Dark Clouds with Silver Linings: Use of Mobile Technology during COVID-19 among University Students

Abstract

This study aims to explore the academic and leisure use of mobile technologies among students during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also identified the challenges they faced while using mobile technologies. It was a quantitative study based on a questionnaire survey. An online questionnaire was used to collect the data from university students to understand their mobile technologies' use during COVID-19 epidemic. The data depicted that university students used mobile technologies both for leisure and academic purposes to get their everyday information. They used it to share their academic documents, to keep in touch with teachers and fellows, and to save documents. It was noted that they use mobile technologies to engage in academic activities as well as to keep in touch with their loved ones during the period of confinement. The majority of them were users of smartphones. However, they were facing challenges while using mobile technologies such as the high cost of the devices, limited storage facilities, compatibility issues, data insecurity, and low battery life of the devices. The study would help understand the use of mobile technologies in relieving students from stress through their use for leisure purposes. Most importantly, it would articulate the effectiveness of online learning in comparison to traditional learning specifically in the time of confinement.