Vishwak Reddy Vatte1, Praveen Khairkar2, Srinivas Kandrakonda3, Tabitha Jezreel4, Satya Revanth Karri5, Syeda Hira Fatima6
BACKGROUND
In COVID-19 pandemic, nation-wide complete lockdown was enforced for about
10 weeks which was an unprecedented experience for all and potentially
influenced mental wellbeing partly through infodemic mismanagements. This
study intended to analyse the impact of media and time management pattern on
mental wellbeing among general population during COVID-19 lockdown in India.
METHODS
An online study questionnaire was circulated among general population between
1st April and 12th May 2020 using social networking site (s). The questionnaire
included socio-demographic details, source of information and knowledge on
COVID-19, impact of time spent on media, smart phone, productive and relaxation
activities, general views on lockdown experience and further mental health status
was screened using standardized DASS - 21 Scale. Appropriate descriptive and
inferential statistics were done using SPSS statistic 26.0.
RESULTS
A total of 891 people responded from 11 states, mostly (89 %) from South India,
and 27.5 % were having mental health problems on DASS - 21 scale. Most of the
participants opined that COVID-19 information on traditional (53 %) and social
media (85 %) were not completely authentic and perhaps amplifying perceptual
responses. Excess time spent on media (46 %) and smart phone over exposure
(61 %) had significant mental health issues and on contrary individuals who
managed their time well, indulging in productive and relaxation activities were
found to be psychologically stable (P < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
This study highlights the impact of media and time management pattern during
lockdown emphasizing both positive and negative predictors of mental health.
There is clearly a need for media regulation and working in collaboration with
authorities for better mental wellbeing of the society in ongoing fight with COVID-
19.
