House Arrest, Adolescent Unrest: Leisure Activities During Pandemic, Scenario of South Asian Countries

Abstract

The educational and social life of adolescents has been transformed in the last one and a half years, due to the global pandemic COVID-19. In order, to control, the expansion of this virus during the second wave (Feb.-August 2021), as it is a severe acute respiratory syndrome with modified features, all the educational institutions had been closed and even board examinations of central as well as state boards were cancelled. Students were forced to stay at home and classes were organised through online mode. Now adolescents, spend most of their time with their smartphones for attending their online classes as well as during their leisure time for socialising with their peers. The specific objective of the study is to examine the leisure time activities of adolescents during the second wave. The study is a cross-cultural study of 460 adolescents in the age group of (16-18) years studying in senior secondary class (Grade XII th) in South Asian countries; India, Maldives, and Bhutan. The study has used tools such as Leisure Interest Measure (LIM by Ragheb and Beard, 1992) and a structured key information schedule designed for studying smartphone usage patterns (SPUP) for collecting information. AMOS 23, NVivo 12 and other statistical packages have been used for analysing the data, to test the model designed for studying leisure time activities and their effects. The results of the study focus on digital leisure and the health problems associated with it. The findings of the study will be helpful in policy formulation related to adolescents' technology usage and the effective use of their leisure time The study concluded that excess use of technology either for educational or any other purpose has a bad impact on the psycho-physiological health of adolescents and it requires serious attention.

Full text

Journal of Positive School Psychology http://journalppw.com
2022, Vol. 6, No. 3, 3151–3166
© 2021 JPPW. All rights reserved
House Arrest, Adolescent Unrest: Leisure Activities During
Pandemic, Scenario of South Asian Countries
Akhand Sharma1, Chandrakanta Jain 2, and Udit Malaiya3
1 Department of Education, Doctor H.S. Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India
2 Asst. Professor, Department of Education, Doctor H.S.Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh,
India
3 Research Scholar, Department. of Commerce, Doctor H.S. Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, Madhya
Pradesh, India
Abstract
The educational and social life of adolescents has been transformed in the last one and a
half years, due to the global pandemic COVID-19. In order, to control, the expansion
of this virus during the second wave (Feb.-August 2021), as it is a severe acute
respiratory syndrome with modified features, all the educational institutions had been
closed and even board examinations of central as well as state boards were cancelled.
Students were forced to stay at home and classes were organised through online mode.
Now adolescents, spend most of their time with their smartphones for attending their
online classes as well as during their leisure time for socialising with their peers.
The specific objective of the study is to examine the leisure time activities of adolescents
during the second wave. The study is a cross-cultural study of 460 adolescents in the
age group of (16-18) years studying in senior secondary class (Grade XIIth) in South
Asian countries; India, Maldives, and Bhutan. The study has used tools such as Leisure
Interest Measure (LIM by Ragheb and Beard, 1992) and a structured key information
schedule designed for studying smartphone usage patterns (SPUP) for collecting
information. AMOS 23, NVivo 12 and other statistical packages have been used for
analysing the data, to test the model designed for studying leisure time activities and
their effects. The results of the study focus on digital leisure and the health problems
associated with it. The findings of the study will be helpful in policy formulation related
to adolescents' technology usage and the effective use of their leisure time The study
concluded that excess use of technology either for educational or any other purpose
has a bad impact on the psycho-physiological health of adolescents and it requires
serious attention.
Keywords: Pandemic, Digital Leisure, Adolescent, Socialisation, Health Issues
INTRODUCTION
The images of the train station in Wuhan,
China being cordoned off with a metal fence
and news of the Spring festival travel being
suspended throughout the country (Linder,
2020). As the outbreak of COVID-19 that
began at the end of 2019, hundreds of
thousands of people have perished
(Worldometer, 2020), the stock markets
crashed sparking fears of global recession
(Merrill and Day, 2020), millions have lost
their jobs (Tappe, 2020), and the social life
has undergone a profound transformation.
The same condition was found during the
second wave in amidst of 2021 or one can
say that worst for South Asian countries.
South Asian region comprises 7 countries,
Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The region has
diversified religion, ethnic and linguistic
groups, India places a prominent position in
this sub-continent and almost 20% of the
world's population resides in this region.
The study is a cross-cultural study of India,
Bhutan and Maldives which has diversified
culture, religion and geographical
conditions. Due to the second swing of
COVID-19 during April-August 2021, the
lifestyle of adolescents had changed and
they were forced to stay at home, classes
were organising online. The proposed study
highlighted the routine life of adolescents

