Changes in Internet use during the COVID-19 confinement in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Argentina

Abstract

The CoVid-19 pandemic drastically changed different aspects of the daily lives of millions of people, generating an increase in the use of the internet for maintaining social contact, teleworking or online studies. This study explores the extent to which the internet connection pattern changed during the CoVid-19 confinement in a sample of adults from four latin american countries, considering gender and age. a descriptive study was carried out, including a non-probabilistic convenience sample design. the final sample was comprised of 1488 participants. This analysis shows that internet habits changed in terms of frequency, duration, and time of use. We observe differences when it comes to gender and age. in women, the increases in use are greater for the different variables analyzed, especially for the frequency of connection at night. in terms of age, the younger the age, the greater the increase in internet connection time throughout the day and connection time at night.