ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the linguistic strategies that patients with COVID-19 used to negotiate distress evoked by the pandemic on social network sites during the peak of the three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malawi. The role of social media during the peak of COVID-19 was vast, as media were awash with situation updates, individual experiences, treatment plans, and news of deaths. The chapter uses a critical discourse analytical approach to explore the personal narratives of fifteen Malawians who were purposively selected because of their experiences of social isolation due to COVID-19 and their use of social media. Their narratives reveal the dichotomies of using social network sites, as they were seen as platforms for keeping users abreast of information about the pandemic trends and sources of collective encouragement and support during many days of isolation. However, social network sites were largely considered a source of negative emotions, such as anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and oftentimes, grief. The chapter argues that as social and behaviour change campaigns harnessed the use of social network sites, they did not precede their efforts to promote healthy to overcome the adverse effects on individuals’ mental health during pandemics.
