Increased videoconferencing after COVID-19 stay-at-home orders increased depression and anxiety but did not impact appearance satisfaction or binge eating

Abstract

Time spent viewing selfies significantly increases body dissatisfaction, body checking, and eating psychopathology. We examined whether (1) self-viewing screen-time while videoconferencing increased from February to April 2020, following stay-at-home orders across most states. We hypothesized that: (2) participants’ anxiety, depression, appearance orientation, and binge eating would increase and appearance satisfaction would decrease after COVID-19 lockdowns; and (3) recent (“past two weeks”) videoconferencing duration would significantly predict worsened depression, anxiety, binge eating, appearance orientation, and appearance satisfaction. Participants (N ​= ​143; 53% female) were recruited through campus and Mechanical Turk for a study entitled: “Users’ Experiences with Videoconferencing before and during COVID-19.” In late April 2020, participants rated a range of videoconferencing experiences, including time spent viewing themselves on screens in February (retrospective recall) and the “past two weeks,” completing measures of depression, anxiety, appearance orientation, appearance satisfaction, and binge eating for February and April 2020. Anxiety and depression increased, and appearance orientation and satisfaction decreased significantly after COVID-19 lockdowns. Self-viewing time significantly predicted recent depression and anxiety, but not appearance orientation, appearance satisfaction, or binge eating. Most research on the effects of selfies was in higher risk samples, namely adolescent girls. Future research should examine whether videoconferencing is harmful in at-risk populations.