• As the coronavirus pandemic set in, more and more people started using and overusing WhatsApp for socializing and also spreading information and misinformation about the deadly virus.
• Its use increased by 40% during the pandemic.

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A group of scientists from Singapore studied a group of people to see how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the usage of WhatsApp.

WhatsApp and its usage during the coronavirus pandemic

Singaporean scientists studied a group of people to see how Whatsapp was used during the ongoing pandemic.

They found that people were now using social media apps to spread information and content related to COVID-19.

And those who were very active in this kept thinking about the virus throughout the day.

The researchers were from Yale-NUS College and the National University of Singapore. Users tend to increase the use of such apps during crisis periods such as terrorist attacks, epidemics, or natural disasters.

However, misinformation-sharing rates also increase. Hence in April 2020, Whatsapp changed its rules. Under this, if a message was previously shared five times, the user can only pass it to one person at a time.

The study design

The researchers studied the daily Whatsapp usage pattern of 151 people. This study was carried out over one week. Each day the user told the research team about what was shared, exchanged, and forwarded on this platform.

They also kept a tab on the well-being of the user during this crisis. Their baseline data included age, gender, concerns related to the pandemic, and emotional state.

The researchers also sought data about the time of the day that they must share the information and what sources they used to collect COVID-19 data.

Most of the studied people used WhatsApp to get information on the virus. It was the second common source for them. 78% received, 52% sent, and 66% discussed coronavirus on this app. 88% of them were also on some Whatsapp groups.

More study findings here…

14% of the users studied were chronic users of the platform. While 24% were minimal users. 31% received forwarded messages and were also part of group discussions. 30% kept these group discussions in their circle. Such news about the pandemic deeply distressed most chronic users of the app. They also had lower confidence in the policies of the government. The people who discussed more on the app were also anxious personalities but had greater faith in the government strategies.

Also, read COVID-19 can cause male infertility, says an Israeli study!

The active chatters also kept thinking about the issue the whole day. This suggests that they also had clinical depression due to it. Such prolonged thinking hurts a person’s well-being. The misleading information affected the people who mostly read forwarded messages.

This is a baseline study on how people overuse and misuse social media apps during a crisis. It reveals how these things can impact a person’s viewpoints, well-being, and emotions. One can use this for formulating a crisis management strategy to better deal with such problems in case of a crisis.