Memes helped people reduce COVID-related stress during pandemic, reveals new study

A new study conducted by researchers from Pennsylvania State University and the University of California Santa Barbara reveals that memes have helped individuals to deal with life during the harsh time of the COVID-19 outbreak. The study has been released this week in the 'Psychology of Popular Media journal'. 

As per a news release from the American Psychological Association (APA), which issued the journal, individuals who watched memes reported "higher levels of humor" and more pleasant moods. 

Memes are basically a pictorial representation of a situation that is used in a satirical tone, are made with funny images and comments on political and social events.

Almost in every part and every time all around the world, memes are made, shared, and enjoyed as part of ordinary social media activity.  

The release explained that American Psychological Association had questioned 748 people online in December and found that 72% of those who replied were white people, 54% were women, while, 63% did not have a college degree, and their ages varied from 18 to 88. They were shown a range of various memes with each comprising its own set of photographs and text. Further, they asked the participants to score the contents on the basis of attractiveness, comedy, and emotional reactions, as well as how much the memes distracted them from COVID-19. 

Memes help in reducing COVID-related stress

The finding of the study reveals that those who watched funny memes during the stressful time of the COVID-19 pandemic experienced less stress than those who watched non-pandemic-related memes. According to the study, individuals were also considered more competent in dealing with the COVID-19 problem and were better at information processing. They were even much less anxious about the pandemic than those who didn't see any COVID-19-related memes. 

Furthermore, the study discovered that those who saw memes with attractive newborns or baby animals have been less likely to worry about the outbreak or its consequences had on them, irrespective of the nature of the caption. Additionally, researchers also discovered that individuals preferred animal-themed memes and found them cuter than human-themed memes, according to the APA. 

The researchers further found that the memes about stressful events might possibly help people cope with and comprehend unpleasant experiences. Citing a statement of Jessica Gall Myrick, a lead author of the study and a professor at Pennsylvania State University, the NPR website reported, “While the World Health Organization recommended that people avoid too much COVID-related media for the benefit of their mental health, our research reveals that memes about COVID-19 could help people feel more confident in their ability to deal with the pandemic.” 

Jessica went on to tell the website that this study shows that not all media is equally harmful to one's psychological health and that individuals should pause to think about what kind of media they consume. “If we are all more conscious of how our behaviors, including time, spent scrolling, affect our emotional states, then we will better be able to use social media to help us when we need it and to take a break from it when we need that instead,” she added.  

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