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and changes in leisure activities during the
second wave, which was now administered
by digital gadgets. The study explored the
facts related to excessive use of digital
technologies either for online studies and
leisure activities and health threats
associated with it.
LEISURE, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
AND SOCIALISATION
The hallmark of leisure constraints imposed
on the world’s population has been dubbed
“social distancing” (Menjivar et al., 2020).
In order, to increase physical distance or to
eliminate contact between people and thus
prevent the spread of disease, different
countries, states and municipalities have
adopted a slew of measures to discourage
the populace from vesting bars, restaurants,
beaches, parks, playgrounds, trails, national
parks, golf courses, malls and shopping
centres (Stodolska, M., 2020). George
Bernard Shaw said, “a perpetual holiday is a
good working definition of hell” (Brightbill,
1960, p.5) and that the crisis evokes both the
best and the worst in people.
Adolescent Leisure Activities During
Pandemic:
The pandemic, however, has also brought
the best in people and communities, and has
revealed to the public the critical role leisure
plays in human life and in helping us cope
with traumatic events (Kleiber et al., 2002).
During the pandemic, adolescents were
finding new ways for spending their leisure
time. Problem-focused, people forced to
cancel their leisure travels turned to
backyard staycations and invented new ways
of playing sports and spending time together
(Reuters, April 20, 2020).
The adolescent leisure world is different
from others and of great interest to explore
new facts related to it. Leisure pursuits play
an important role in the development of an
adolescent. Leisure activities may be
important for healthy psychological
development during adolescence (Hendry,
1983). Participation of adolescent in leisure
activities enhance their knowledge, mental
and physical health and promote social
cohesion. It has also been shown that social
linkage and leisure time variables have an
important association with psychiatric
illness (Fitzgerald and Jeffers).
Digital Technology and Socialisation:
Socialisation or Social participation can be
defined as the engagement of an individual
in social activities that enable shared, the
meaningful social connection among family,
friends, or communities of people. During
the first social wave of social media around
the 2000s, it was found that most youths
were engaged in casual social
communication with peers they knew from
school. The advent of digital technology has
transformed the scenario of the entire world,
as most of the children go online; it has
changed the features of every stage from
childhood to adulthood. Tapscott (2008)
believes that human beings are living in a
digital age marked by a revolution of
technology in daily life, which allows rapid
global communications and networking that
shape contemporary society. Engagement
with these technologies “is ubiquitous and
impacts upon nearly all aspects of life,
including leisure,” which has prompted
recent, though limited, research on
technologically mediated or digital leisure
(Parry and Penny Light, 2014, and
Spracklen, 2015). The concerned research
suggests that cell phone use is related to the
outcomes that certain leisure activities may
produce such as physical fitness, boredom
relief, and stress relief (Lepp et al., 2014;
Leung, 2008).
Adolescents in this digital era are highly
motivated to participate in online social
occupations (Subrahmanyam and
Greenfield, 2008); they are using different
modes of communication for socialising
with peers, making new friends, group
activities, and expressing their views.
According to Mc Kenna and Seidman
(2006) and Keenan and Shiri (2009), who
also explored sociability in social
networking sites like Facebook, MySpace,
Linkedin, and Twitter; digital structures
facilitate sociability because they enable
users to share, express, explore and resolve
social needs.
A recent study conducted by PFI found that
nearly 46 percent of adolescents reported
that they are spending more time online in
social media activities during the lockdown.
In a country like India, nearly 243 million,
adolescents, lives are on the verge of great
risk due to this pandemic (Gupta, P.,2020).
A significant growth in video calls,
exchange of text messages, chatting through
several social platforms with their friends
and relatives, download of movies and
watching web series from various platforms

