Exploring the Impact of Covid-19 on Students' Use of Smartphones for Leisure Coping

Abstract

Leisure coping among post-secondary students is important for maintaining good mental health, and smartphones have been found to play a role in coping. Little is known about the use of smartphones for leisure coping or the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student mental health, coping, leisure, and smartphone use. Through a mixed-methods design, this study aimed to explore Nova Scotia post-secondary students’ use and relationships with smartphones, the role smartphones play in leisure coping, and how this may have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Results found that students’ relationships with their smartphones are based on their use and considered some uses to be positive or negative. Results also showed that students not only use their smartphones for leisure coping but also consider them to be effective coping. Finally, students report short-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their smartphone use, smartphone relationships, and use for leisure coping.