Title:	A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION OF HIGH SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Author(s):	Ali Simsek, Kemal Elciyar and Taner Kizilhan
ISBN:	978-989-8533-71-5
Editors:	Piet Kommers, Tomayess Issa, Pedro Isaías and Ana Hol
Year:	2017
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	Social Media, Addiction, Social Media Addiction, Social Networks, Internet, Technology Addiction
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	75
Last Page:	82
Language:	English
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Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	For a long time the concept of addiction has been considered within the medical context of consuming certain materials excessively. Lately, it has been used to describe by psychologists some behavioral habits that are outside the normal life of the general population, such as gambling which affect a particular group of individuals. After the Information Revolution, burgeoning developments in digital technologies and corresponding changes in behavioral patterns of users have brought new debates pointing the existence of a new form of addiction which has not been observed before. This form of addiction has generally been called "technology addiction". Considering that social media addiction is probably the most recent kind of technology addiction, the present study was designed based on the six components suggested by Griffiths (2013). Toward the purposes of the study, the "Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale" was adapted to social media addiction and translated into Turkish. After the validation process, it was administered to a total of 700 students; of them 397 were high school students and 303 were university students. The data collection instrument included 18 five-point Likert-type items in six categories, along with five structured items regarding demographics of respondents. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient for the scale was .90. The data were analyzed through both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. In addition to the findings of the present study, similar research on social media addiction in various countries were examined for comparisons. The results of the study showed that both university students and high school students have a moderate level of addiction to social media. Being a university or high school student does not make any difference on the level of social media addiction However, significant differences were found regarding gender, duration of use, department at the university, and type of high school. Finally, the results of the study show certain similarities and a few differences with the results of the studies conducted in other countries. Implications of the results are discussed and recommendations are made both for future research and improvement of practices.
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