Social media (SM) are crucial channels for the spread of information on COVID-19. However, they have rarely been explored. This study examined three types of social media use (SMU): SM usage time, passive SMU (PSMU), active SMU (ASMU) and investigated the relationships among three type of SMU, anxiety, and coping strategies. We recruited 1,150 adults in Taiwan for this study. Although past research found that ASMU is associated with well-being and that PSMU is associated with negative emotions, the findings of this study indicated that only ASMU could significantly predict anxiety; PSMU and SM usage time could not predict anxiety. The reason may be that individuals with unmet basic needs may depend on ASMU to satisfy their need for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. However, compared with PSMU, ASMU is more likely to be immersed anxiety due to its continuous exposure to COVID-19 news. The results regarding the paths between SMU and coping strategies were similar; a greater predictive coefficient existed between ASMU and avoidant coping, whereas the other two types of SMU were non-significant or weak predictors of coping strategies. Individuals may post things indicating that the pandemic is slowing down or is not scary to reduce their anxiety, deny the severity of issues, and cope with stress. On the whole, this study found that ASMU involving the pandemic can be used to predict psychological consequences and avoidant coping.
Keywords: anxiety; coping strategies; coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); social media.