Background The year 2020 will be remembered as the “year of the COVID-19 pandemic”. The world population had to familiarize themselves with words as swabs, personal protective equipment, pandemic. To curb the wave of the pandemic, almost all the countries imposed self-isolation and social distancing. We conducted a web-based survey to investigate the behavioural responses during the quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Participants were 1860 youth aged 12–18 years attending lower secondary schools and upper secondary schools. Data were collected on demographic characteristics, lifestyle changes during the quarantine period, and the psychological impact of the lock-down on adolescents’ life. Results Most adolescents experienced feelings of fear, discouragement, and anxiety which strongly affected the approach to their daily lifestyles. Most of the surveyed subjects reported having used this period to acquire new skills and to practice physical activities at home. The use of technology was predominant both for recreational activities and educational purposes. Conclusions Despite the strong psychological impact of the quarantine, adolescents showed good levels of resilience. Technology played a crucial role during the quarantine for young subjects who have increased the daily use of technological devices to stay connected with the rest of the world.

Background: A crucial aspect of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was the psychological impact on the population. Most countries issued restrictive laws to reduce community-based viral spread. Children and adolescents were forced to experience physical and social distancing. Subjects with chronic diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, were more vulnerable and at higher risk of developing psychological disorders. Methods: We conducted a web-based survey to investigate the behavioral responses during quarantine due to the COVID-19 outbreak in a cohort of pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes. Data were collected on demographic and clinical characteristics, lifestyle changes, and the impact of COVID-19 on the management of diabetes. Results: Two hundred four pediatric patients (aged 5-18 years) with type 1 diabetes completed the questionnaire. Interestingly, patients ≤12 years were significantly more influenced by the quarantine period in their approach to the disease than older patients. Conclusion: Although quarantine was a stressful psychological condition, our results showed that most children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes developed high levels of resilience and excellent coping skills by using technology in a proper way.

Background. The year 2020 will be remembered as the “year of the COVID-19 pandemic”. The world population had to familiarize themselves with words as swabs, personal protective equipment, pandemic. To curb the wave of the pandemic, almost all the countries imposed self-isolation and social distancing. We conducted a web-based survey to investigate the behavioural responses during the quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods. Participants were 1860 youth aged 12-18 years attending lower secondary schools and upper secondary schools. Data were collected on demographic characteristics, lifestyle changes during the quarantine period, and the psychological impact of the lock-down on adolescents’ life.Results. Most adolescents experienced feelings of fear, discouragement, and anxiety which strongly affected the approach to their daily lifestyles. Most of the surveyed subjects reported having used this period to acquire new skills and to practice physical activities at home. The use of technology was predominant both for recreational activities and educational purposes.Conclusions. Despite the strong psychological impact of the quarantine, adolescents showed good levels of resilience. Technology played a crucial role during the quarantine for young subjects who have increased the daily use of technological devices to stay connected with the rest of the world.

La comunicación en Italia en las últimas elecciones europeas marca la victoria del algoritmo sobre valores y contenidos y reafirma el peso muy fuerte dado por las fake news en todo el proceso de conocimiento sobre programas y candidatos. Una comunicación más inclinada al retorno de una propaganda entre populismo y soberanismo. La encuesta sobre la comunicación de los partidos políticos en Italia atestigua este cambio de tendencia y destaca las derivas que refuerzan en la red el malismo, el individualismo y el conocimiento limitado por las distorsiones generadas por las cascadas informativas.

The aims of this article is to analyze in the post-pandemic era of technological wars how platformisation and the opacity that characterizes it can generate manipulative effects on the dynamics of consensus building. We are now in the era of the self-informative program; the hierarchical dimension of sources has vanished in parallel to the collapse of the authority, credibility, and trustworthiness of classical sources. Now, the user creates his own informative program, which gives rise to a new relationship between digital individuals. With this framework in mind, I intend to analyze the narrative of this post-pandemic phase proposed by mainstream media, using the tool of the fake news hexagon, to verify the impact and spread of fake news through social networks where emotionalism, hate speech, and polarization are accentuated. In fact, the definition of the fake news hexagon was the starting point to study through a predefined method the dynamics of proliferation of fake news to activate correct identification and blocking tools, in line with what is defined in the Digital Transformation Institute's manifesto.1 Platforms drive the process of identity construction within containers that adapt to the demands of individuals, leading toward a flattening out of results from web searches as these follow the principle of confirmation bias. We assist to an increasing lack of recognition of the other, the individual moves away from commitment, sacrifice, and achieving a higher collective good. It becomes quite evident how, in the face of the collapse of authority, as this new dimension takes hold, the understanding of reality and the construction of public identity can no longer be the result of the ability to decipher messages alone. Media and social multidimensionality necessitate developing new interpretive processes.

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