Akhand Sharma1, et. al. 3153
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like Netflix and playing online games with
their friends were quite popular leisure
activities amongst adolescents apart of
watching television, cooking, playing indoor
games and attending online classes. The
global pandemic has affected the leisure
activities, choices, environment and
companions; with whom they share their
woes and joys, due to lockdown they were
missing these things. The study outlines a
rich, complex, and structured picture of
adolescents studying in Grade XIIth and their
leisure activities even in the time of the
Coronavirus in South Asian countries
LITERATURE REVIEW
In Ireland, online social networking has
become a dominant feature in adolescents’
leisure time (Downey, Hayes, and O’Neill,
2006), with 9 out of every 10 teenagers aged
9-16 years old having a social networking
profile and engaging in daily use (O’Neill
and Dinh, 2011). The study by Jessica
Kennedy and Helen Lynch (2016) discussed
the issues related to cyber-culture; overall,
there was a realisation of needing some
protection in this social space along with
parental guidance in negotiating the social
norms and culture therein. A study by
Chandrakanta J. and Akhand S. (2021), the
study focussed on the leisure time activities
of adolescents during pandemic COVID-19
and highlighted that adolescents spend most
of their time on digital platforms. The study
selected adolescents from India and Bhutan
and studied the effects of leisure activities
using digital technology and health problems
faced by them. The result showed that
initially when it studied the direct relation in
absence of a mediator between independent
(LIM) and dependent variable (Hlth_Prb)
existed a non-significant effect. There was
no mediation effect of digital leisure between
leisure interest measures and health
problems. The study claimed that Indian
adolescents were at greater risk side than
Bhutanese, either digitally or from a health
point of view. Another study by Sharma and
Jain (2021), Impact of COVID-19 on
adolescent leisure activities of SAARC
countries. The study highlighted the leisure
activities of adolescents before and during
lockdown and results showed that there was
a statistically significant difference in leisure
activities during unlocking and lockdown.
Time SNS-LD (social networking sites
during lockdown) explained uniquely a
significant amount of variance in DV
whereas Sex and Leisure Interest-LD are not
the significant predictor of DV; Health
Problem-LD. It reflects that time spent on
social networking sites during lockdown
predicted the health problem during
lockdown very efficiently.
Recent studies have consistently found that
most adolescents in Western industrialized
countries (over 90 percent of adolescents in
the United States) use the internet, often
spending many hours a day involved with
various kinds of digital leisure (Caldwell and
Witt, 2011). College students report using
their phones in nearly every conceivable
situation, including during class, while
studying, during meals, while driving, at the
movies, in the bathroom, and during sex
(Harrison and Gilmore, 2012; Tindell and
Bohlander, 2011). A study by Monika, S.
(2020) examines constraints imposed by the
global pandemic, how people responded and
the lesson they learned and secondly
explored the roles of leisure in coping with
stress and isolation due to pandemic
COVID-19. A survey of 685 K-12 teachers
in the United States, was conducted for
Common Sense Media by Knowledge
Networks (now part of the GfK Group), from
May 5-17, 2012, most of the teacher thinks
that digital media affected the student’s
academic performance, face to face
communication, homework habit, and
critical thinking, on the other side it has
helped the students in media use; website
surfing, computer programming, computer
games, online video surfing, mobile
applications, texting, online social
networking, video games, and many other
online activities
Studies have found that regularly using
television and computer screens increases
sedentary behavior, decreases physical
activity, and is associated with reduced
fitness (Mansoubi et al., 2014). A study by
Allaby and Shannon (2019) regarding
experience related to smartphone usage of
adolescents' (14-17 years) in Atlantic
Canada, The study reported that all
participants spend time between 2- 4 hours
daily on their smartphones during school
days. Participants used smartphones more on
weekends. Adolescents used smart gadgets
to communicate with others and facilitate
leisure. Additional costs associated with
high-frequency cell phone use have been
identified by our group and include reduced
academic performance, increased sleep

