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. 2023 Jul 27:14:1226414.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1226414. eCollection 2023.

The effect of social media and infodemic on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from the COMET multicentric trial

Gaia Sampogna  1 , Matteo Di Vincenzo  1 , Mario Luciano  1 , Bianca Della Rocca  1 , Umberto Albert  2   3 , Claudia Carmassi  4 , Giuseppe Carrà  5 , Francesca Cirulli  6 , Bernardo Dell'Osso  7   8 , Maria Giulia Nanni  9 , Maurizio Pompili  10 , Gabriele Sani  11   12   13 , Alfonso Tortorella  14 , Umberto Volpe  15 , Andrea Fiorillo  1
Affiliations

The effect of social media and infodemic on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from the COMET multicentric trial

Gaia Sampogna et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the status of pandemic due to the COVID-19 infection. The initial phases of the pandemic were characterized by uncertainty and public fears. In order to cope with such unexpected conditions, people adopted different coping strategies, including search for information, accessing Internet, and using social media. The present study based on the COMET collaborative research network aims to: (1) assess use of Internet and of social media among the Italian general population; (2) explore differences in web usage between people with pre-existing mental disorders and the general population; (3) identify changes over time in social media usage along the phase 1 of the pandemic; (4) identify the clinical, socio-demographic and contextual predictors of excessive use of social media. A significant increase in time spent on Internet, with an average time of 4.8 ± 0.02 h per day, was found in the global sample of 20,720 participants. Compared with the general population, Internet use was significantly higher in people with pre-existing mental disorders (5.2 ± 0.1 h vs. 4.9 ± 0.02; p < 0.005). According to the multivariate logistic regression model, the risk of excessive use of social media and Internet was significantly higher in people with moderate levels of depressive symptoms (OR: 1.26, CI 95%: 0.99 to 1.59, p < 0.0.005); while protective factors were being students (OR: 0.72, CI 95%: 0.53 to 0.96, p < 0.0029) and living in central Italy (OR: 0.46, CI 95%: 0.23 to 0.90, p < 0.002). The evaluation of social media and Internet use by the general population represents a first step for developing specific protective and supportive interventions for the general population, including practical suggestions on how to safely use Internet and social media.

Keywords: depression; infodemic; mental health; pandemic; social media usage; stress; trauma-related symptoms.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Most frequent reasons for using Internet in the global sample (N = 20,720).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Changes in usage of Internet over lockdown weeks.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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