How Social Media Maintained Sociality in the Pandemic

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reflect on how, during the digital era, new forms of social isolation have emerged, quite different from the forms we found in other pandemics, before the rise of social networking. Through the use of images and information, this research aims to outline similarities between the Covid19 pandemic and earlier pandemics (specifically the Spanish flu) in terms of containment practices. We will also illustrate how the photos and testimonies that people shared online during this period have led to the interpretation of social networks as a social environment where self-representation and sociability take place.