The Impact of Technology on Italian Students During the COVID-19

Pandemic: Learning, Emotions, Behaviour and Support

Maria Claudia Buzzi

1,* a

, Marina Buzzi

, Barbara Leporini

2,3 c

, Luca Bastiani

Francesca Denoth

, Michela Franchini

, Stefania Pieroni

and Sabrina Molinaro

IIT, National Research Council, via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, PI, Italy

Department of Computer Science, University of Pisa, PI, Italy

ISTI, National Research Council, via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, PI, Italy

IFC, National Research Council, via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, PI, Italy

Keywords: Educational Technology, COVID-19, School Education, Distance Learning, Human-Computer Interaction.

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected our lives in almost every area, including school. Students

have experienced a transformation in their learning environments with the widespread shift, almost always

from face-to-face to online lessons, that has impacted their academic performance and feelings of isolation.

This paper examines the impact of technology on the learning, social, and human aspects of Italian students

during the COVID-19 pandemic, which accelerated their immersion in the digital world. To this aim, the

paper analyses the positive and negative aspects of technology usage during the pandemic on students' lives,

specifically on academic performance, emotional well-being, behaviours, and the support they received

during this period. Data from 152 Italian students aged 18 and above were collected to understand how

technology helped them cope with school activities, isolation, and psychological well-being. Students

appreciated the convenience and accessibility of digital lessons and materials, but they also faced challenges

such as concentration difficulties, reduced social contact, and accessibility issues. The results confirm but also

expand previous research findings. Statistical analysis highlights that higher levels of support are associated

with better academic performance, and better Internet connectivity is linked to higher students' autonomy.

1 INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant

impact on school life worldwide, with 90% of

students affected by its restrictions (Gore et al., 2021).

Schools were suddenly closed and replaced by

distance learning, revealing both benefits and

limitations (Nguyen et al., 2020). This shift from

face-to-face to online lessons significantly impacted

student academic performance, affecting enrolment,

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7818-0601

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1725-9433

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2469-9648

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3467-7362

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7825-1753

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5272-341X

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8130-4967

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7221-0873

* Corresponding author: mariaclaudia.buzzi@cnr.it

withdrawal, and failure rates (Dekhane et al. 2024).

Students appreciated the possibility of not traveling to

school and being able to access educational content

anywhere and anytime. However, discomfort,

accessibility problems, difficulty concentrating, and

other issues also emerged (Pfefferbaum & North,

2020; Sitarz et al., 2021). This study investigates the

role of technology in supporting Italian students aged

18 and above during the COVID-19 pandemic, with

special attention to scholastic performance, emotions,

Buzzi, M. C., Buzzi, M., Leporini, B., Bastiani, L., Denoth, F., Franchini, M., Pieroni, S. and Molinaro, S.

The Impact of Technology on Italian Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Learning, Emotions, Behaviour and Support.

DOI: 10.5220/0013778900003985

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies (WEBIST 2025), pages 557-564

ISBN: 978-989-758-772-6; ISSN: 2184-3252

557

behaviour, and support received. Data from 152

students in Italy were collected via an online survey.

The paper is organized into six sections: Introduction

(Section 1), Related Work (Section 2), Study

Description (Section 3), Results (Section 4), Main

Findings (Section 5), and Conclusions (Section 6).

2 RELATED WORK

Since the rapid spread of COVID-19 in 2020,

governments worldwide have adopted restrictive

measures to stop virus transmission. Educational

institutions were suddenly closed, with nearly all

activities shifted online. In recent years, many studies

have investigated the impact of COVID-19 isolation

on students, highlighting negative effects on both

physical and mental health (Dragun et al., 2021; Forte

et al., 2021; Takács et al., 2023).

Several works have also reported findings about

the use of technology during the COVID-19

pandemic. A 2024 study from South Korea

investigated student learning preferences and

satisfaction. Responses from 302 Korean students

suggest that students who took offline classes had

significantly higher learning satisfaction than those

who took online classes (Han et al., 2024). A

qualitative study in Vietnam analysed students’

perceptions towards hybrid learning implementation

during the pandemic on a sample of 250 students.

Results revealed that students were well-prepared

with technology, and their perceived benefits

included flexibility, effectiveness, student

engagement, convenience, and personalization, while

negative aspects were technical issues and distant

interaction (Thi et al., 2023). A study in the United

Arab Emirates to identify the most significant

pedagogical, psychological, and technological factors

that impacted on students’ online learning experience

amid COVID-19, concluded that there is a positive

relationship between the instructors’ teaching style

and use of technology, and the students’ perception of

successful online delivery (Ahmed et al., 2023).

