Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi.
Kabir Medical College, Gandhara University, Peshawar, Pakistan.
J Nerv Ment Dis. 2021 Sep 1;209(9):681-683. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000001380.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought with itself significant mental health challenges owing not only to the morbidity and mortality from the infection but also to mitigation strategies of social distancing and self-isolation. Indeed, in the absence of adequate pharmaceutical aids, quarantine and social distancing measures are taken to limit the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Thus, living in the world of social media, the average usage of social media could be expected to show a sharp rise as measures of social distancing and quarantine are adopted to contain the pandemic. In this context, social media could be thought of as an additional preventative resource aiding the containment of the pandemic by being a key network for communication during a crisis.Because social media usage cannot be brought down to null considering the fact that it does have some positive aspects to it in terms of disposition of useful information, we could alternatively modify the reporting to be more responsible.In conclusion, we could hypothesize that social media might surge responses for some adverse mental health conditions, increasing fear, anxiety, and panic responses, even spreading suicidal ideation and therefore impacting incidence of suicide in some way. Moreover, social media should be carefully handled, particularly during the pandemic, as social media engagement spiked. Indeed, suicide news, when not reported adequately, and most dangerous social media challenges could have devastating effects among youngest users.
新冠疫情大流行带来了重大的心理健康挑战，不仅因为感染的发病率和死亡率，还因为社交距离和自我隔离的缓解策略。事实上，在缺乏足够的药物辅助的情况下，采取隔离和社交距离措施是为了限制 SARS-CoV-2 病毒的传播。因此，在社交媒体的世界中，人们普遍预期平均社交媒体使用量会急剧上升，因为采取了社交距离和隔离措施来控制疫情。在这种情况下，社交媒体可以被视为一种额外的预防资源，通过成为危机期间沟通的关键网络，有助于控制疫情。因为考虑到社交媒体在发布有用信息方面具有一些积极的方面，不能将其使用率降为零，我们可以选择更负责任地修改报告。
总之，我们可以假设社交媒体可能会对一些不良心理健康状况做出反应，增加恐惧、焦虑和恐慌反应，甚至传播自杀意念，从而以某种方式影响自杀的发生率。此外，社交媒体应该在疫情期间得到谨慎处理，因为社交媒体的参与度飙升。事实上，自杀新闻如果没有得到充分报道，以及最危险的社交媒体挑战，可能会对最年轻的用户产生毁灭性的影响。
