Background: The COVID-19 pandemic caused a mandatory nationwide lockdown from March 24, 2020. In this difficult and unprecedented time, the requirement to adapt to lockdown and a forced stay-at-home had an impact on people's lives.
Aim: Community's perception of lockdown ascribed to COVID-19 pandemic.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was done on individuals aged 18 and above across India, to assess their perception regarding lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was carried out using a semi-structured questionnaire, where the data were collected via Google Forms and analyzed via Epi info 7. The questionnaire comprised of how individuals perceived the lockdown, and how COVID-19 news circulating on various social media platforms and news channels affected their mental health.
Results: The study included a total of 552 individuals. The study found that the lockdown was supported by 47% of respondents. 69.9% participants acknowledged that during lockdown, a huge amount of COVID-19 news was being disseminated, while 67.2% of individuals were overly preoccupied with thinking about preventative measures. As a result of being confined indoors, 59% of respondents thought their screen time had increased.
Conclusion: Respondents perceived that the lockdown had its benefits and drawbacks. They were impacted by the flood of information from various social media platforms as well and there was an increase in screen time.
Keywords: COVID-19; lockdown; news; pandemic; screen time; social media.
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