Sociala medier - En stressor eller copingstrategi? : En flermetodisk studie om hur studenter använder sociala medier under en pandemi

Due to the global pandemic, Covid-19, the whole world has had to rapidly change to decrease the spread of the virus. Universities all over the world have had to move their teaching online due to the students being told to stay at home and avoid social interactions. In this study, we explore how university students' social media usage has changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We also investigate how social media has been used as a coping strategy to deal with the changes of everyday life during the pandemic. In total 54 students participated in a survey and a total of six students also participated in a semi-structured interview. Our findings propose that the student's primary reason for social media usage was for communication with others and to seek emotional support from friends and family. The secondary reason was for entertainment. We further discovered that students tend to be more dependent on their social media than what they would like to admit - especially for killing time and to avoid boredom. We also found out that the students have become more lonely during the Covid-19 pandemic and would feel ashamed if they were breaking the restrictions to meet a friend and of their increased social media usage. Social media has therefore become a tool for coping with the emotional distress caused by the pandemic.