Abstract
This article investigates the role of Big Data in situations of psychological stress such as during the recent pandemic caused by the COVID-19 health crisis. Quarantine measures, which are necessary to mitigate pandemic risk, are causing severe stress symptoms to the human body including mental health. We highlight the most common impact factors and the uncertainty connected with COVID-19, quarantine measures, and the role of Big Data, namely, how Big Data can help alleviate or mitigate these effects by comparing the status quo of current technology capabilities with the potential effects of an increase of digitalization on mental health. We find that, while Big Data helps in the pre-assessment of potentially endangered persons, it also proves to be an efficient tool in alleviating the negative psychological effects of quarantine. We find evidence of the positive effects of Big Data on human health conditions by assessing the effect of internet use on mental health in 173 countries. We found positive effects in 110 countries with 90 significant results. However, increased use of digital media and exclusive exposure to digital connectivity causes negative long-term effects such as a decline in social empathy, which creates a form of psychological isolation, causing symptoms of acute stress disorder.
Highlights
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic many countries have introduced measures to manage and mitigate the risk of the virus spreading
The results show that a significant amount of countries exhibit a negative beta, which means that an increase in internet usage improves mental health conditions
Even though quarantine is a critical method for managing infection and the spread of disease, it has side effects such as increasing the number of people who suffer from acute stress disorder (ASD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Summary
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic many countries have introduced measures to manage and mitigate the risk of the virus spreading. Big Data can help to create transparent information for people, and this helps to alleviate some of the most negative impacts on mental health such as anxiety and uncertainty, which leads to additional stress.
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