What is it about?
This study examines how people on Reddit discuss COVID-19 and lockdowns. With the pandemic, more people turned to online news, but this led to several negative behaviours, such as constantly scrolling through bad news, which can harm mental health and increase exposure to false information. The study explores the power dynamics and arguments in Reddit discussions. It finds that users compensate for feeling powerless by making unlikely claims about the future. The study shows that these discussions often include flawed reasoning, and it highlights how the power to control life and death may shape some of the norms in these online communities.
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Why is it important?
By analysing discussions on Reddit, the study provides valuable insights into how people coped with the COVID-19 crisis, revealing the psychological and social aspects of online discourse during a global health emergency.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Lockdown scepticism: Australian and American doom discourse on Reddit, Studies in Communication Sciences, May 2023, SComS,
DOI: 10.24434/j.scoms.2023.02.3322.
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