[The Specialist] Corona Blue, is it simply because I'm lonely?

Corona crisis, now we are preparing to return to our daily life, but there are still invisible obstacles that cannot be ignored.

The depression brought on by the corona pandemic is 'Corona Blue'.

Depression and loneliness indicators around the world continued to rise during the Corona crisis.

Fear of a new infectious disease, feeling of isolation during quarantine, and not being able to meet many people due to social distancing, it is natural in a way, but is it simply because I am lonely?

Let's examine each one from now on.

Corona Blue, loneliness has had a big impact, but that's not all.

The virus itself is also a problem. When a virus enters our body, it does not only affect the respiratory tract, such as the nose, mouth, and throat.

As the inflammatory substance that fights against the virus reaches our brain, it causes secondary damage.

The areas of the brain that control smell, memory, and emotions become smaller, so you can't smell well, your memory is poor, and you feel depressed easily.

The problem is that this is not the end.

Depression caused by this virus acts as a stress on the brain again, which causes the brain to atrophy more and the nerve cells to age.

Then, the depressed feelings are bound to be greater than before.

It is repeating a vicious cycle.

I use SNS a lot to relieve this feeling of loneliness and depression.

I couldn't meet people in person, so I chose SNS instead.

In fact, during the pandemic, time spent on Facebook increased by 50% and WhatsApp by 40%.

But will loneliness and depression decrease if I communicate with many people through social media?

Surprisingly, it wasn't.

This is an Italian research research paper. In fact, those who used social media to get rid of loneliness and anxiety actually increased their loneliness and anxiety by 37-43%.

Why?

SNS is good at spreading useful information and interesting stories.

However, this does not only spread the good, it also spreads the bad.

It is a well-known fact that SNS increases the obesity rate.

There is also a study result that if you are close to an obese person through SNS, the risk of obesity increases by 40%, even if you cross one leg by 20%. Logic.

The same goes for anxiety and loneliness.

It also spreads well through social media.

Algorithms that form a network with like-minded people make the problem worse.

If you express and share negative emotions on social media, the algorithm will only connect you with people with the same negative emotions, so you will not be able to interact with other people with positive emotions.

In the end, like confirmation bias, only negative emotions are bound to intensify.

So, is there no solution?

The solution lies in '5 people'.

What are you talking about?

Yale University in the United States found something in common among people who felt particularly lonely during the pandemic.

These were not people who had a lot of awkward relationships, but people who maintained very close relationships with 5 or more people.

Family, friends and co-workers.

Isn't that a normal story?

These are the actual conclusions from this study.

Corona Blue's solution was in my family, friends and co-workers.

(Planning: Ho-Gun Lee, Composition: Hee-Suk Shin, Video coverage: Jin-Ho Park, Hyeon-Cheol Park, Video editing: Chun-Bae Park, Ji-In Park, CG: Kyung-Lim Kang, Yu-Ra Kang)