Beyond positive aspects, there are also concerns

about the use of technology during the pandemic.

Donnelly & Winkelmann (2024) affirmed that the

sudden transition to remote learning during the

COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a significant

increase in reliance on instructional technology.

Neethipudi & Fann (2024) confirmed that distancing

due to the COVID-19 pandemic has caused

adolescents to increase their dependency on

technology. Findings from a study on Dutch students’

satisfaction with online classes during the COVID-19

pandemic suggested that students who perceive

themselves as having higher technological skills are

more likely to reject online education, as they see

significant shortcomings in how classes are

administered compared to the potential for real

innovation (Matczak et al., 2023). Moreover, the shift

to a highly interactive digital environment may have

contributed to social isolation, digital educational

inequality, and tensions around the

commercialization of higher education (Zhen, 2025).

Digital educational inequality has also impacted

students with disabilities. A recent study analysed the

difficulties of using information and communication

technology (ICT) for 122 students with disabilities

and 314 students without disabilities. Results showed

that students with disabilities were more positive

about using ICT and showed significantly higher

levels of resistance. However, a comparison of the

amount of change in perceptions before and after the

course revealed that students with disabilities showed

significantly more improvement in negative items

before the course (Kishira & Sasaki, 2024).

Our study aimed to analyse how technology

impacted and supported students during the lockdown

in Italy, focusing on Distance Learning and

Scholastic Performance, Emotions, Behaviour, and

Support Received. Focusing on the technology

impact allowed us to widen previous studies with a

perspective not already addressed. Moreover, our

study includes many high school students (over 50%

of the sample), while most studies focus on children

or college students.

3 THE STUDY

We have performed an exploratory study through an

online web survey, created with LimeSurvey,

completely anonymous and composed of five

sections: General Data, Technology and Distance

Learning, Emotions, Behaviour, and Support

Received.

The questionnaire content and the study were

authorized by the Research Ethics and Integrity

Committee of CNR, the largest public Italian research

organization (authorization n. 23078/2022). Data

processing complies with current regulations, such as

the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). No

personal data of participants has been collected, and

they explicitly provided consent to participate. The

questionnaire usability and content were validated by

piloting them with some teachers not involved in its

design process, and then with two students, one male

and one female (aged 18 and 20, respectively). The

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questionnaire was distributed over two months,

utilizing social media and school mailing lists. The

time for its completion is around 10-15 minutes.

3.1 The Sample

A total of 152 participants completed the online

questionnaire. The sample was balanced with 79

females (52%), 71 males (46.7%), and 2 students who

preferred not to specify their gender (1.3%).

Participants' ages are shown in Tab. 1. The majority

of participants in the sample were high school

students (85 users, 55.92%), followed by university

(or higher education) students (63 users, 41.45%) and

4 Professional training course students (2.63%).

Table 1: Sample ages.

Sample # %

18 56 36.8

19 32 21.1

20 25 16.4

21 13 8.6

22 15 9.9

23 4 2.6

24 1 0.7

>= 25 years 6 3.9

Total 152 100

A last question investigates the degree of autonomy

when performing different activities: School and

study, Sport activities, Recreational activities/free

time, and Commuting (school-home, home-gym,

etc.). Most participants (> 86% for all areas) affirmed

they are autonomous. It therefore seems that the

sample does not include (or in a minimal percentage)

students with autonomy problems.

3.2 Statistical Analysis

A descriptive analysis was conducted to evaluate the

answers provided to each questionnaire dimension.

Furthermore, a structural equation model (SEM) was

generated to explore the interrelationships among key

variables assessed through the questionnaire.

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test

an overall measurement model that included

correlated latent variables. The CFA process

determines whether the hypothesized structure

provides a good fit to the data or whether a

relationship between the observed variables and their

underlying latent, or unobserved, constructs exists.

High coefficient values mean that the observed

variable contributes or weighs a lot in the

construction of the latent variable. Overall model fit

was assessed using different statistics. First, aχ2

analysis was used. Other indices were the root mean

square error of approximation (RMSEA: values

between 0.05 and 0.10 indicate an acceptable fit, and

values < 0.05 indicate a good fit) and standardized

root mean square residual (SRMR: values < 0.10

indicate a good fit). Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and

Tucker ‐ Lewis Index (TLI) were also calculated

(values > 0.90 indicate a good fit). The level of

significance was set at P < .05. All statistical analyses

were performed using Stata/SE 13.1 and SPSS

Version 24. Categorical variables are expressed as

percentages, while continuous variables are

expressed as the means and standard deviations

(SDs).

