Social representations of media reception during the COVID-19 lockdown in Colombia: from messages to meanings

Recent studies on COVID-19 have focused on the pandemic's effects on public health and the biosafety controls and their socioeconomic implications. The current mixed-methods study takes a new look at the topic, combining qualitative and quantitative strategies to identify the social representations of media reception in a sector of the Colombian population during social isolation in the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicate that these representations vary and are associated with the media channel and the effect the reception produces on mood and mental health. A total of 80 interviews and 1,068 online survey forms were applied in different regions of Colombia. The qualitative phase showed that the programs or messages received were represented positively when they came from audiovisual entertainment and contributed to the family unit and reduced stress during the lockdown. Meanwhile, media reception was represented negatively when the messages or news came from journalism or social networks and increased the misinformation, anxiety, and fear of contagion. The quantitative phase found that media reception decreased as the lockdown continued, due to information saturation and the proliferation of news emphasizing the risks of COVID-19. The results reveal the need to focus health communication on the development of information skills that allow people to learn and assess the veracity and relevance of information received during the pandemic.