping strategies. However, coping activities with social media may not always induce psychological benefits. By revealing the different levels of psychological adjustment among social media users with specific coping strategies, the current research enriched the literature on the effects of social media use on mental health. Findings from this study suggest the need for the prudent use of social media to cope with public health crises.
RESUMO
Videoconferencing has become an essential communication tool for employees to engage in virtual meetings with their colleagues and complete work tasks remotely. However, there have been reports of a phenomenon termed videoconference fatigue. Concurrently, there has been an increase in work-family conflict among individuals working from home, due to an imbalance from role demands and expectations between work and family. With the rise of videoconferencing that has come to characterize work-from-home setups, it is important to explore the role videoconferencing plays on work-family conflict. We propose a model where the increase in use of videoconferencing as a result of working from home may lead to higher levels of videoconference fatigue, which will in turn result in greater work-family conflict. An online nationwide survey was conducted in Singapore with 590 respondents to test the proposed hypotheses. Results of serial mediation analyses conducted using PROCESS macro supported all hypotheses and indicated support for serial mediation. Emotional and occupational videoconference fatigue were further found to be significantly related to work-family conflict, whereas physical videoconference was not. Our results suggest that as videoconferencing continues to become the default mode of work-related communication, sustained investigation on its implications on work-family conflict is crucial.
RESUMO
The use of videoconferencing platforms has increased drastically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of work-from-home orders, many employees found themselves attending meetings through virtual communication technologies instead of usual face-to-face discussions. As employees spend more time on videoconferencing, there have been increasing concerns of users affected by an occurrence we define as videoconference fatigue (VF). In this study, we explore the link between frequency of videoconferencing and VF. We further explore videoconference users' satisfaction with their internet connection as a moderator of this relationship. We study these in the context of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which provides a framework for us to understand the factors leading to VF. A survey was conducted in Singapore with 1145 respondents who use videoconference apps. Results from structural equation modeling supported a model where perceived ease of use of videoconference apps led to perceived usefulness of these apps, which led to an increased frequency of use. There was a significant relationship between frequency of use and feelings of videoconference fatigue, with this relationship moderated by users’ perceived satisfaction with their internet connection. When usage frequency is low, having a reliable internet connection helps mitigate the impact of use on VF. However, high levels of usage can override the mitigating impact of internet satisfaction. We discuss the implications of these findings, which lend understanding into potential factors that can result in VF.