Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic and its related containment measures have been associated with increased levels of stress, anxiety and depression in the general population. While the use of digital media has been greatly promoted by national governments and international authorities to maintain social contacts and healthy lifestyle behaviors, its increased access may also bear the risk of inappropriate or excessive use of internet-related resources. The present study, part of the COVID Mental hEalth Trial (COMET) study, aims at investigating the possible relationship between social isolation, the use of digital resources and the development of their problematic use. A cross sectional survey was carried out to explore the prevalence of internet addiction, excessive use of social media, problematic video gaming and binge watching, during Italian phase II (May–June 2020) and III (June–September 2020) of the pandemic in 1385 individuals (62.5% female, mean age 32.5 ± 12.9) mainly living in Central Italy (52.4%). Data were stratified according to phase II/III and three groups of Italian regions (northern, central and southern). Compared to the larger COMET study, most participants exhibited significant higher levels of severe-to-extremely-severe depressive symptoms (46.3% vs. 12.4%; p < 0.01) and extremely severe anxiety symptoms (77.8% vs. 7.5%; p < 0.01). We also observed a rise in problematic internet use and excessive gaming over time. Mediation analyses revealed that COVID-19-related general psychopathology, stress, anxiety, depression and social isolation play a significant role in the emergence of problematic internet use, social media addiction and problematic video gaming. Professional gamers and younger subjects emerged as sub-populations particularly at risk of developing digital addictions. If confirmed in larger and more homogenous samples, our findings may help in shedding light on possible preventive and treatment strategies for digital addictions.
Highlights
Was the first European country to be seriously involved in the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic starting on 21 February 2020 in the Lombardia region [1,2]
The present study evaluated the impact of COVID-19 and its related containment measures on internet usage, online video gaming, social media use and binge watching in the general population, during phases intellectual interest (II) and III of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy
Our findings do not provide an overview of phase I, interesting considerations may be derived by findings coming from phase II and phase III of the COVID-19 pandemic that may direct preventive and treatment strategies for the subsequent phase IV
Summary
Was the first European country to be seriously involved in the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic starting on 21 February 2020 in the Lombardia region [1,2]. Governments around the world prompted taking drastic measures aimed at containing the dissemination of the infectious disease, by applying measures including lockdown, self-isolation and placing individuals in home-based quarantine [4,5,6]. Social media represent an alternative form of communication for building interpersonal relationships, among youngsters who spend time on the internet to study, play, watch movies, chat, shop and so forth. The internet significantly contributed in disseminating information about the COVID-19 pandemic to the general population, representing one of the key factors in fighting the pandemic itself. The unmediated online communication channels have generated an uncontrollable amount of low-quality, biased and false contents, disinformation epidemiology (the so-called “COVID-19 infodemic”) and information overload, which might have in turn predisposed some to the onset of psychological distress symptoms [9,10]
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