AUTHOR=Muñiz-Velázquez José Antonio , Gómez-Baya Diego , Lozano Delmar Javier 

TITLE=Exploratory Study of the Relationship Between Happiness and the Rise of Media Consumption During COVID-19 Confinement

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.566517

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.566517

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>The confinement of the population into their homes as a result of COVID-19 has entailed a notable increase in the consumption of diverse media. This exploratory study aimed to examine how the increase in media consumption was related to subjective happiness and psychological well-being. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to a sample of Spanish adults (<italic>n</italic> = 249; 53.8% women; aged between 18 and 75, <italic>M</italic><sub>age</sub> = 42.06, <italic>SD</italic> = 12.37) to assess their consumption of different media before and during confinement. Moreover, participants were evaluated for hedonic, eudaimonic, social, and experienced happiness by using the <italic>Pemberton Happiness Index</italic> (PHI). The results underlined the great increase in the consumption of TV for entertainment and social networking sites (SNS) during confinement. Furthermore, it was found that higher consumption was negatively correlated with the level of happiness, so that, people who reported greater well-being, both subjective and psychological, spent less time watching TV and using SNS. In contrast, no association was found between the level of happiness and the consumption of news (regardless of the media) and radio. Therefore, it seems that far from cultivating greater happiness, those who engaged in heavy consumption of TV entertainment and SNS during confinement were less happy than those who did so more moderately and spent more time using other media or performing other activities.</p>