Abstract
Practices oriented to digital technologies are being invented to change how people cope with crises. This study examines how Chinese netizens’ networked practices (e.g., liking, sharing, or commenting) with COVID-19 related duanzi (short online satires) influenced their psychological well-being, external social support, and issue knowledge during the pandemic. The role of social capital in moderating these relations is explored. Findings from the survey demonstrate that the act of “liking” a COVID-19 duanzi on WeChat has become a routine practice for Chinese netizens to kill time during the quarantine. However, the more bonding social capital one already had, the less they depended on duanzi “liking” to kill their boredom. Those less supported outside the family household, or less knowledgeable about the virus were also more likely to share a COVID-19 duanzi. Bonding social capital promotes one’s well-being, therefore, the positive psychological effect of duanzi sharing or commenting grows more pronounced for netizens with more bonding social capital. Bridging social capital brought external social support. Netizens with more bridging social capital obtained more external support and more COVID-19 knowledge from duanzi sharing. The theoretical and practical implications are elaborated in the conclusions.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appeared in Wuhan in December 2019 and spread rapidly afterward
Data analysis assessed the correlations between online duanzi practices and positive psychological outcomes, external social support, and subjective issue knowledge
This study found that the act of “liking” a COVID-19 duanzi on WeChat has become a routine practice for home-bound Chinese netizens to relieve their boredom during the lockdown
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) appeared in Wuhan in December 2019 and spread rapidly afterward. The COVID-19 outbreak stands out as China’s first national health crisis in the mobile social media era [1]. Chinese authorities took public health measures including intensive surveillance, epidemiological investigation, or the full lockdown of cities to prevent the infectious disease. The lengthy lockdown following the successive outbreaks forced an unprecedentedly large number of Chinese to stay home with their. At the height of the pandemic, social contact outside one’s core family household was minimized. Most Chinese had to cope with the anxiety from potential exposure to a largely unknown virus in a prolonged period of social isolation. Social isolation affects how individuals cope with stress from the pandemic, which has changed their lives drastically (e.g., [2,3,4]). Scholars have warned that one’s response to and recovery from the pandemic can be hampered by deficiencies or disrup-
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