Impacts of Virtual Communication During Social Isolation of Covid’19

Abstract

The COVID’19 pandemic has led to drastic changes in people’s lifestyle around the world, incl. those related to the natural way in which individuals interact and communicate. In order to examine some of the effects of virtual communication during the social isolation, an academic research team from the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at The St. Kliment Ohridsky Sofia University of Bulgaria undertook a study in the declared two-month’s period (13.03.–13.05.2020) of the state of emergency in the country. The researchers conducted a three-folded study: on the sociological polls and the media coverage during the pandemics; 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; and on the activities of the telecommunication industry. The results of the effects of virtual communication in social isolation were indicative.