On the Association between the Use of Digital Devices and Well-Being during the COVID-19 Lockdown

To limit the spread of COVID-19, lockdown measures have been adopted and digital devices (DDs) have become crucial to interpersonal interaction. This work aimed to investigate whether the lockdown condition interacted with the use of DDs in predicting psychosocial well-being. A two-group cross-sectional design was employed: One sample was recruited before the emergency (n = 108), the other during the lockdown (n = 261). Hierarchical regression analyses were used to investigate the moderating role of the lockdown condition on the association between the use of DDs and well-being, while controlling for off-line behaviors. The association between the number of social network sites (SNSs) used and depression was nonsignificant before the emergency, whereas a significant positive association was observed during the lockdown. The association between the number of SNSs used and satisfaction with social relationships was nonsignificant during the lockdown, although a significant positive association had been observed before the pandemic. The results indicate that the association of SNS use with depression and satisfaction with social relationships differed in the pre-pandemic and lockdown phases.