[Paper Review] Assessing the impact of the coronavirus lockdown on unhappiness, loneliness, and boredom using Google Trends

Abel Brodeur, Andrew E. Clark+2 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Apr 25, 2020

COVID-19 and Mental Health2 references67 citations

TL;DR

The paper uses Google Trends to assess how lockdowns in Europe and the US affected well-being-related queries, finding increases in boredom, loneliness, worry, and sadness, with decreases in stress, suicide, and divorce searches.

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has led many governments to implement lockdowns. While lockdowns may help to contain the spread of the virus, it is possible that substantial damage to population well-being will result. This study relies on Google Trends data and tests whether the lockdowns implemented in Europe and America led to changes in well-being related topic search terms. Using different methods to evaluate the causal effects of lockdown, we find a substantial increase in the search intensity for boredom in Europe and the US. We also found a significant increase in searches for loneliness, worry and sadness, while searches for stress, suicide and divorce on the contrary fell. Our results suggest that people's mental health may have been severely affected by the lockdown.

Motivation & Objective

• Motivate the study by examining potential well-being damages from COVID-19 lockdowns.
• Investigate whether lockdowns caused changes in search interest for well-being related topics.
• Use Google Trends data and causal inference methods to assess lockdown effects on mental health signals.

Proposed method

• Use Google Trends to measure search intensity for topics related to unhappiness, loneliness, boredom, worry, sadness, stress, suicide, and divorce.
• Apply different methods to evaluate the causal effects of lockdowns on search behavior.
• Compare search intensity changes across Europe and the United States.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Do lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic alter search interest in boredom, loneliness, and unhappiness?
• RQ2 Are searches for worry, sadness, stress, suicide, or divorce affected by lockdowns, and if so, in what direction?
• RQ3 Do the observed effects differ between Europe and the United States?

Key findings

• Lockdowns are associated with a substantial increase in search intensity for boredom in Europe and the US.
• Significant increases in searches for loneliness, worry, and sadness were observed.
• Searches for stress, suicide, and divorce decreased during lockdowns.