4 RESULTS

4.1 Descriptive Analysis

This section presents a summary of the answers

provided to each questionnaire dimension.

Distance Learning and Scholastic Performance.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, almost all students

had at least one device for distance learning (DL):

only 1 student (0.7%) did not have any device. Mostly

used devices were computers (95.4%) and mobile

phones (93.4%), followed by tablets (37.5%).

Technological devices were used for studying (75%),

Socialization (67.1%), and Physical activity (32.9%).

The Internet connection used for DL allows the

students to follow the lessons well in most cases

(92.7%). Most participants confirmed they had a quiet

place to take DL classes (81.6%). Video conferencing

tools were considered adequate by most students

(60%), but more than 10% of participants found them

poor. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most

participants had sufficient academic results (98%).

The pandemic had a balanced effect on academic

performance that remained on average unchanged:

41.45% of students maintained their academic

performance during DL, 28.95% adapted well and

even improved, while 29.6% have worsened their

performance.

The preference between in-person lessons and DL

was slightly in favour of in-person lessons. Most

penalized lessons by DL were Physical Education

(80.3%), Science/Chemistry/Physics Laboratories

(52%), and Technical-Scientific subjects (40.8%).

Preferences regarding DL (multiple answers were

allowed) reported that most students would like to

have the lessons recorded so they can then review the

material (81.6%) and to have both remote and in-

The Impact of Technology on Italian Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Learning, Emotions, Behaviour and Support

559

person learning (80.3%). Few participants (3.3%)

prefer to only use distance learning.

Emotions

Most participants confirmed some changes (>90%) in

their lives as a result of the pandemic. Family

relationships at home during the COVID-19

lockdowns were better for 31.6%, and worse for

23.7% participants. A set of questions was aimed at

understanding whether the students had experienced

emotional changes during the lockdown periods.

Results indicated that the pandemic had a significant

negative impact, with increases in: feeling of safety

(67.8%), quantity of fears (73.7%), tiredness and

listlessness (66.4%), nervousness (54.6%), and

loneliness (68.4%).

Behaviour

The pandemic had a balanced impact on participants'

physical activity levels that remained, on average,

unchanged. Conversely, it had a stronger effect on

average hours spent in front of a screen for leisure

activities, which increased for more than 85% of

participants. Almost all participants engaged in time

outside (98%) in their free time before the pandemic,

especially for sport, practiced by 63.2% of students,

but during the pandemic, many participants were

unable to find a way to continue their previous

outdoor activities (40.8%). The remaining ones found

a way, possibly by shifting to online mode, to practice

the activities totally (13.8%), partially (19.1%), or

only for some of them (26.3%). Further questions

investigated whether the students had experienced

changes in some behaviours during the lockdown

periods. Results indicated that the pandemic had a

significant impact on:

• Going out decreased for 77.6% users

• Desire to socialize decreased for 40.8% users

• Relationships decreased for 40.8% users

• Eating increased for 30.3% participants

• Crying increased for 48.7% participants.

Support Received

The first question was on who provided support

(multiple answers were allowed). As expected, family

(67.1%) and friends (65.8%) were the most frequently

chosen options. Interestingly, about a third of the

sample (34.9%) reported that they kept themselves

active with sports and other recreational activities to

receive support. The last question asked whether

students had started during the lockdown new

recreational activities that they had not done before.

Most users (94.6%) did not start any.

4.2 Model-Driven Analysis

Model-driven analysis aims at investigating whether

the support received during COVID-19 and personal

autonomy were related to other aspects, such as

Internet connection and academic performance. The

standardized paths of two latent variables and their

respective observed variables are specified in Figure

1. Rectangles represent observed variables while

ellipses represent latent variables. The structural

model fit indices indicated that the proposed model fit

the data (RMSEA = 0.079; SRMR = 0.089; CFI =

0.903; TLI = 0.912). The significant and positively

related standardized paths (P < .05) were between the

“Support received” latent variables and “Academic

performance” observed variables (β = 0.271, P <

0.001). The use of Tablet (β = 0.693) and Smartphone

(β = 0.690) represents the most important observed

variables related to the “Support received” latent

variable. A negative relationship was observed

between the “Autonomy” latent variables and

“Academic performance” observed variables (β = -

0.176, P < 0.047). Autonomy, on the other hand, was

positively correlated with Internet connection (β =

0.189, P < 0.031). Regarding the “Autonomy” latent

variable, the most important observed variables were

Sport activities (β = 0.817) and Recreational activities

(β = 0.768). However, no significant relationships

were found between “Autonomy” and “Support

received” (β = -0.067, P <0.501), or between “Internet

connection” and “Academic performance”(β = -

0.024, P < 0.760). Key Relationships indicate: a) a

positive relationship between "Support received" and

"Academic performance" (β = 0.271, P <0.001), thus

higher levels of support are associated with better

academic performance. Tablets (β = 0.693) and

smartphones (β = 0.690) are the most influential

observed variables within the "Support received"

