Mental health and uses of technology in the university context. A review of the literature

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the different ways in which digital technologies affect the health of young people. To this end, a literature review was carried out in two stages. Sixty-five (65) scientific publications were studied and processed in two successive stages. In the first stage, 30 studies exclusively available in the ScienceDirect Database were processed, revealing a conceptual relationship in the field of mental health and the use of digital technologies. In the second stage, only sources including the subject of COVID-19 and its relationships with mental health and the use of digital technologies were included, in a context of differentiated contributions in the university sphere. The thematic content of the literature was analysed and the results summarized as follows: 1) the use of digital technologies has both positive and negative effects on young people, but there are significant differences in the number of publications and the effects described; 2) during the Pandemic, mental health problems have worsened in young people who use technologies due to causes associated with confinement, learning environments and those related to the fear of contagion.