Media as A Source of Coping and Social, Psychological and Hedonic Well-being: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns have provided an unprecedented opportunity to better understand the processes by which media are used to improve coping and alter well-being. Despite the important health issues at stake, the overall dynamic of media-based coping strategies (MBCS), their evolution over time according to their perceived efficacy, and their link with social well-being are poorly understood. The present longitudinal qualitative study, conducted in seven phases of interviews over a period of 36 weeks among a diverse population experiencing lockdown, lifting of lockdown, and then a second lockdown (N = 31; total duration 192 hours), shows how individuals implemented eight families of MBCS on two interdependent levels. On the first level, two families of MBCS developed "micro" and "macro" social processes, contributing to social well-being. Social media satisfied social needs usually satisfied offline. Two other families also improved psychological and hedonic well-being. Among these MBCS, the hedonic strategies in particular were perceived as being ineffective after about a month of confinement. Four families of second-level MBCS were then implemented and were perceived as effective in both the short and long term. Limitations and new perspectives opened by the results are discussed.