Determinants of Internet Usage During COVID-19 on the Young People in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic is spreading and becoming more contagious, people tend to stay home and face mental health challenges such as anxiety, fear, nervousness, and loneliness. In this time, students are using the internet heavily for their study purpose, and jobholders are for their official works. At the same time, the use of the internet might be a relief from those mental challenges. This manuscript assesses a correlation between daily internet usage before and during COVID-19 and found to be nearly strong positive (r=0.66). Then we determine the potential factors affecting daily internet usage during COVID-19 among Bangladeshi students and jobholders who are currently living in Dhaka city by the ordinary least square (OLS) regression method. Our results underpin that the type of internet, regular internet usage before COVID-19, and the effect of internet usage on the study are significantly affecting current internet usage.