Ripple Effect of Infodemic at the Time of Pandemic COVID 19

COVID -19 is an infectious disease caused by corona virus which is spreading like wildfire throughout the world. According to World Health Organization it’s a pandemic virus affecting globally but simultaneously WHO declared it as an infodemic as well. If we go by dictionary Infodemics is an excessive amount of information concerning a problem which creates a state of confusion among the population. Confusion leads to fear which is more fatal than the real one and is more difficult to find its solution. Due to the world-wide lockdown people are staying at their places and all thanks to social media, the news of widespread disease is reaching us all at greater speed as compared to virus itself. The news and information shared by social media increases an individual’s anxiety and stress levels. Research says that to combat any kind of viruses one needs to have strong immune system but such kind of information are immune depressants. The objective of the present study is to analyze the effect of social media on the development of stress, anxiety and resilient approach of the people who are working from home and the people who are workfree. The sample size of the group will be 100 and the age range of participants will be 20-50 years. The standardized questionnaires which will be used for this piece of work are social media engagement questionnaire: Everyday Technology Use Questionnaire by Christine McCauley (2013) Perceived stress scale by Sheldon Cohen (1994), State- Trait anxiety inventory by Charles Spielberger and Connor- Davidson Resilience scale: CD-RISC by Connor and Davidson (2003). The standardized tool which will be used for analyses will be t-test. The study recommends that people who are doing work from home are devoting less time on social media, low on stress, anxiety and high on resilience as compared to those who are workfree.