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SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — In contrast to the common beliefs that a decline in face-to-face contact and increase in the use of media resulting from the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic would decrease the level of social cohesion, non-face-to-face contact via media can actually contribute to increasing social cohesion, a study showed Tuesday.
A research team from Yonsei University analyzed the media panel study conducted in 2019 and 2020 by the Korea Information Society Development Institute. Each year, 3,390 respondents participated in the study.
By media type, 70.4 percent of the respondents said that they spent more time watching TV, followed by 59.2 percent who said the time they spent watching internet-streamed video content increased.
Another 54.4 percent said their use of social media increased, while 54.6 percent said their creation of online content or uploading frequency increased.
The research team analyzed the correlation between the change in the use of media and social cohesion using the multi-variate regression technique.
The analysis showed that the respondents who spent more time using media replied that social cohesion increased. In contrast, those who reduced the time they spent using media said social cohesion decreased.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