latent variable; b) a negative relationship between

"Autonomy" and "Academic performance" (β = -

0.176, P <0.047). This indicates that higher autonomy

might be associated with lower academic

performance; c) “Autonomy" is positively correlated

with "Internet connection" (β = 0.189, P <0.031),

suggesting that better Internet connectivity is linked

to higher autonomy. Sport activities (β = 0.817) and

recreational activities (β = 0.768) are the most

important observed variables within the "Autonomy"

latent variable; d) no significant relationship was

found between "Autonomy" and "Support received"

(β = -0.067, P <0.501). Similarly, no significant

relationship was observed between "Internet

connection" and "Academic performance" (β = -

0.024, P < 0.760).

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5 DISCUSSION

Our study aimed to analyse how technology impacted

and supported students during the lockdown in Italy,

focusing on Distance Learning, Scholastic

Performance, Emotions, Behaviour, and Support

Received. Including technology features allowed us

to take a perspective that previous studies had not

addressed. Moreover, our study includes many high

school students (over 50% of the sample), while most

studies focus on children or college students. The

literature acknowledges that COVID-19 restrictions

negatively impacted students' mental health and

fostered unhealthy management of individual time

and space (Millán-Jiménez et al., 2021; Morganti et

al., 2022; Riboldi et al., 2023). Results from our study

confirm previous findings on significant

consequences of lockdown on students' mental and

physical health, but also add some insights. More

details regarding the four topics investigated are

presented in the following sections.

5.1 Distance Learning and Scholastic

Performance

Literature confirmed several issues due to pandemic

restrictions on students’ academic performance: lack

of a quiet place to study, distractions, inadequate

access to course materials, insufficient digital skills,

and poor network bandwidth with unstable Internet

connections (Carlana et al., 2023; Contini et al., 2025;

Dekhane et al., 2024; Moulin & Soncin, 2025).

Considering the average, our sample reported

balanced changes in scholastic performance both

positively and negatively, with 28.9% users who

performed better and 29.6% who performed worse.

However, the sample academic performances were

quite good before the COVID-19 pandemic (76.3%

users with excellent or good performance levels), and

this could have affected the results. Although most

participants evaluated positively the use of distance

learning (as in previous studies: Ahmed et al., 2023;

Thi et al., 2023), they slightly prefer in-person lessons

over DL, as confirmed by the literature (Csorba &

Dabija, 2024; Pfefferbaum & North, 2020; Sitarz et

al., 2021). These results reflect the diversity of user

needs: some students are more comfortable with

video conferences (e.g., emotive people, people with

difficulties in social skills, or who do not suffer from

isolation), while others are not (e.g., people with

attention deficits, people missing contact with peers).

Literature indeed confirms that students with special

needs often struggle to interact adequately when

using distance learning (Zhen, 2025) and video

conference tools (Kishira & Sasaki, 2024; Leporini et

al., 2023; Matczak et al., 2023).

In this context (Distance learning), the use of

technology has been fundamental to allow students to

continue their school career as well as interact with

teachers and classmates.

5.2 Emotions

Most participants (90.8%) declared their lives had

changed due to the pandemic, and more than two-

thirds reported feeling less safe. In addition, during

lockdowns, fear (73.7%), feelings of tiredness and

listlessness (66.4%), nervousness (54.6%), and

loneliness (68.4%) affected most participants. These

findings align with literature (de Figueiredo et al.,

2021; Millán-Jiménez et al., 2021; Morganti et al.,

2022). Students experienced both positive and

negative emotions during COVID-19, with negative

emotions being significantly related to internalizing

problems (Sun & Fredrick, 2024).

In this context (Emotions), the use of technology

supported the maintenance of social contacts and any

requests for emotional support.

5.3 Behaviours

According to literature (Magklara & Kyriakopoulos,

2023; Okuyama et al., 2021), data on physical activity

revealed changes: 34.8% of the sample increased

their level of physical activity, and 40.2% became

less active. Similarly, time spent in front of a screen

for leisure activities increased for most users (>85%).

