Worldwide, statistics suggest mental health has declined since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Is social media partly to blame?
On a global scale, social media can be a way for people to gather information, share ideas, and reach out to others facing similar challenges. It can also be an effective platform to relay information quickly during a national or worldwide crisis.
This global reach is what has made social media a critical communication platform during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As government health organizations used it to relay recent findings on prevention and treatment, social media became more than a place to post the latest vacation photos — it became a hub of pandemic-related information.
But has the use of social media during the pandemic negatively impacted mental health and well-being? Or has it had the opposite effect?
In this Special Feature, Medical News Today looks at what research says about social media use and the COVID-19 pandemic to reveal how it has affected mental health. We also spoke with two experts about this complex topic.
