Social media and COVID 19: The dark side of social media and its impact on psychological health

Human beings are inquisitive in nature. We are continuously in hunt of information that concerns our everyday lives. COVID 19 has been another enormous issue to inquire since its emergence in 2019. This rapidly spreading virus has totally created a great deal of turmoil, chaos and uncertainty.

With the lockdown and social restrictions, people have been more confined within the walls of their homes and precisely,more within gadgets like smart phones and laptops. We are now used to with “working from home” concept and online platforms like ZOOM, Google Meet for various teaching learning and meeting purposes. Besides various online media social media has also been another major platform for information sharing. With 2.74 billion users Facebook is the most widely used social media platform followed by Youtube, WhatsApp, facebook messenger, Instagram and Tiktok. These social media are used by majority of the population to share the feelings, activities, information, promotion and entertainment. While these platforms have obviously positive aspects in terms of information sharing and getting connected with friends and families during the time of crisis, but the dark side of social media has been rarely considered. The information shared in these platforms from unauthentic sources, especially at the times of crisis, have created a havoc among the general public who are not much able distinguish or filter the information.The World Health Organization has declared this epidemic spread of misleading information(infodemic) as a major challenge in the global attempt to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.And ultimately this will lead to stress, fear and related psychological issues among the general public.