Assessing The Psychological Impact Of Internet Blackouts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63665/xmw4fw28Keywords:
Internet Blackout, Mental Health, NLP, Stress, Analysis,, Machine Learning, MLPAbstract
Internet connectivity has become an indispensable part of modern life, supporting communication, education, employment, and access to essential services. However, during politically sensitive situations, governments often impose internet shutdowns, which can significantly disrupt daily activities and negatively impact mental health. This study investigates the psychological effects of the internet blackout during the Bangladesh Quota Movement in July 2024.
A dataset of 2,085 participants was collected through surveys capturing emotional, behavioral, and psychological responses. Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques such as tokenization, stopword removal, and TF-IDF feature extraction were applied to analyze textual responses. A Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) classifier was used to categorize stress levels into Low, Medium, and High.
The model achieved an accuracy of approximately 90%, outperforming traditional classifiers such as Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Logistic Regression. The results reveal a strong correlation between internet disconnection and increased stress, anxiety, and emotional instability. This study highlights the importance of integrating mental health support systems during digital crises.
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