Investigation of Social Media Addiction of High School Students

The aim of this study was to investigate the social media addiction of high school students in terms of some variables such as age, class, type of school, gender and daily average internet usage period. Survey method was used in the study. “Social Media Addiction Scale” (SMAS) developed by Tutgun-Unal and “Personal Information Form” prepared by the researcher were used as data collection tools. The data were obtained from a total of 596 students studying in three high schools with different academic achievement level in Kirsehir in Turkey. No significant difference was found in terms of gender variable. When the total scores of high school students on Social Media Addiction Scale are examined, it is determined that the students have “low level of addiction”. In addition, it was found that there was a significant relationship between high school students' daily average internet usage time and social media addiction.


Introduction
Social media is one of the most ideal media platforms for people because it can be updated continuously, is open to multiple use, allows virtual sharing, etc. People write daily thoughts on social media discuss these ideas and put forward new ideas (Vural & Bat, 2010). Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) describe social media as an entire of web-based tools that users are in central and allow users to be created and developed with regard to both ideological and technological content.
To summarize the definitions of social media in the literature, we can define social media as social domain in where individuals or communities can communicate with each other or with others on a virtual platform, share information, photos, videos, opinions or instant feelings, on the other hand, social media provides people to follow occupational news and current issue, to establish new friendships, and to come together according to a certain thought and constituting various communities (Akkus, Afacan & Ozbek, 2018).
The internet has become an indispensable lifestyle for people and is an important tool for people to communicate. The use of social media, which became widespread and popular, gained different communication dimensions among people (Bedir, 2016;Cakmak, 2014;Kahraman, 2013). People spend a lot of time on social media which can make them addicted.
Social media addiction is one of the biggest problems of our age that we face. Social media addiction can be expressed as a psychological problem which causes problems such as occupation, emotion modification, relapse and conflict in many areas of daily life such as private, business/academic, interpersonal in person's life by progressing with cognitive, affective and behavioral processes (Tutgun-Unal, 2015). The use of social media can lead to social media addiction, which requires someone to control social media use and use it in a way that interferes with other life tasks (Ryan, Chester, Reece, & Xenos, 2014). Social media addiction is a form of internet addiction in which individuals refer to social media as a desire to overuse (Starcevic, 2013). Individuals with social media addiction often worry too much about social media and feel an uncontrollable desire to sign in and use social media (Andreassen & Pallesen, 2014).
With the development of mobile devices and internet networks among today's technologies, some purposes such as feeling loneliness of people, communicating and spending time on the Internet etc. increase the use of social media applications (Andreassen, Torsheim, Brunborg & Pallesen, 2012). In some studies it was found that social media is used *Corresponding author: OzlemAfacan ,KirsehirAhiEvran University, Science Education Department, Kirsehir/Turkey.  ozlemafacan2005@gmail.com at a high level among the students and Facebook is the most widely used social media environment (Balci & Golcu, 2013;Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2007;Gurultu, 2016;Mazman, 2009;Wu, 2013).
With each passing day technology and Internet networks are rapidly developing and progressing. Nowadays, with developing technology and increasing the use of the Internet, using social media is among the indispensables in our lives. Increasing and improving the number of social media platforms in terms of digital and contextual way causes the number of users to increase.
Research has shown that extraversion is an indicator of social media use and addiction (Wilson, Fornasier & White, 2010). It is, therefore, important to understand the causes, consequences and solutions of social media addiction.
Social media addiction in Turkey (Bedir, 2016;Tutgun-Unal, 2015) and in the world increases (Al Mamun & Griffiths, 2019;Griffiths, 2000Griffiths, , 2012. Therefore, it is important to investigate the social media addiction of high school students. It is expected that the results of the study will contribute to the literature and guide further studies.

Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to examine social media addiction status of the students in three high schools who have different achievement status in Kirsehir in Turkey in terms of gender, age, class, high school type and daily average internet usage period. For this purpose, the following research problem and the sub-problems were sought.

Research Problem
What are the social media addiction levels of students who study in different high schools?

Sub-Problems of the Research
 Does the status of social media addiction of high school students differ in terms of gender?
 Does the status of social media addiction of high school students differ in terms of age?
 Does the status of social media addiction of high school students differ in terms of types of high school?
 Does the status of social media addiction of high school students differ in terms of grade level?
 Does the status of social media addiction of high school students differ in terms of daily average internet usage period?

