COVID-19’s impact on online behavior

A December 2020 study led by a Harvard undergraduate student examined internet search terms and social media trends to observe how the pandemic has affected online behavior. Unsplash

As the U.S. has passed the anniversary of March 13, 2020, marking a full year since the date when former President Donald Trump first declared a national emergency for COVID-19, many are reflecting on what experiencing life in isolation has meant for humanity.

Joy Joukhadar, a sophomore triple major in sociology, political science and English, believes society’s virtual existence will have profound impacts on how communities function moving forward, which she said will serve as a fruitful topic for researchers.

“One of my professors even made a joke of, ‘Hey, just make sure on your thesis you don’t study COVID-19, because that’s the only thing people are going to talk about for the next 40 years,’” Joukhadar said. “There’s been a lot of discussion about how COVID-19 is going to affect people, but because there hasn’t been time to adequately research and study it, there isn’t much data yet.”

A December 2020 research article, however, dissects online behavior to examine one element of how COVID-19 has impacted humanity. The article, titled “COVID-19 shifts mortality salience, activities and values in the United States: Big data analysis of online adaptation,” appears in a special pandemic-focused issue of the journal Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies. The research methodology stems from an expanded “Theory of Social Change, Cultural Evolution and Human Development,” which posits that when survival and prosperity are under threat, humans adopt behaviors characteristic of small-scale, collectivistic and rural-subsistence communities that we evolved from. 

Given the often existential nature of individual responses to the COVID-19 crisis, the theory offered a relevant framework within which Noah Evers, lead author of the study and a Harvard University undergraduate psychology student, was able to explore.

Evers — alongside senior author Patricia Greenfield, a professor in the psychology department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), who happens to be his grandmother and co-author Gabriel Evers, his younger brother — conducted research by comparing online behaviors in the 70 days before and the 70 days after March 13, 2020.

Research began with a study of Google searches, followed by three more independent studies of Twitter, internet forums and blogs. Authors looked for repetition of terms and phrases and found that every platform saw a significant increase during the months following March 13 in terms that reflect community-based values, such as “help,” “share” and “sacrifice.”

Noah Evers told the UCLA newsroom the study also acknowledged a rise in online activism seen over the past year, noting that online discourse about the Black Lives Matter movement reflected the outpouring of community support seen in the months following initial COVID-19 shutdowns.

As people shifted into the online realm for jobs, school and socialization, consumption of digital media sharply increased. Considering this rise in collective usage of social media, Joukhadar said the correlation between the pandemic and an increase in online activism made sense given the heightened prevalence of social justice resources on media platforms over the past year. Joukhadar hopes that momentum continues, even as vaccinations increase and communities begin to meet beyond virtual settings.

“Now that social media has become the primary way people can socialize, there’s no way you could’ve been on Twitter or Instagram and not seen what happened to George Floyd or what happened to Breonna Taylor or what happened to literally countless Black Americans,” Joukhadar said. “I feel like some people have been exposed (to injustice) to such an extent that they don’t want to go back (into public life) and be not fighting for anyone.”

While this study observed behavior in the beginning of the shutdowns, much has changed since quarantine’s initial shock. As the pandemic continued, apathy blossomed. 

Windows that used to hold “Thank You” signs for essential workers are now empty.  An increased number of people are attending parties and gatherings despite Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Several states have repealed restrictions and mask mandates. The community values that surged in the beginning of the pandemic have been challenged by collective COVID-19 fatigue.

Amea Wadsworth, a sophomore English major at Chapman and active member in the vegan and environmentalist communities on Instagram and TikTok, said she sees the rise in online community-based language observed in the study as short-lived.

“I remember so vividly at the beginning of the pandemic all of the posts that said, ‘Don’t wear masks so we can save them for the healthcare workers,’ and everyone was trying to stop people from panic buying at stores,” Wadsworth said. “That was a lot more prevalent at the very beginning, but especially since masks have become a partisan issue, the community focus has gone down.”

As COVID-19 vaccines become more widely circulated and case numbers begin to decline, it remains to be seen which pandemic-era values society will carry into life outside of isolation.