Pandemic and the Critical Role of Knowledge Management

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DOI :10.26650/B/ET07.2023.004.05   IUP :10.26650/B/ET07.2023.004.05    Full Text (PDF)

Importance of Information Sharing and Social-Psychological Reactions During the Pandemic

Yakup Selçuk Yıldırım

The need for information people felt in taking critical decisions with respect to daily conduct and behavior regulation during the coronavirus pandemic in 2019 has demonstrated once again the paramount importance of information in directing our lives. The utilization of new media tools along with traditional media in accessing information throughout this period, where it was especially vital to access correct information, closely monitor the latest developments, and build an awareness of the disease, has given rise to a bombardment of information in social media. Over the course of COVID-19, social media has become a space where the news and updates on the pandemic are monitored closely, to the degree that, thanks to its characteristic speed and power, it has been one of the primary sources of information that people resort to in fulfilling their needs such as obtaining information, receiving the news, and tracking developments. Nevertheless, the lack of editorial control over the content, rapid dissemination of manipulative discourse, and casual exchange of unsourced information on social media have also brought at times information pollution within these circles. Information pollution may steer people to the unknown in those critical processes where the correct information is required and may give rise to the occurrences of diverse unexpected behavior. Besides, information pollution and unreliable sources of information, exerting a negative impact on the individual’s psychology, may drive the society to despondency, uncertainty, anxiety, and undesirable behavior and may even beget a state of chaos. Whereas it becomes crucial in such a period to peruse the full effects of all new developments on human psychology, this chapter examines, within the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic, solely the effects of information sharing through social media and traditional media tools on the psychology of society and attempt to explain with examples the behavior and reactions of the masses. When various publications and news have been examined, it has been observed that the shares on social media platforms have affected the mass psychology by shaping the behavior, emotions and consciousness of individuals through anonymity, contagion and indoctrination susceptibility, and that, as a result, people have exhibited various common positive and negative reactions. When these behaviors have been examined, it has been concluded that people have exhibited a wide variety of social reactions, such as stigmatization, national solidarity and cooperation, othering, anti-vaccine attitude and finally anxiety, uncertainty and fear. In addition, it has been observed that restrictive practices such as lockdown and voluntary isolation, which were implemented to protect public health during the pandemic, have led to an increase in the use of internet and social media, and that the time spent on social media in this period has affected people’s moods negatively by leading them to feelings such as fear, anxiety and uncertainty.


Keywords: COVID-19, social media, crowd psychology, information sharing

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