JESUS CHRIST KING OF KINGS AND LORD

OF LORDS ACADEMY, INC.

ABM – 1

Psychological Impacts of E-commerce on Consumers' Purchasing Behavior

amidst Quarantine Period

Results

The evaluation and the analysis of the financial and psychological consequences of
having a purchasing behavior and the excessive screen time is the achieved research
objective of this paper through the response of voluntary participants that was gathered
through Google Forms. Thematic analysis was used for interpretation of the qualitative
data of the responses such that the following themes that were created based from their
responses. The themes that are present are: Screen Consumption; Practicality; Sleep
Deprivation, Poor sleeping schedule; and Physical Discomfort. All of the themes are
interconnected and based from the analysis of the responses.

Screen Consumption
Most of the participants were affected by the pandemic required to stay inside at home
as much as possible. They only use their mobile devices all the time, and screen time
also increases while the chances of going outside decreases.
R3: I can't go out at all. All I do is to play with my phone all day. Especially connecting
with other people in social media are the only way to talk to them. The only time I don't
use my phone is when I'm asleep or eating.
R8: The pandemic affected my screen time as I spend a lot of my time to use my device
because of the requirement to stay home.
A participant also noticed the way their body changes due to inactivity and increased
screen time.
R5: I noticed that I lost some weight and I believe it’s because of the time consumed on
scrolling through my phone is greater than the time I ate.

Practicality

Three of the participants wait for the right timing (e.g., flash sales) before they spend
more than they should. They buy more as if they think it is satisfying or worth buying at
low prices.

R8: I buy more than I should because of the cheap price and promos or flash sale.
R4: I buy more if it is worth to buy bulk or buy more than I should. There are a lot of
inexpensive items that are nice.
R7: It really gets me when there are discounts, sales, deals, and also, I feel jealous to
people when I don’t have what they get online.

In terms of buying necessities, most of the participants agree that buying necessities
online is a smart way of avoiding physical contact with other people and convenience.

R2: During these times, it is necessary for us to buy our necessities online to avoid
physical contact with others as well as it saves time. Believed the price online goes
same with the grocery.
R3: I would rather buy necessities online because it is contact-less and hassle free
especially we don't have a car to ride when we go outside. Although we book a grab
taxi to go outside but it's very pricey so I would rather buy from online.
R8: I prefer to buy online because it is safe and you don't have to go outside that can
help you to avoid contact with other people during this time of pandemic.

Sleep Deprivation, Poor sleeping schedule

91.67% of the participants said that they had an unhealthy sleeping routine while 8.33%
said that nothing changed in his/her sleeping routine. Their sleeping schedule is not
normal and unusual since most of them are students.

R1: It affected me a lot, especially my sleeping time, it became worse and got messed
up since the pandemic started.
R6: I have a very unhealthy sleep schedule, and already have a big of amount of
screen time starting early in the morning.
R7: Because of the excessive use of my mobile phone, I am sleep deprived.
R9: There’s this one time I used my phone through the night and it got me so dizzy
because of sleep deprivation.
R12: My eyes get really tired because of scrolling through social medias.

Physical Discomfort

Since the pandemic started, people have been on their phones often than the usual
screen usage, resulting to drastic increase in physical discomforts and pains.

R3: Sometimes my eyes hurt from using my phone all day. So, I would take a nap for
my eyes to recover. My body doesn’t hurt from being on the phone but my eyes do. It
feels like it gets dry then I would tear up.
R4: I do actually (feel pain), and because of the time that is spent on using my mobile
phone too much, my eyes hurt a lot.
R8: Sometimes I experience headache because of too much exposure in blue light
caused by my phone.
 Discussion
This research study aims to analyze the experiences of consumers regarding to E-
commerce and having excessive screen time that is affecting them psychologically and
financially. This study aims to examine the potential need to investigate the impact of e-
commerce on the consumer buying behavior and the level to which buying behavior can
be affected. Through this survey, the results mean to understand the differences of the
behavior of the consumers, how they use or to cope up the challenging situations in the
ongoing pandemic.

With the survey conducted online, the researchers gathered all the data from the
questions based from their experiences. The results indicate that the consumers are
having abnormal experiences and exhaustion from having excessive amount of screen
time. The initial theme is Screen Consumption, which shows the excessive usage of
mobile devices. Monteiro, R. Rocha, N. and Fernandes, S. (2021) stated that “during
the lockdown period, people, including children, were not able to do the amount
of physical activity they used to do outdoors, especially if families lived in small
apartments with no outer space, which could increase screen-time exposure and
deepen psychological problems”. Based on their experiences inside their home, they
are unable to go outside due to the pandemic resulting in the usage of mobile devices
for entertainment and preventing boredom. The problem that is, it increases their screen
time and consumes a lot of time using only their mobile devices. The second theme is
Practicality, wherein those participants who chose inexpensive and smaller items are
the option they like to spend their money with which has good quality for the price, yet
beneficial and practical. When it comes to buying necessities, most of the participants
look for alternatives as it lessens the hassle during the pandemic and also the physical
contact with other people.

For the third theme is Sleep Deprivation, Poor sleeping schedule, where most of the
participants were really affected by the excessive use of their digital devices and too
much screen on time since the pandemic arises; They experienced unusual changes in
their habits (e.g., unstable sleep schedule, lack of exercise). The dietary habit of one of
the participants also got affected as the continuous usage of mobile devices which led
to weight loss. Vizcaino (2020) stated that “The study found poorer dietary habits
among individuals spending a significant portion of their day using a variety of
screen-based devices. The heavy users reported the least dietary habit.” The last
one is Physical Discomfort, where some of the participants shared their experiences
that they feel uncomfortable in the long usage. They feel the physical discomfort caused
by blue light and immobility in duration. The authors of the research “Digital Screen
Time During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Risk for a Further Myopia Boom? (2021)
clearly stated that “Increased digital screen time, near work, and limited outdoor
activities were found to be associated with the onset and progression of myopia,
and could potentially be aggravated during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic
outbreak period.” The importance of this study is to have knowledge and analyze
situations based on their experience of how they are affected and how they behave
towards the common problem today which is the physical inactivity.

Most of the participants have experienced negative consequences of excessive screen

time as well as the growth of interest to E-commerce applications which has the
possibility of leading oneself to having signs of the impulse buying behavior. Being
aware of the consequences, having self-control, and monitoring the usage is a good
practice in avoiding the negative consequences brought by the unusual practices that is
caused by the pandemic. All of us must be responsible and be manageable in terms of
leisure and consuming.