Infodemic of the COVID-19 Pandemic and its Effect on Levels of Stress

Abstract

Invasion of the SARS CoV-2 virus has been accompanied by round-the-clock dissemination of information on media platforms. The purpose of the research was to study the “infodemic” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and measure its effect on levels of stress in individuals. It was hypothesized that there is a significant difference in the levels of perceived stress based on the type of media consumed by individuals and that more news consumption will lead to higher perceived stress levels. It was also hypothesized that there is a significant difference between the level of perceived stress in males and females on the basis of news consumption. Data was collected from a total of 307 participants (both male and female) aged 16-62. The NSE media consumption test was used to survey the participants’ media usage. The Perceived Stress Scale was used to determine the levels of stress. Mean and Standard Deviation was calculated for the group of participants and T-test and one way ANOVA was used to analyze the scores. The results indicated that the participants experienced moderate levels of perceived stress regardless of the type of media and amount of news consumed across all sexes between March 2021 and June 2021 of the pandemic.