Open Hallway

The initial research for Open Hallway was conducted through four semi-structured interviews over Zoom with students attending the University of Washington. The team developed interview questions and protocol that examined college students’ relationships with social media, remote learning, and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the interviews, the team coded the transcripts to extract overarching themes and formulate our final research insights.

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Coding the results of the interview transcripts.

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The interviews yielded the following findings:

• Participants used social media to connect with others, support social movements, and escape the reality of quarantine.

• Participants want to reduce social media use and dependence, yet rarely reflect on their own usage.

• Participants find connecting with other students much harder in remote learning as opposed to in person.

• Quarantine has shrunken participants’ social circles and social media is often the only means of keeping up with others.