Effect of social media on mental health during Covid-19 lockdowns in India

As the COVID-19 pandemic restricted individuals to their houses for a substantial amount of time, people took to the virtual world to stay connected with their peers, family and friends. Likewise, news channels and other forms of electronic media also witnessed a steep rise in viewership all across the globe. That being said, social media has led to adverse impacts on the mental health of individuals through addiction, stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress syndromes.

The primary objective of this data is to analyze both the positive and negative effects of social media usage on individuals during an unprecedented global lockdown. Existing literature has found significant connections between the use of social media and mental health during extensive periods of lockdown (Swarnam. S., 2021; Pragholapat, A., 2020., Hong, W. et al., 2020). This dataset is used to understand the extent of depression and anxiety experienced by persons restricted to stay-at-home confinements during the deadly second wave of Covid-19 lockdown in India. Information has also been collected to associate social media usage during a lockdown and suicidal tendencies if any.