
Governments around the world enacted stay-at-home orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which changed many aspects of life, including how people interacted with the Internet. These draconian restrictions on in-person social interactions were perhaps most acutely felt by people living alone. We study the changes in network traffic of one such population, students remaining in the (single-occupancy) on-campus dormitories at a large residential educational institution during the onset and initial few months of the lock-down. Specifically, we analyze how students shifted their online work and leisure behaviors at an application level. Further, we segment the population into domestic and international students, and find that even within these two broad sub-populations, there are significant differences in Internet-based behavior. Our work provides a focused lens on pandemic Internet usage, examining both 1) a concentrated user population and 2) the differing impacts of a global pandemic on disparate sub-populations.
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 10 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Top 10% | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% |
