Change of IT equipment and communication applications used by first-semester students from 2011 to 2020 and possible effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: Analysis of a long-term

The technical equipment of first-year students and their preferred communication applications are changing. This paper presents the two latest, unpublished surveys of first-year students at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) from 2019 (N=824) and 2020 (N=955) and compares the results concerning devices and applications with the results of the surveys conducted since 2011. The analysis shows that laptops, desktop computers and smartphones are among the most important and widespread multifunctional devices, while the MP3 player in particular or the social media application Facebook have lost most of their former importance. The increasing importance of photo-based social media applications, first and foremost Instagram, is striking. If comparing the data from 2019 to those from 2020, the first academic year start that took place within the COVID-19 pandemic, the same applies to the use of Facebook and Facebook Messenger, which now only have the same minor significance as Telegram, Signal, Skype, or others. Concerning effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the equipment and communication tools used, the authors see a major impact on the prevalence of portable powerpacks.