**1. Introduction**

In early January of 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that an outbreak of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan, China, had been determined to be caused by a novel coronavirus. With evidence of human-to-human transmission, the virus started to spread and many nations across the globe started to report their own cases. On January 30th the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and on February 3rd, the United States (U.S.) declared a Public Health Emergency due to the outbreak. The disease caused by the novel coronavirus was officially named COVID-19 on February 11th. On March 11th WHO declared COVID-19 a Pandemic [1], and two days later the U.S. declared COVID-19 a National Emergency. As a way to slow the spread of transmission, most countries around the world implemented social distancing, quarantine, and lockdown guidelines. Due to these health and safety measures, global citizens faced unprecedented changes to their daily routines, including stay-at-home orders, travel bans, and closures of educational institutions and entertainment-related locales.

One change affecting many people was in their use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). ICTs are broadly defined as products that can digitally store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit, or receive information, such as personal computers, televisions, telephones, email systems, robotic and smart devices, and other internet-enabled

**Citation:** Lee, Y.-C.; Malcein, L.A.; Kim, S.C. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Usage during COVID-19: Motivating Factors and Implications. *Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health* **2021**, *18*, 3571. https://doi.org/10.3390/ ijerph18073571

Academic Editors: Paolo Roma, Merylin Monaro and Cristina Mazza

Received: 1 February 2021 Accepted: 25 March 2021 Published: 30 March 2021

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**Copyright:** © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

systems, including traditional media and social media [2–4]. For example, with regard to television use, during the week of March 16th of 2020, viewership of the four largest broadcasts networks in the U.S. increased nearly 19% compared to the same week during 2019. In terms of news consumption during the week of March 16th, viewership of cable news networks increased 73% from 2019 to 2020 and increased 40% compared to the week of February 17th of 2020. During the week of March 16th, number of digital visits to news websites in the U.S. increased by 68% and the number of digital visits to government sources (e.g., WHO) increased by 299% compared to the week of February 17th [5]. In regard to cell phone usage, data collected in May 2020 from the U.S. suggested that people have become more dependent on their phone service: 37% increase in texting, 36% increase in social media, 23% increase in the use of shopping apps, and 32% increase in video calling [6]. Similarly, Zoom, Google Classroom, and Microsoft Teams have documented increased use of video calling during the first half of March [7]. Mobile, contactless payments and online food ordering have also seen increased use in tandem with social distancing measures [8,9].

Empirical studies have also reported an increasing trend of ICT use and higher risk of excessive internet use during COVID-19 quarantine or lockdown [10]. The increased use of ICT can ultimately be associated with various physical, psychosocial, and mental health outcomes [11,12]. This increased use may be driven by disrupted daily routine, need for telework and online schooling, anxiety due to uncertainty about the future, and need for entertainment, news, and social connectedness. Individual differences such as personality traits may also affect feelings about and responses to COVID-19 safety measures and social connectedness. This paper aimed to investigate the relationships among ICT use, social connectedness, and feelings about the pandemic. Relevant literature related to the connection between ICT use and COVID-19 as well as the associated feelings about social connectedness and the future will be reviewed in the next section.
