COVID-19 Impact of Virtual Communication During Social Isolation on Bulgarian Society

Abstract

The topic of virtual communication in the context of social isolation during the spread of the new corona virus strain (SARS-CoV-2) and its associated disease COVID-19 is an extremely important scientific problem with paradigmatic dimensions and fundamental consequences for society. As a technologically mediated way of communication, it proved that during a pandemic, the virtual communication is the only alternative to traditional face-to-face communication, and its use was inevitable to partially or completely overcome the social restrictions imposed. In order to examine some of the effects of the virtual communication during the social isolation in Bulgaria, an academic research team from the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at The St. Kliment Ohridsky Sofia University undertook a study in the declared two month’s period (13.03.–13.05.2020) of the state of national emergency in the country. The researchers conducted a three-folded study: on the sociological polls and the media coverage during the pandemics; on the activities of the telecommunication industry; and on the impacts of virtual communication during the social isolation, using mixed methodology: quantitative and qualitative survey with three groups of respondents: media users, media professionals and media experts. The results of the effects of virtual communication in social isolation were indicative.