Evaluation on College Students’ Anxiety and Social Media Usage during Shanghai Closure

Abstract

As COVID-19 mutates, the highly infectious omicron mutants (BA. 5.2., BF. 7) tension shrouded China. Given the internet information explosion and youth social media addiction, observing the mental impact on college students during the 2022 Shanghai closure is worthwhile. A pilot survey study was conducted to explore the anxiety levels of college students during the closure. The sample size was limited to 101 second-year college students. In addition to demographics, the survey involved the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, self-perceived COVID-19 anxiety, frequency of COVID-19 information reception, number of social media accounts, and number of electronic devices. Though 68.4% of students equipped with two electronic devices (N = 95) exceeded the students with only one electronic device, a Chi-square test showed that students with only one electronic device had the highest anxiety index (mean = 50). Further, the Kruskal-Wallis test indicated that the number of electronic devices affected the students’ anxiety level (p = 0.027) while social media membership did not (p = 0.565). As a result, it was suggested that social media usage and pandemic information inputs among college students were significant concerns that required special attention from the government, schools, teachers, and families.