Does Social Media usage Influence Accepting and Utilizing the established COVID-19 protocols by the Jamaican Government

Abstract

The griping effect of the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) has forced the hands of the lawmakers globally to impose protocols to contain the disease. Since this outbreak, several quarantine measures have been implemented across the world. Owing to these measures, the use of the internet and social media has reached unrivalled peaks in disseminating information about the pandemic. This research is aimed at examining the usage of social media and its influence on accepting and using the established COVID-19 protocols. Following this, it was hypothesized that 85% of social media users are influenced through this means of communication to accept and utilize the established Covid-19 protocols. A quantitative survey research was designed to collect data from Jamaicans. A convenience non-probability sampling method was used to obtain data from 803 sampled respondents across Jamaica. A standardized survey was created in Google Forms and the data were then analyzed using Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows, Version 25.0, with a confidence interval of 95%. Of the sampled respondents (n=803), the majority were females (76.9%) compared to males (23.1%), aged 18-22 years with majority (57.7%), and the majority residing in Cornwall (48.5%). 84.8% of the respondents indicated that they accept the protocols compared to 69.7 per cent, which is statistically associated. Therefore, the findings revealed that there is a relationship between the two aforementioned variables (?² critical = 5.024 < ?² calculated = 25.804, df=1 with a significance level of 5% (0.025), P = 0.000). Based on the finding the ?² calculated (25.804) is more than the ?2 critical value (5.024) therefore we reject the null hypothesis which states there is no statistical relationship between social media influence and accepting the COVID-19 protocols and accept the alternative hypothesis.