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disturbance, reduced sleep quality, and
increased anxiety (Lepp, Barkley, and
Karpinski, 2014; Li, Lepp and
Barkley,2015). Additionally, a growing
number of studies identify a positive
relationship between cell phone use and
anxiety, depression, and similar measures of
distress (Beranuy, Oberst, Carbonell, and
Chamarro, 2009; Harwood, Dooley, Scott
and Joiner, 2014). It was found that high-
frequency cell phone users tended to have
higher anxiety and less happiness relative to
peers who used the cell phone less often
(Lepp, Barkley, and Karpinski, 2014).
The study conducted by Andrew Lepp et al.
(2017), highlighted on leisure time cell
phone use, low users reported more physical
leisure activities; while high users reported
more screen-based and social activities, as
well as more time, spent being idle, it was
found that students used their cell phone for
leisure were categorized into seven self-
explanatory themes: visiting online social
networking sites (SNS), using other apps
(non-SNS related), texting, surfing the
internet, games, calling, and email. A study
by Iryna S. and Monika S. (2015) focusing
on family social leisure, examined that the
participants reported the boundaries between
parents and their children related to the use
of SNS, even parents were friending their
adolescent children who allowed them to
access their account and checked them on
regular basis, it was found that SNS can be
used by families for joint, satisfying leisure
pursuits that build connection and trust
among family members. The study
conducted by Laura Rojas de Francisco et al.
(2016) found that informants told that social
connectivity enables persons to share their
experiences, for other informants, social
media facilitate the creation of relationships
that develop in the virtual environment and
then progress to face-to-face interaction,
informants discussed that people with whom
we cannot meet up regularly, social
connections and relationships can be
maintained through the use of technology.
Research by Hamill (2003) regarding the
adoption of ICTs in the home suggests that
people invest in technology more to make
better use of their free time than to save time
on household chores. Hatice, A.G. et al.,
(2017: 521.) on the use of social network
sites among depressed adolescents finds that
half of the adolescents in both groups
(depressed and non-depressed) shared
depressive symptoms on online social media;
this indicates how widespread depressive
symptoms are in adolescents, depressed
adolescents used SNSs longer than non-
depressed adolescents and the results also
showed that depressive adolescents were
online more frequently and intensely than
their non-depressed counterparts, which
suggests that depressed adolescents may be
heavy internet users.
In a study by Leeuwen et al. (2020), Leisure
will not be locked down focussed on the
impact of COVID-19 on society and people's
leisure behaviour in the Netherlands. The
study explained that activities were affected
by the "intelligent lockdown" in the
Netherlands. During the lockdown, people
spent more leisure time at home and with
their families. This caused a spike in the
popularity of social-media-related leisure,
gaming television and "traditional" forms of
leisure like gardening, reading, house chores
and playing board games. Self-organised
outdoor leisure activities such as hiking,
running and cycling were more popular. The
psychological impact included high-level
stress, anxiety and confusion. Normal leisure
and recreation cannot function under social
distancing rules, so by slight changes one
can bring improvement in the tense
environment. Leisure participation and
satisfaction are important factors in
improving quality of life (Ateca-Amestoy et
al., 2008). The study suggested, designing
leisure operations to create both safe and
enjoyable guest experiences.
Ken Robert's study explained the locked-
down leisure in Britain. There was a steep
decline in travelling activities; it was due to
instructions given by the government to stay
at home. There were smaller declines in time
spent studying and on personal care as
people were not going outside for work or
leisure. There was a sharp increase in time
spent on gardening and DIY, average leisure
time increased from 277 to 321 minutes per
day. There were relatively small increases in
time spent on unpaid child care, due to
children being locked out of school and on
sleep and rest. As with the sex, there were
differences and similarities in the impact of
lockdown on the use of time in different age
groups. The decline in study time was
entirely in the youngest age group. The

Akhand Sharma1, et. al. 3155
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largest blocks of time before and during
lockdown were spent sleeping and resting
and on leisure. People had more leisure time
or free time; there were fewer ways in which
this time could be used. Maximum average
minutes per day spent on watching TV,
Blue-ray, or DVD followed by streaming TV
or videos during the lockdown. Younger
adults aged 18-24, spent an hour-long online
per day throughout compared with older age
groups. The study concluded that Britain had
lost 20% of its economy and a larger
proportion of jobs. There will be lessons for
leisure scholars on the other side of the
pandemic and why and which leisure
matters.
METHODOLOGY
In order, to study the objectives and test the
hypothesised model related to leisure
activities of adolescents during the second
wave of COVID-19, and health threats
associated with the use of digital gadgets, the
modus-operandi of the proposed work is
discussed, to get an idea of how the research
is conducted?
The study is a cross-cultural and qual-
quantitative mixed approach, selected 460
adolescents (16-18 years) studying in
Grade XIIth from six schools. Two schools
were selected respectively from each
country India, Bhutan and Maldives and
52 teachers' views were collected
regarding students' leisure activities during
the second wave. The study collected data
during the second wave March-August
2021 through online and offline mode. The
study explored the facts related to digital
abuse and problems faced by adolescents.
The study administered the questionnaire
Leisure Interest Measure (LIM by Ragheb
and Beard, 1992) short scale, standardised
questionnaire for studying smartphone
usage patterns (SPUP) by teens during
lockdown and teacher’s blog was used for
collecting teacher’s response, Kutumb app
was used for contacting with teachers from
India.
Dependent Variable- Leisure Activities,
Physiological and Psychological Health
Problem
Independent Variable-Sex, Time spend
SNS, Environment
Mediating Variable- Lockdown due to
COVID-19
AMOS 23 and other statistical packages
used for diagrammatic representation and
NVivo 12 are used for analysing teachers'
views.
RESULTS
I. Model Fitting:
The model designed for understudy was
tested by using AMOS 23. The model is
recursive and the sample size is 460. The
first step is Model Specification; to test
whether the model is consistent with the
theory. Digital leisure is the mediating
variable in the model. The problem is to test
whether the data fit a hypothesised model or
not.
The hypothetical model is shown in Fig. 1

