Impact of social media on young bank employees during COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media (SM) use saw a sharp raise, especially for obtaining information regarding COVID-19 during the lockdown. SM platforms also led to misinformation about the disease which caused negative psychological effects on individuals. Bank employees (BE) are special workgroups who experience various levels of mental stress at their workplace due to workload. During lockdown and till date many of the BE work from home which enabled them to use SM accordingly. Objective: The study was conducted to assess the stress levels and anxiety levels due to usage of SM in young BE during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, an online Google form questionnaire was distributed to the participants using convenient and snowball sampling method. The final sample consisted of 126 Goan young BE. Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive analysis. Results: The results of the study revealed that SM use had significant impact on the BE, with a potential negative effect on developing stress and anxiety. 10.3% (13) of the participants experienced low stress and 89.7% (113) experienced moderate stress. 51.6% (65) of the participants had mild anxiety, 10.3% (13) had moderate anxiety, and 38.1% (48) had severe anxiety. Conclusion: The present study concludes that increased SM use among the BE was associated with negative psychological outcomes. Anxiety and stress were associated with the time spent on using SM sites.