What is the role of social media addiction in covid-19 anxiety frequency? a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Aim: During the pandemic process, social media exposure has increased for both communication and information purposes. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between coronavirus anxiety and social media addiction. Materials and Methods: In this single-center, cross-sectional search, 297 patients who applied to Gaziosmanpaşa Training and Research Hospital Family Medicine Outpatient Clinic between September 15, 2020, and October 15, 2020 were included. The short form of the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) were administered to the participants. IBM SPSS Statistics 22 (IBM SPSS, Turkey) program was used for statistical analysis of the obtained data. Significance was evaluated at the p≤0.05 level. Results: Of 297 patients with a mean age of 37.30±13.86 years old, 66% of cases was (n=196) female, 34% was (n=101) male. 11.8% (n= 35) of cases had coronavirus anxiety, 23.2% (n= 69) had probable depression and 9.1% (n= 27) had social media addiction. The mean CAS score was 3.06±3.71, the mean PHQ-9 score was 5.13±5.87, and the mean BSMAS score was 11.15±4.99. It was observed that the PHQ-9 score increased as the CSA (p= 0.043; r=0.118) and BSMAS (p= 0.004; r= 0.166) scores increased. No significant correlation was observed between CSA and BSMAS scores (p= 0.525; r=-0.037). It was found that low education level (primary school/secondary school) had a 2.7 times increasing effect (OR= 2.691; C.I.= 1.300-5.571; p= 0.008) on the CSA score. Conclusion: The fact that the frequency of social media addiction is similar between those who have coronavirus anxiety and those who are not, has shown that coronavirus anxiety may not increase as feared in the increased exposure to information from the social media. Education level is the main risk factor.