The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nostalgic social media use

Abstract

Introduction: Despite popular speculation that nostalgic social media use skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, this has yet to be formally investigated in the scientific literature. Methods: Interrupted time series analysis (ITSA) using a segmented regression model was performed to examine the changes in the weekly volume of searches for nostalgic songs on Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), as a proxy for nostalgic social media use, before and after the lockdown of Wuhan (signaled the start of the pandemic on a national scale in China). Results: Across the study period (January 1, 2019–February 28, 2021), an immediate and significant increase in nostalgic social media use was observed when the pandemic initially started (95% CI = [47314.30, 154969.60], p < 0.001) compared with the pre-pandemic baseline. Discussion: This study provides empirical evidence for the impact of the pandemic on nostalgic social media use. It also advances our understanding of the increased usage of social media during the pandemic. Additionally, as nostalgia has drawn increasing attention from media researchers, this study offers methodological insights into the quantification of nostalgia.