‘Less than five minutes of bad news on social media can lower mood’

A University of Essex study suggests that less than five minutes of scrolling through social media posts of bad news about Covid-19 is enough to lower a person’s mood (Peter Byrne/PA)

Less than five minutes of scrolling through social media posts of bad news about Covid-19 is enough to lower a person’s mood, research suggests.

Participants were randomly assigned to spend a few minutes reading bad news relating to coronavirus on Twitter or watching a YouTube video of someone commenting about it.