THE PROBLEM OF INTERNET ADDICTION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The sudden appearance of COVID-19 has changed the lives of many people. Suddenly appearing in China, it quickly spread throughout the world. Due to the period of isolation that has been introduced in many countries, many workers as well as students have been forced to go into telecommuting mode. It also led to the fact that many people lost live communication and began to spend more time on the Internet. Because of this, Internet addiction began to rise. The purpose of this article is to summarize the available research on Internet addiction during a pandemic. To study the problem of Internet addiction among the population of different countries, a systematic review of studies from the Scopus database was carried out. A total of 200 articles were reviewed, 30 of which were included in the review. The survey data cover 17 countries and 119,197 people of various ages. Thematic analysis of the studies led to the identification of the following problems: Internet addiction or problematic use of the Internet, addiction to Internet games, as well as addiction to smartphones, which is also associated with Internet addiction. Many studies have linked the problems of anxiety, depression, stress and insomnia with the problem of Internet addiction. All selected articles indicate that during the period of the pandemic, the number of people faced with the problem of Internet addiction has increased. The results of this review can be used by the professionals dealing with the problem.