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Fig.1 Hypothetical Model
Before estimating the parameters the study specified the model and tested that our model is
identifiable, after that the study goes for estimating the model parameters. The report is given as:
Observed Endogenous
Variable
Observed Exogenous
Variable
Unobserved Exogenous
Variable
Digt_Leis
LIM
e1
Soc_Act
e2
Anxt_Lvl
e3
T_SNS
e4
Hlth_Prb
e5
Variable counts (Group number 1)
Number of variables in your model: 11
Number of observed variables: 6
Number of unobserved variables: 5
Number of exogenous variables: 6
Number of endogenous variables: 5

Akhand Sharma1, et. al. 3157
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Notes for Model (Default model)
Computation of degrees of freedom (Default model)
Number of distinct sample moments: 21
Number of distinct parameters to be estimated: 15
Degrees of freedom (21 - 15): 6
Result (Default model)
Minimum was achieved
Chi-square = 7.763
Degrees of freedom = 6
Probability level = .256
Minimum was achieved it reflects solution conversed. The overall Chi-square value is 7.763 with df 6.
Chi-square tests the null hypothesis that the over-identified (reduced) model fits the data as well as
does a just-identified (full, saturated) model. The p-value, 0.256 which is greater than 0.05, indicates
essentially the model is a good fit for the Chi-square value is not statistically significant. The next step
is the exploding model fit indices for hypothesised model.
MODEL FIT SUMMARY
CMIN
Model
NP
AR
CMIN
DF
P
CMIN/DF
Default model
15
7.763
6
.256
1.294
Saturated model
21
.000
0
Independence model
6
3085.921
15
.000
205.728
NPAR is the number of parameters in the hypothetical model which is 15; 5 error variances and 10 path
coefficients. CMIN is the Chi-square statistics comparing the tested model and independence model to
the saturated model. Degree of freedom (df) 6 greater than 0 reflects that the default model is well fitted.
The p-value, 0.256 (greater than 0.05) is non-significant which indicates the well-fitted model.
RMR, GFI
Model
RMR
GFI
AGFI
PGFI
Default model
.105
.994
.980
.284
Saturated model
.000
1.000
Independence model
2.042
.379
.131
.271
RMR, the root mean square residual, the index reflects the estimated variance and covariance differ from
observed variance and covariance, it is .105 (greater than 0.05) non –significant. GFI, the goodness of fit,
reflects the proportion of the variance in the sample variance-covariance matrix, GFI 0.994 (greater than
0.9 reflects a good model). The value of AGFI, adjusted goodness of fit is 0.980 (greater than 0.9 reflects
a good model). The PGFI (P- Parsimony), index is adjusted to reward the simple models; in the above
case, it is slightly larger for the default model than the independence model.
Baseline Comparisons
Model
NFI
Delta1
RFI
rho1
IFI
Delta2
TLI
rho2
CFI
Default model
.997
.994
.999
.999
.999
Saturated model
1.000
1.000
1.000
Independence model
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
This goodness of fit indices differentiates your model from the independence model. The Normed Fit
Index (NFI) is simply the difference between the two models' chi-squares divided by the chi-square of the
independence model, it is 0.997 (greater than 0.9 reflects a good model). RFI (0.994), IFI (0.999), and
TLI (0.999) all these values are greater than 0.9 it reflects a well-fitted model. The Comparative Fit Index
(CFI) uses a similar approach (with non-central chi-square) and is said to be a good index in the case of
small samples, it indicates that a value greater than 0.9 shows a good fit, in our case it is 0.999, reflects
that model is good fitted.
Parsimony-Adjusted Measures
Model
PRATIO
PNFI
PCFI
Default model
.400
.399
.400
Saturated model
.000
.000
.000
Independence model
1.000
.000
.000
PRATIO is the ratio of how many paths you dropped to how many you could have dropped (total all of
them). The Parsimony Normed Fit Index (PNFI) 0.399 is the product of NFI and PRATIO and PCFI
(0.400), is the product of CFI and PRATIO. Both PNFI and PCFI are intended to reward those whose
models are parsimonious (consisting of few paths).
RMSEA
Model
RMSEA
LO 90
HI 90
PCLOSE
Default model
.025
.000
.069
.782
Independence model
.668
.648
.688
.000

