Psychological effect of mass media during initial stages of COVID-19 pandemic amid lockdown in India

The 2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is an International emergency as posted by WHO, and poses a challenge in terms of psychological effects. Research data is important to understand the influence a pandemic has on the people. The present study tries to examine the Psychological impact of Media exposure related to COVID-19 on Depression, Anxiety and Stress, in terms of time spent on COVID-19 updates through various media channels during the first week of April, when the total case count is below 4500. The data will be used for future reference. A total of 139 participants filled the questionnaire through online mode. DASS-21 scale is used to measure the emotional states of Depression, Anxiety and Stress, which is being correlated to time spent on watching news, and time spent on watching news about COVID-19. The results showed a positive relation. No difference between males and females is noted. Another finding from the study shows the exposure to media in general has a significant positive relation with anxiety and stress. It is thus, concluded from study that during the initial phases of COVID-19, Mass media exposure in terms of time spent in COVID-19 news updates is positively related to psychological effect in terms of Depression, Anxiety and Stress. The relation is though, not a significant one, which can be devoted to factors like people’s attitudes, risk perception, perceived vulnerability, perceived severity and self-efficacy during the initial phases of disease outbursts.