Influence of COVID-19 Pandemic on social media addiction: Investigation among university students

Year 2023, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 187 - 204, 14.09.2023

Kuntay Arcan

https://doi.org/10.57127/kpd.26024438.1274637

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible influence of COVID-19 pandemic related variables on social media addiction. The sample comprised 394 university students. Personal Information Form, COVID-19 Information Form, COVID-19 Pandemic Burden Form, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Brief Form, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, and Coronavirus Anxiety Scale were utilized to gather online data of voluntary participants. It was observed that social media usage increased among the majority of the participants (74.6%) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, social media addiction scores of the participants were associated with longer social media usage, lower GPA, being young and female in addition to emotion regulation difficulties, pandemic burden, and COVID-19 anxiety. These findings revealed that several factors which were caused by COVID-19 related global health crisis posed risk for social media addiction symptoms. When the possibilities which include this health crisis may not quit in the short term and similar problems may repeat in the future were taken into consideration, it was concluded that deeper examination of the roles of pandemic related factors such as COVID-19 anxiety and burden for social media and other addictions, would be required.

Keywords

social media addiction, COVID-19 anxiety, COVID-19 burden, pandemic, emotion regulation difficulty

Ethical Statement

This study was approved by the Maltepe University Ethics Committee (Decision no: 2021/18-08, Date: 25.06.2021) as being in accordance with ethical principles and rules.

COVID-19 Pandemisinin sosyal medya bağımlılığına etkisi: Üniversite öğrencilerinde bir inceleme

Abstract

Bu çalışmanın amacı, sosyal medya bağımlılığının, COVID-19 ve pandemi süreci ile ilişkili faktörlerden nasıl etkilenmiş olabileceğinin incelenmesidir. Çalışmanın örneklemini 394 üniversite öğrencisi oluşturmuştur. Verilerin, gönüllü katılımcılardan çevrimiçi toplanmasında, Kişisel Bilgi Formu, COVID-19 Bilgi Formu, COVID-19 Pandemisi Bıkkınlığı Formu, Duygu Düzenleme Ölçeği Kısa Formu, Bergen Sosyal Medya Bağımlılığı Ölçeği ve Koronavirüs Anksiyete Ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Katılımcıların önemli bir çoğunluğunda (%74.6) pandemi döneminde sosyal medya kullanım süresinin arttığı gözlenmiştir. Sosyal medya bağımlılığının ise artan sosyal medya kullanım süresi, düşük not ortalaması, genç yaşta ve kadın olmanın yanı sıra duygu düzenleme güçlüğü, pandemi bıkkınlığı ve COVID-19 kaygısı ile ilişkili olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Çalışmanın sonucunda COVID-19’a bağlı yaşanan küresel sağlık krizinin etkilerinin, sosyal medya bağımlılığı belirtileri açısından risk faktörü oluşturduğu görülmüştür. Pandeminin kısa sürede sona ermeyebileceği ve benzer sorunların gelecekte de tekrarlanabileceği ihtimalleri dikkate alındığında, bu çalışmada öne çıkan etkilerden kaygı, bıkkınlık gibi değişkenlerin sosyal medya ve diğer bağımlılıklardaki rolünün derinlemesine incelenmesinin gerekli olduğu düşünülmüştür.

Keywords

sosyal medya bağımlılığı, COVID-19 kaygısı, COVID-19 bıkkınlığı, pandemi, duygu düzenleme güçlüğü

Ethical Statement

Bu çalışma, Maltepe Üniversitesi Etik Kurulu (Karar no: 2021/18-08, Tarih: 25.06.2021) tarafından, etik ilke ve kurallara uygun olduğu yönünde onaylanmıştır.

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