This study explored how national news media use and social media use were related to indirect experience of COVID-19 that was associated with higher personal risk perception. Based on a survey of 358 college students, we found that national news media use was unrelated to indirect experience, and its relationship to risk perception was limited to the societal level. Instagram use, in contrast, was related to indirect experience and in turn related to higher personal risk perception. However, without the mediating role of indirect experience, Instagram use was related to lower personal risk perception. Drawing upon these findings, we discuss the importance of social networks (i.e., individuals to whom people are connected in everyday life) in studies of risk perception.
Keywords: COVID-related risk perceptions; indirect risk experience; news media; social media.