Maintaining Relationships through Social Media during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on college students. Since society largely shut down due to the pandemic, students had to adjust to no longer seeing their friends and romantic partners in person. Research has found that college students' friendships are an important factor in their academic success and psychological well-being. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess college students’ social media use to maintain friendships and romantic relationships during the pandemic. This will be measured using an adapted version of Pfeifer’s (2020) online survey, Adolescent Social Connection and Coping During COVID-19 Questionnaire. The survey will be administered via the snowball technique through social media outlets. It is expected that participants will report increased social media contacts with friends and romantic partners compared to pre-pandemic. Also, their reported level of social connectedness will be lower than it was pre-pandemic due to fewer in-person interactions and limited social activities. The findings are expected to have implications for future research related to in-person interactions in friendships and romantic relationships of college students. Also, future researchers should look at mental health as related to the pandemic’s effects on friendships and romantic relationships.