The Mitigating Role of Digital Communication Technologies on Negative Affect During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy (2020)

Data refer to a study concerning the rule and the impact of digital communication technologies during the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic of COVID-19 has forced governments to impose restrictions (lockdown), and many people have suddenly found themselves having to reduce their social relations drastically and, therefore, to  increase the use of digital communication technology. The study investigates how the increasing use of this technology for virtual meetings (i.e., voice and video calls, online board games and multiplayer video games, or watching movies in party mode) during the lockdown promoted the perception of social support, which in itself mitigated the psychological effects of the lockdown in Italy. Data were collected through a web survey during the lockdown imposed to reduce the COVID-19 spread. By adopting a snowball sampling technique, the participants were recruited through social media and instant messaging systems, by sending them a link to the web survey, and by asking them to forward the link to their contacts. The questionnaire included questions about the amount of the use of technology during and before the lockdown, asking the participants to report how many times a week they had used different tools to stay connected for leisure or work/school activities. The emotional state of the participants during the lockdown was assessed through the use of measures of loneliness, boredom, anxiety, anger, irritability and belongingness.