Problematic internet use and its association with sleep disturbance and life satisfaction among Palestinians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

The current study was conducted to test the relationship between problematic internet use, sleep disturbance, and life satisfaction among Palestinians during the Covid-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of 366 Palestinian adults (129 males and 237 females), recruited from online advertisements, e-mail campaigns, social media, and SMS campaigns. Results of the correlational analysis showed that problematic internet use positively correlated with sleep disturbance (r = .19, p < .01), and negatively correlated with life satisfaction (r = −.17, p < .01). Moreover, life satisfaction negatively correlated to sleep disturbance (r = −.25, p < .01). The regression analysis for predicting problematic internet use found that life satisfaction contributes in a way that was statistically significant towards explaining variance in problematic Internet use (B = -.15, SE = .05, β = −.15), in addition sleep disturbance explained statistically and significantly variance in problematic internet use (B = .16, SE = .04, β = .20). Intervention programs directed at decreasing internet use may need to be updated to better address the issues of “necessary” excessive use during COVID-19 restrictions and re-entry into normalized activity patterns when shut-downs are finished. As a completely new area of investigation, this study can serve as an impetus to further examinations of these important topics.