Changes in Internet Use When Coping With Stress: Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: To explore older people’s use of the Internet for coping with stress posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: An online survey with a random sample of 407 Internet users aged 60 years and over (Mean = 69.14).
Results: Participants reported a significant increase in 7 of 12 Internet-based functions following the pandemic onset. Stress levels were moderate-to-high and participants appeared more worried about others than about themselves. Significant positive associations were found between stress and increase in Internet use for interpersonal communication and online errands. Linear regression analysis revealed a significant negative association between stress and subjective wellbeing, but it was only increased Internet use for leisure that associated significantly with enhanced wellbeing.
Conclusion: The changes in Internet use clearly reflected coping efforts that were apparently ineffective in enhancing wellbeing. Paradoxically, the only online functions that could improve wellbeing, Internet use for leisure, are precisely those whose use hardly increased.