How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Impacted Daily Life? Assessing the Use of Web Resources for Recreational Activities in the Italian Adult Population

Abstract

Restriction measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in people’s lives and behaviors. The aim of this paper is to assess the changes occurred in physical activity (PA), sleep, social and cultural activities and personal relationships of Italian adults during the pandemic and to evaluate the use of web-based resources to continue these activities. To this purpose, a cross-sectional study using a web-based questionnaire was carried out and both descriptive and regression analysis was performed. On a total of 1831 participants (61% females, age 18–93 years), the majority reported a decrease in PA, sleep, social and cultural activities and personal relationships, since the beginning of the pandemic. Sleep was notably affected by the use of new technologies. The regression analysis demonstrated that the use of web-based media for doing exercise was associated with being younger than 50 years and female; having a chronic condition was inversely related with the use of web resources for social and cultural activities and to maintain relationships; being employed was negatively related with the use of web media for continuing personal relationships and cultural activities; and being vaccinated against COVID-19 was positively associated with the use of the web for personal relationships. These findings confirm that the COVID-19 pandemic notably affected the daily life of Italian adults. Our results suggest that the use of technology to deal with these changes seems to be related with certain sociodemographic and health-related characteristics. These findings can be useful to identify those characteristics that can help people in copying with daily life modifications due to restriction measures.

Introducing Telemedicine in Italy: Citizens’ Awareness of a New Healthcare Resource

“…Furthermore, among those who did not use the available services, the majority preferred traditional visits to televisits or declared their lack of need for electronic health data records. This appears to be in line with previous evidence from the same population, showing that Italian people preferred in-person relationships and sociocultural activities, even during the pandemic [20].…”

“…Many other barriers to technology use for older people include lower levels of digital literacy, lack of perceived usefulness, lack of access to and experience and skills with digital tools, and physical (especially visual impairments) and cognitive deficits that may hinder the use of these tools. This confirms previous findings regarding the use of digital resources to exercise during the pandemic in the Italian population [20].…”

“…Interestingly, in line with the previous literature [11], having a chronic condition, which may require periodical medical consultations and can benefit from telemedicine services, was not found to be related with the willingness to use them. Our previous study showed that having a chronic condition was inversely related with the use of web resources, as well as social and cultural activities and maintaining relationships [20], which may lead to social isolation in an emergency situation. At the same time, social isolation is associated with having more chronic diseases, generating a vicious circle [26].…”

The Effects of the COVID-19-induced Lockdown on the Social Capital and Cultural Capital in Italy

“…Even if face-to-face social contacts were challenged by social distancing and travel restrictions, social media played a crucial role in allowing people to maintain social relationships (Samutachak et al, 2023 ). In contrast, other studies showed different trajectories of change in Social Capital (Gallè et al, 2022 ; Luo et al, 2022 ).…”

“…All commercial activities and services considered non-essential remained closed, including places for cultural production and consumption, and all citizens were forced to stay indoors. The lockdown inevitably led to changes in people’s living habits, and caused unemployment, loneliness, and inadequate access to essential goods (Gallè et al, 2022 ). Presumably, these changes impacted people’s resources, including Cultural Capital and Social Capital.…”