Social Media Surge During COVID-19 Points To A Human Need

News Peg

Social media usage has statistically surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. And understandably so.

The United States leads the world in the number of cases and coronavirus-related deaths. Most of the nation has been quarantined, with states like New Jersey and New York being quarantined for nearly a month. According to the World Health Organization there are more than 2 million coronavirus cases in the world, and over 130,000 deaths related to the sickness.

With people stuck at home and unable to physically interact, and businesses either shut down or working remotely, social media platforms are seeing an increase in usage and volume. 

How Social Media Has Been Affected

According to research conducted by Klear, a marketing platform, the number of Instagram stories being uploaded per day has been up by 15% since March 7th.

The number of Instagram story impressions per day has increased by 21%.

WhatsApp has experienced a 40% increase in usage since the pandemic hit.

Weekly time spent on apps has increased by 20%, according to research from App Annie , a global provider for mobile market data. 

Compared to last year, the number of apps downloaded on Google Play has increased by 5% with a total of 22.5 billion downloads in the first quarter of 2020.

Twitter has become more of an information database for users, as people search for constant updates on COVID-19 cases and warnings. 

LinkedIn sees more activity on the site and new users of the application primarily due to the economic downturn and millions of unemployment cases due to COVID-19. 

What Does This Say About Us

It is true that this surge in social media and app usage are also due to the exponential increase in the unemployment rate and a need for transparent and factual updates on the pandemic.

But, this surge also tells us something true about us as human-beings - our need for human interaction.

It is popularly said, “man is a social animal.” And it is clear that our desires to interact with each other via social media has rooted in our innate human instincts to communicate.

Andrew Hutchinson, writer for Social Media Today , stated, “Given that we're all locked in our homes, and looking for a means to stay connected with the outside world, that comes as little surprise. But it's interesting to note the specifics of such, and the increases in in-app spending as a result of the various quarantining measures across the world.”

This want for staying in touch, physical communication with the world and other humans, and bonding with loved ones is what makes us human.

In an article from The Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Simon N. Young, Editor-In-Chief of the journal and former professor at McGill University’s Department of Psychiatry, states, “Humans are inherently social.”

And while the social needs are quite similar with other animals, “human social behavior is obviously more complex but no less important for our health and survival.”

Our instant gravitation towards social media outlets, Zoom conferences, video game chatting and FaceTiming proves to show that social interaction is not a mere desire, but an essential need for human-beings.

While stuck in isolation, we see the value of social media more than ever. Our needs for interaction aren’t merely with fellow humans but also with nature. 

 Human-to-human, and human-to-nature interactions, which we may have taken for granted until the pandemic hit, are more valuable than ever. We not only miss these interactions, but we need them.

As introspective beings, we can learn to be grateful not only for the relationships we have, but also for our ability to build more human connections.