Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Screen Time: Findings From a Cross-Sectional Observational Study Among College Students From India

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the amount and pattern of screen time among college students. The relationship between increased screen time and quality of life (QoL), COVID-related stress, and personality traits were also explored. A cross-sectional online survey-based study was conducted among Indian college students who were recruited by purposive sampling. Details regarding socio-demographics, amount and pattern of screen time usage, change in screen time patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic, and COVID-related stress were collected. In addition, personality traits and QoL were assessed with validated questionnaires. A total of 731 responses (51% female, mean age 20.7 years) were analysed. Of the participants, 93.2% self-reported an increase in daily screen time during COVID-19. The predominant reasons for the increased screen time were educational screen time (89.6%), streaming or watching videos for entertainment (82.8%), use of social media for non-communication purposes (78.1%), communication with friends and/or family members (76.2%), reading or watching news (65.9%), and interactive recreational screen time (44.7%). A small but significant negative correlation between increased screen time and QoL (rs = -0.154, p < .001) was found. Increased screen time due to the use of social media for non-communication purposes was associated with poorer QoL (U = 32947.50; p = .02) and greater COVID stress (U = 32381.50; p = .01). Educational screen time was the most common cause for increased screen time among college students and was not associated with negative effects on QoL. The context and purpose of screen time appears to be important in ascertaining the impact of screen time on QoL.

Pandemic‐induced fear and government policy response as a measure of uncertainty in the foreign exchange market: Evidence from (a)symmetric wild bootstrap likelihood ratio test

“…Previous studies have analysed the impact of lockdown on the environment (Garg et al, 2020; Jain & Sharma, 2020; Krishan et al, 2021; Kumari & Toshniwal, 2022; Mohite et al, 2022; Palle et al, 2021; Sahoo et al, 2021; Saxena & Raj, 2021; Singh & Chauhan, 2020; Soni, 2021), employment and labour markets (Abraham et al, 2022; Bhatt et al, 2021; Deshpande, 2020; Kapoor, 2020; Mamgain, 2021; Vyas, 2020), education (Kapasia et al, 2020; Ravi, 2020; Singh et al, 2022), mental health and lifestyle (Das et al, 2021; Grover et al 2020; John & John, 2021; Nilima et al, 2021; Narayanan et al, 2020), and tourism (Chandel et al, 2021; Jaipuria et al, 2021; Kumar, 2020; Patil & Naik, 2020; Seraphin & Dosquet, 2020; Sharma et al, 2020; Singh et al, 2021). There has been little research on the possible influence of lockdowns on the Indian foreign exchange market.…”