Personal well-being in quarantine. Cell phone use in Venezuela during the pandemic

Abstract

This paper presents partial results of the research Personal well-being in quarantine, developed by a research group with representatives from Spain, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The objectives of the research are: 1. To understand the repercussions of the current coronavirus situation on people's personal well-being and digital consumption. 2. To make a comparison between Spanish-speaking countries to find out the international effect that isolation may have on people. 3. To establish a common theoretical framework to design interventions aimed at alleviating the negative effects that are found. The data were obtained through a survey that was applied in the 10 countries. In Venezuela, it was administered between April and June 2020. A total of 605 responses were obtained from people between 18 and over 60 years of age, 68% of whom were women and 64% of whom had higher education. This paper presents the results obtained in Venezuela on mobile device use during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, specifically the quantity (time, problematic use and subjective perception of control) and quality of use (motivations and context). Among the most relevant findings are that 70% say that they use their mobile phone more than 8 hours a day. Forty-one percent of respondents perceive a loss of control over the device, and 42% show symptoms of problematic mobile phone use.