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The Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) estimates the lack of fit compared to the
saturated model. RMSEA 0.025 (less than 0.05), indicates the model is well fitted LO 90 and HI 90 are
the lower and upper ends of a 90% confidence interval on this estimate. PCLOSE is the p-value testing the
null that RMSEA is not greater than 0.05, which is true in the above case.
HOELTER
Model
HOELTER
.05
HOELTER
.01
Default model
745
995
Independence model
4
5
If your sample size is larger than this then there will be the chances of rejecting the null hypothesis, it
represents that the model is not fitted well, but in our case, the sample size is 460 and is accepted at a 5%
level of significance
Thus based on the above results, the study concluded that the hypothesised model is well fitted, and thus
the null hypothesis is accepted.
OTHER FACTS [HEALTH
PROBLEMS]:
A. Physiological and Psychological
Problems among Adolescents:
The given diagrammatic representation
depicts the physiological and psychological
problems faced by students from India,
Bhutan, and the Maldives, who are involved
in digital activities during their leisure time.
Most adolescents are facing eye problems,
suffered from long-sightedness whereas
tension or stress is the major psychological
problem faced by adolescents from the
selected South Asian countries. It was found
that adolescents from India and Maldives
spend 3.2 hours more on social networking
sites than Bhutanese, therefore they faced
fewer
health problems in comparison to Indians and Maldivians.
84
31%
36
13%
113
41%
27
10%
15
5%
Physiological Problems
Headache
Wrist
Eyes
Backpain
Others

Akhand Sharma1, et. al. 3159
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B. Boys and Girls (Health Problems)
The given pictorial representation depicts
the common health problems amongst
adolescent boys and girls who are
engaging in digital leisure activities
during their leisure time. Headache and
Eye problems are the major physiological
problem faced by boys and girls, whereas
tension or stress is the major problem
faced by adolescents.
There are 240 boys and 220 girls out of
which 152 (63.33%) boys and 123
(55.90%) girls are suffering from
physiological and psychological
problems whereas 88 (36.67%) boys and
97 (44.10%) girls are not suffering from
any health problems.
Physiological Problems:
The given diagram shows the boys and
girls suffering from physiological
problems.
Psychological Problems:
The given diagram shows the boys and girls suffering from psychological problems.
27
10%
49
18%
109
39%
54
20%
36
13%
Pscyhological Problems
Depression
Anxiety
Tension
Anger
Others
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
BOY GIRL
Headache
49 Headache
35
Wrist
18 Wrist
18
Eyes
60
Eyes
53
Backpain 16 Backpain 11
Others 9 Others 6
Others
Backpain
Eyes
Wrist
Headache

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C. Science and Non-science (Health
Problems)
The given pictorial representation
highlighted the common health problems
amongst adolescents who are studying in
Grade XII and have opted for either
science or non-science stream, engaging
in digital leisure activities during their
leisure time. Headache and Eye problems
are the major physiological problem
faced by both streams, whereas tension
or stress is the major problem faced by
adolescents.
There are 215 science and 245 non-
science students, out of which 121
(56.28%) science and 154 (62.86%) non-
science are suffering from physiological
and psychological problems whereas 94
(43.72%) science and 91 (37.14%) non-
science students are not suffering from
any health problems.
Physiological Problems:
Psychological Problems:
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
BOY GIRL
Depression
16 Depression
11
Anxiety
28 Anxiety
21
Tension
66 Tension
43
Anger 29
Anger 25
Others 13 Others 23
Others
Anger
Tension
Anxiety
Depression
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
SCIENCE NON-SCIENCE
Headache
38 Headache
46
Wrist
16 Wrist
20
Eyes
49 Eyes
64
Backpain 16 Backpain 11
Others 9 Others 6
Others
Backpain
Eyes
Wrist
Headache

