The Effects of Social Media Consumption Among the Internet Users During COVID-19 Lockdown in India: Results from an Online Survey

ABSTRACT

In previous studies it has been found that spending too much time on social media can have negative effects on social and mental wellbeing of the users. Average time spent on social media increased drastically during covid-19 lockdown in India. The present study thus aims to analyze the direct and indirect effects of extensive social media and social networking services' usage during the lockdown in India. A nationwide online survey was conducted through a ‘Google Forms' questionnaire between 30th June 2020 to 27th July 2020. A total of 818 respondents took part in the study. ‘Social media effect index' was constructed using exploratory factor analysis. Ordinal logistic regression was employed to analyze the effect of social media consumption on social and mental wellbeing of respondents. The average time spent on social networking sites in a day increased from 3.08 hours to 5.17 hours.75% people reported an increased time spent on social media and other services during the lockdown. 60% had reported procrastinating due to extensive SNS usage and had also experienced irregularities in sleep pattern. Respondents from age group ‘21 - 30‘ (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.08 - 0.62) were 78% less likely of having a higher index value compared to ‘>30 years’ age group. During the lockdown there has been a significant increase in social media consumption. The study finds mixed effects of social media consumption during lockdown on users however younger participants reported a negative effect of the consumption on their social and mental well being. © 2020. All Rights Reserved.