Previous findings confirmed that time spent using

electronic devices had the highest increase (Gallè et

al., 2020) and increased adolescents' dependency on

technology (Neethipudi & Fann, 2024). Before

COVID-19, very few participants (2%) did not spend

time outdoors during their free time. Collected data

indicates that the pandemic significantly impacted

users' recreational activities, with many students

(40.8%) unable to practice their activities at all. Data

also highlights an impact on participants' desire to go

out (77.6% less than before), to socialize (decreased

for almost 41% of the sample), and to cry (increased

for 48.78% of students). These results are in line with

previous studies (Forte et al., 2021; Magson et al.,

2020; Takács et al., 2023). For most participants

(62.5%), eating habits remained unchanged during

the pandemic. However, among those who

experienced changes, an increase in food

consumption was more common (34.3%). These

results are consistent with previous findings (de

Figueiredo et al., 2021; Parker et al., 2023).

The Impact of Technology on Italian Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Learning, Emotions, Behaviour and Support

561

Figure 1: The structural equation (SEM), comparative fit index; root mean square error of approximation; SRMAR,

standardized root mean square residual; TLI, Tucker-Lewis Index. *P<.05: significant correlation between variables.

In the Behaviours context, the use of technology

has been important to allow people to continue some

type of physical activity even while staying at home,

for entertainment and leisure activities, as well as to

satisfy the desire to socialize.

5.4 Support Received

Support was mainly provided by family, friends, and

romantic partners. A third of the sample (33.6%)

empowered themselves with sports or recreational

activities. Teachers supported 20.4% of participants:

considering school as the main institution for

students, this agrees with Davoody et al. (2025), for

whom institutions have a crucial role to assist

students in overcoming challenges. Psychotherapists

provided support to a few students (3.3%), while

14.5% participants did not receive any support at all.

In this context, intuitively, the use of technology

played a key role during the pandemic, allowing

students to maintain (or establish new) social

relationships, to continue their activities, and to

receive emotional and psychological support.

However, in order to understand if technology has

had a specific impact on participants, we have further

analysed correlation data. The statistical analysis

revealed significantly positively related standardized

paths (P < .05) between the “Support received” latent

variables and “Academic performance” observed

variables (β = 0.271, P < 0.001). The use of Tablet (β

= 0.693) and Smartphone (β = 0.690) represents the

most important observed variables related to the

“Support received” latent variable. The positive

impact of support on academic performance

underscores the importance of providing adequate

resources and assistance. On the other hand, the

negative relationship between autonomy and

academic performance might suggest that while

independence is valuable, it needs to be balanced with

guidance and support for optimizing academic

outcomes. This could also be a reason for the negative

relationship between "Autonomy" and "Academic

performance," indicating that higher autonomy might

be associated with lower academic performance:

students with higher values of autonomy and less

supervision may have been overwhelmed by the

pandemic situation and turned too much to social and

leisure activities instead of studying.

5.5 Study Limitations

The sample size (#152) is limited, but the insights

gained can be valuable for guiding future, more

comprehensive studies. Furthermore, the distribution

of scholastic performance in the sample is not

balanced: only 2% of participants had low academic

performance before COVID-19, which thus affects

the results. With this narrow representation, it is not

possible to understand if the pandemic restrictions

accounted differently for low, medium, and high

academic performance students. Different findings

could be obtained by including in the sample social

and cultural conditions not considered in our study.

6 CONCLUSIONS

This study provides insights into how students coped

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with the challenges of the COVID-19 lockdown and

investigated how technology influenced students'

lives during the restrictions, particularly in terms of

scholastic performance, emotions, behaviour, and

support received.

Technology and Internet connection can be

important to sustain people during critical periods,

helping them cope with restrictions and providing a

comfortable way for maintaining a social life and

alleviate discomfort. The sample students (and people

in general) during the pandemic exploited technology

to continue their school activities, stay connected

with peers and relatives, receive and provide support,

and more generally continue their lives and cope with

the isolation. The statistical analysis showed that

better Internet connectivity is linked to higher

autonomy. The collected data highlights students'

resilience and the importance of social connections

and personal interests in supporting mental health

during restricted times. Family and friends were

crucial for emotional support during the lockdown,

but technology also had an important role. The

pandemic indeed led to a notable increase in online

leisure activities for most participants, likely due to

restrictions on outdoor activities and in-person social

interactions. Results also confirmed previous findings

on time spent using electronic devices, which greatly

increased during the pandemic.

Our findings provide a foundation for

understanding the impact of technology and support

systems on students during challenging times, and

highlight areas that may benefit from further

investigation, such as whether increased screen time

might affect students' academic performance or social

skills in the long term.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank all the participants for their valuable

contribution.

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