Akhand Sharma1, et. al. 3161
© 2021 JPPW. All rights reserved
Additional Facts
Some additional facts related to this study
are based on the discussion with
informants associated with this field,
reports, and specific research papers
findings that shed the light related to the
negative and positive aspects of digital
leisure with the help of digital technology
on adolescents. Whether internet use is
positive or negative, there is continuing
debate about its impact on adolescents’
emotional well-being, which is
intrinsically linked to social relationships
and identity (Spies Shapiro and Margolin,
2014). For adolescents today, online social
platforms can also provide innovative,
exciting opportunities for the development
of occupational identities (Fok, Polgar,
Shaw, Luke, and Mandich, 2009).
Depressive disorders diagnosed in
adolescence are associated with many
physical and mental problems in adulthood
and are common causes of morbidity
(Mathers and Loncar 2006).
The study revealed the risks associated
with SNS; exposure to cyberbullying and
distribution of online hate material,
exposure to sexual images online which
promotes sexualised behaviours amongst
online users, odd effects related to overuse
of SNS highlighted some of the common
problems faced by adolescents; depression,
anxiety, sleeping disorder, decreased self-
esteem and the suicidal tendency is quite
common. Exposure to online content may
encourage self-harm and suicide among
adolescents (Dunlop et al., 2011).
Being a researcher what I have understood
while discussing with adolescents and
other key informants during field visits,
that adolescents leisure-time pursuits are
very much influenced by their peer group
since they are the active member of any
group in their school so they participate in
the leisure activities according to their
group interest. Since nowadays digital
leisure is quite popular amongst
adolescents so group members from school
or other schools or close and old friends
have created their specific group at What’s
App, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap
chat and at many other sites where they
share their images, videos, messages,
sexting, spicy-gossips, notes, projects and
even celebrating birthdays, examination-
results, achievement parties and all future
activities planned at such platforms, social
networking sites are the medium through
which, information dispersed among group
members very easily. Adolescents must
practice self-regulation either
independently or under the guidance of
their parents because there should be a
balance in their daily life activities
otherwise it will be destructive.
Teacher’s View:
Teacher's view collected regarding
adolescent's leisure activities during the
second wave, analysed by NVivo 12.
Teachers discussed that it was found that
during lockdown most of the adolescents
were online and spent most of their time
either watching web series or movies or
playing online games. Adolescents sleep
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
SCIENCE NON-SCIENCE
Depression
14 Depression
13
Anxiety
18 Anxiety
31
Tension
55 Tension
54
Anger 29 Anger 25
Others 13 Others 23
Others
Anger
Tension
Anxiety
Depression

3162 Journal of Positive School Psychology
© 2021 JPPW. All rights reserved
late in the night and get up very late,
mostly at the time of their online classes.
Small differences were found between
boys' and girls' leisure activities during the
lockdown in India but in Bhutan, it was
quite different. Apart from it, adolescents
showed some little interest in domestic
activities like cooking, gardening, cleaning
and other activities throughout lockdown.
Analysis based on gender showed that
there was a clear 'gender gap' in the
context of engagement in online activities.
Boys were predominantly engaged in
online games, watching web series and
surfing unauthorised material on the
internet than girls (62.50% vs. 18.75). On
the other hand, girls were more active in
attending online classes, tutorials and
webinars than boys (74.5% vs. 50.3%). In
addition to it, adolescents shared that they
use social networking sites for sharing
their photographs, posts and videos. Some
of the youths in India participate in several
social cause campaigns to help poor ones,
people who were migrating, and even
animals who were facing food, clothes, and
money-related problems.
Teacher’s discussed that adolescents were
claiming that they were suffering from
physiological and psychological problems
due to excessive use of technology; they
were experiencing nervousness, anxiety,
stress, boredom, loneliness, insomnia,
anger, fear of isolation, insecurity,
uncertainty about their future, actually they
were missing their friends, with whom
they share all their problems and get the
solution of their problems. It was found
that adolescent cohesion within the family
had been increased and now they were
showing interest in domestic activities, but
it was found more commonly amongst
Bhutanese. The concept of enforced leisure
also gain popularity during lockdown
because now adolescents were getting
more time for leisure activities but within a
selected boundary and under the
surveillance of their parents, they claimed
that they lost their freedom they don’t need
such leisure, because they can’t plan their
leisure activities without their friends.
DISCUSSIONS:
Radio was blamed for sleeplessness,
comic books for making children ‘criminal
and promiscuous’, television for social
isolation, and now SNS for making
children depressed. Sociologists and
psychologists say that children today
interact more with their phones than with
each other, and speculate that they might
miss out on important social experiences
(Turkle, 2011). Others have noted the
concern that children’s social skills will be
negatively affected or otherwise altered
because their friendships and
communications with peers are
digitally mediated (George, M.J. et al.,
2015). It was found that children who are
indulged in online activities pointed out as
their adults either engaged in their official
work or electronic devices, so they are
missing them as they don't have time for
them, so they concentrate their mind on
such leisure activities because nobody has
time to talk to them, they feel isolated.
Children complained that because
their parents spend so much time online,
they must compete with digital devices
for their parent’s attention (Henn Steve,
2014). It's the effusion of the peer group
that even tribal youths are also involved in
malpractices (Singh and Sharma, 2019).
For most of the day adolescents engaged
with their smartphones, their physical
friendship transforming into technological
ones, young ones were now more resilient
and feeling comfortable with their gadgets,
which created opportunities for contact with
their friends and being engaged in
entertainment activities throughout the day.
Now it is quite obvious that the pandemic
has drastically transformed the lifestyle and
behaviour of adolescents which is now
controlled by technology, supported by
smartphones, it's quite a serious threat for
everyone that this pandemic has created a
new problem for everyone who is associated
with the loving ones. The concept of
enforced leisure forced the adolescents to
spend their time at home because they have
nothing to do throughout the day, for this
they spend most of their time with their
smartphones, but now they were feeling
idleness from daily routine activities.
Adolescents' descriptions of "wasting time"
or "passing time" on their smartphones when
bored could also be linked to a lack of
meaningful involvement (Ragheb and
Merydith, 2001). The most common
distraction for the participants during
unstructured leisure time was notifications
(e.g., text messages, social media

