Abstract:

The situation of COVID-19 from the first months of 2020 triggered intensive transformation processes in all spheres of social life, related to the increased use of modern information and communication technologies in education, medicine, public administration, trade and others, as an opportunity to work, study and communicate in a global crisis. However, social isolation and technology-mediated communication lead to the risk of excessive use of smart devices and Internet addiction in the atypical circumstances, imposed by COVID-19. The aim of the present study is to outline the personal characteristics of students prone to addictions to cyberspace. The choice of the target group of the research is not accidental, because the students are among the young generations, forced to use intensively electronic platforms for learning in extreme circumstances. In the period March – May 2020, an empirical study was conducted through an online questionnaire, created with Google Forms. It is filled in by 850 students from the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies – ULSIT, Sofia, Bulgaria aged 18-49 (M=24.05, SD=7.28) from various professional fields in bachelor’s and master’s programs.

The questionnaire includes methods such as the frequency and use of the Internet, the type of Internet services, the Big 5 personality questionnaire (Goldberg, 2001), a list of life goals, a demographic module, etc. The data from the study were processed with the specialized software SPSS 21. The results of the applied correlation and regression analysis show that emotionally unstable individuals and those with goal-setting difficulties are more likely to demonstrate problematic behavior on the Net compared to individuals with opposite personality profiles. On the other hand, however, the Internet contributes to the development of intellect/imagination (openness to experience, analytical thinking and creative imagination), and its moderate use guides young people in the pursuit of life goals. The results show that virtual reality is permanently present in the lives of young people with unlimited opportunities for learning, entertainment, communication, information retrieval, creativity, etc., but at the same time it is a risk factor for their physical and mental health when associated with long surfing and uncontrolled use.

Keywords:

Internet addiction, personality traits, life goals, students, COVID-19.