question: The COVID-19 pandemic during initial lockdowns created a problematic situation in which individuals were forced to remain within their homes and were forced to follow social distance restrictions for the well-being of themselves and others. In response, people use social networking sites on mobile phones to gather information about the COVID-19 epidemic. This study aims to investigate the influence of lockdowns on mobile phone usage among university students. Moreover, the harmful effects of COVID-19, such as anxiety, social isolation, and nomophobia among national and international students, are also investigated. The total sample size for this cross-sectional study is 438 individuals. The sample consists of Pakistani students studying at local universities (58.7%) and Pakistani students studying abroad (41.3%). The indigenous data is gathered through convenience sampling. The snowball sampling approach is adopted to acquire data from overseas. The findings show that the excessive use of mobile phones for browsing social networking sites to get information about the pandemic caused COVID-19 anxiety, nomophobia (“no-mobile-phone” phobia), and feelings of social isolation. Our results indicate that the COVID-19 outbreak greatly impacted students' massive mobile phone use and psycho-social well-being, regardless of their geographic location. © 2022. All Rights Reserved.