Akhand Sharma1, et. al. 3163
© 2021 JPPW. All rights reserved
notifications) and contributed to a multi-
tasking effect in some cases (Lepp et al.,
2017).
Thus the proposed study corroborates the
previous studies' findings and presented
some new issues which arise due to the
present state of the situation. The study
when confronted for the acceptance of
research committee; personality traits and
its effects on leisure activities and
happiness, mediating role of leisure
satisfaction but due to pandemic the
condition collapsed. It reflected through
analysis of the study, adolescent
engagement in leisure activities changed
due to the impact of the shutdown of
educational institutions and social
distancing on adolescents' well-being.
These circumstances disturbed the balance
between work/study and leisure, the
combination of these couplets now
affecting the exponential growth of the
youth. The health emergencies are not yet
over we have already faced two waves of
COVID with a mutation in virus having
different features every time and we are
still finding out the ways for overcoming
and recovering from it.
CONCLUSION
Due to the pandemic, there was a change in
adolescents' leisure, the study revealed the
facts related to change in leisure activities
and its impact, greater articulation in
enforced leisure, especially in unstructured
leisure activities supported by digital
technologies. Leisure activities experiencing;
physiological, psychological, and social
compensation during crises, plays an
important role in personality development,
adolescent's lifestyle, socialising with peers,
and state of well-being. The leisure of youth
during lockdown has substantially changed
as they have free time but due to restrictions,
they were not allowed to move freely
anywhere, leisure under surveillance. This is
enforced leisure, leisure in stressful
situations, an individual not free to involved
in activities of their own choice, supported
by social deprivation.
The study concluded that, that digital leisure
embedded by technologies are transforming
entertainment activities into leisure activities
with a healthy social interaction but it has
some pitfalls in form of physical and
psychological problems that have to be
controlled within a given period, otherwise it
will become a gigantic problem, so we must
find the solution for such problem, within a
time, otherwise it will be a serious threat to
the humanity, due to which world would face
efficient manpower loss in the coming years.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are highly grateful to the
teaching staff and students studying in the
selected schools from three countries for
their cooperation in data collection online as
well as offline from Maldives and Bhutan.
The valuable contributions of the teachers by
all means; either in data collection, filling up
the Google forms as well as their views
regarding adolescents' leisure activities
during second wave lockdown. At last, I am
thankful to all who directly or indirectly
helped me in completing this task on time.
Contribution of the Co-author:
Mr. Udit Malaiya contributed in collecting
data as well as in data entry so that results
can be drawn through data analysis by
running suitable software programs. Due to
his valuable efforts, research work was
completed within the desired time.
Conflict of Interests: Authors declare that
the research work carried out by us is
original and innovative. The study is not
published earlier and we have not articulated
the facts and misused the data and shreds of
evidence.
ORCID
Akhand Sharma https://orcid.org/0000-
0002-2545-0783
Udit Malaiya https://orcid.org/0000-0001-
8202-2577
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