Facebook and depression in COVID-19 pandemic: the role of time spent on information overload and depressive symptoms with trait rumination as a moderator

Abstract

The current COVID-19 pandemic has led to concerns for health and well-being, especially when the quarantine strategy such as social isolation has been implemented. Since social media has become an essential source of information, it might overwhelm its users by providing too much information which could yield many negative psychological outcomes, including depressive symptoms. The proposed research is designed to investigate the role of time spent on Facebook for searching and receiving information about COVID-19, as well as trait rumination on information overload and depressive symptoms. Non-clinical 140 active Facebook users aged between 18 to 34 who live in Bangkok are recruited. Participants were asked to complete a series of questionnaires measuring time spent on Facebook, perceived information overload, RRS-SF, and PHQ-9. Descriptive statistics, Mediation, and Moderated Mediation with Process in SPSS were used to analyze the relationships among variables. Statistical analyses revealed that higher levels of individuals passively spending time on Facebook for receiving and searching for COVID-19 information results in higher levels of depressive symptoms. Moreover, the relation between perceived information overload and depressive symptoms did yield a significant result, which indicated that the more individuals felt that they received too much information, the higher levels of depressive symptoms they have. However, the mediation analysis presented that perceived information overload did not mediate the relation between time spent on Facebook and depressive symptoms. Also, the trait rumination did not moderate either the effect of the perceived information overload on depressive symptoms or the indirect effect of the time spent on Facebook on depressive symptoms through the perceived information overload. For the implications and applications of this present study, it is expected that this research will provide a wider understanding of the negative influences of social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings from this research may also contribute to social policy in generating initial preventive programs or guidelines for the normal population.