Bridging the Social Distance: Offline to Online Social Support during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The severe impact of COVID-19 in the United States has forced many students to replace in-person socialization with online digital contact. In this study, we investigate the mental health impacts associated with this shift by examining properties of online interactions that may affect loneliness and perceived social support. Students were surveyed (𝑁 = 827) across 97 universities across the US during their first full semester impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Fall 2020). Private online interactions (messaging, phone call, video call) were found to have a comparable correlation to social support as face-to-face interactions, but public online interactions (social media) were associated with more negative outcomes. Among private platforms, messaging had the strongest correlation with social support; and daily self-disclosure over messaging yielded social support levels that were 1.21x higher than rarely or never disclosing over this platform. We speculate that factors such as the level of privacy and peoples' feelings of control contributed to disclosure and perceived social support in online platforms.