Design of the Research
Survey method was used in the study since the purpose of the study is to examine social media addiction status of the students who study at high schools in Kirsehir in Turkey in terms of some variables.
Data collection studies which are conducted to determine the characteristics of individuals in a study group consisting of a group or individual are defined as survey method (Buyukozturk et al., 2017). It can also be defined as a research that shows whether there is a differentiation between the groups formed according to a determined variable of social media addiction status of high school students (Karasar, 2005).

Research Group
The study group consisted of a total of 596 students. 189 of students study at Anatolian High School A in Kirsehir, 211 students studying in Anatolian High School B and 196 students in vocational and technical high schools. Class levels, type of school and gender distribution of the students participating in the study are shown in Table 1 and Table 2.  When Table 2 is examined, 134 of the students participating in the research are 9th grade, 152 of them are in the 10th grade, 164 of them are in the 11th grade and 146 of them are in the 12th grade.

Characteristics of schools
High School A is a high school in Kirsehir. The overall academic achievement of the students in this school is high.
High School B is a high school in Kirsehir. The overall academic achievement of the students in this school is medium.
High School C stands for a vocational and technical high school in Kirsehir. The overall academic achievement of the students in this school is low.

Data collection tools
Data were collected with 'Personal Information Form' including high school students' gender, grade level, school type and daily average internet usage period. Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS) developed by Tutgun-Unal (2015) was used to determine high school students' social media addiction status. Scale consisting of 41 items with 5 point -likert scale has four dimensions (Occupation, mood modification, relapse and conflict). Internal coefficient of consistence was found as .97 by researchers who developed the scale. Since the sample was different, a reliability analysis was performed once again with the obtained data and the Cronbach alpha was found as .97.

Data Collection Process
Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS) developed by Tutgun-Unal (2015) and "Personal Information Form" were used as data collection tools. During the data collection, data were collected by the researcher face to face and within 3 week period in the classroom environment according to ethical rules.

Analysis of Data
The scores obtained from the SMAS were aggregated and divided into 5 because they were 5-point Likert-type, and the lowest score was 41, and the highest score was 205. The ranges of these scores are presented in Table 3. For the data analysis, SPSS statistical program was used. In order to provide normal distribution of data, test of Kolmogrov-Simirnov was used. According to test of Kolmogrov-Simirnov, data were distributed normally (Z=1.336, p>.05). For this reason, t-test and one-way ANOVA was used.

Findings
In this section, the data collected from 596 students with SMAS and findings are included.

Findings Related to the Research Problem
Findings related to social media addiction status of high school students are shown in Table 4. When Table 4 is examined, the total score (M=100.69) of high school students from SMAS is among category of low level of addiction. Result of factor analysis (occupation, mood modification, relapse and conflict) was presented in Table 5. According to Table 5, when the mean scores of the sub-factors were examined, it was concluded that the average of occupation factor score was M= 34.00 and that students have medium level of addiction.
The mean of score of mood modification was M=12.70, and it was concluded that students have medium level of addiction. It was revealed that the mean of score of Relapse factor was M=11.71, and the mean of score obtained from conflict factor was M=42.27. According to these results, the mean scores of the students from the relapse and conflict factor can be explained as being low level of addiction on social media.

Findings on First Sub-Problem
Considering the total scores taken from the sub-factors (occupation, mood modification, relapse and conflict) constituting the SMAS, whether there is a difference among social media addictions of high school students in terms of gender variables was determined with independent sample t-test and these results are given in Table 6. When Table 6 is examined, there was no significant difference between the total scores of the students' social media addiction scale and gender variable. There was no significant difference (p>.05) in terms of gender variable among the scores of mood modification factor and conflict factor scores of the scale, but it was found that there was a statistically significant difference between relapse factor scores [t(594)= .146; p<.05] and the occupation factor scores [t(594)=2.33; p<.05] in terms of gender variable. In other words, female students were more engaged with social media than males.

Findings on Second Sub-Problem
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine whether the social media addiction status of high school students differed significantly in terms of age variable. The results are shown in Table 7.   Table 7 is examined, it is seen that there was no statistically significant difference in the social media addiction status of the students according to the age variable (F(5-590) =1.149; p>.05). Status of students' social media addiction did not differ in terms of age.

Findings on Third Sub-Problem
One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine whether the social media addiction status of high school students differed significantly in terms of types of high school. The results are shown in Table 8, Table 9 and  Table 10. As can be seen in Table 8, high school students' social media addiction scores increase respectively (M=92.29, 101.28 and 108.14). Levene test conducted to test the homogeneity of the variances belonging to the data revealed that the variances were homogenous (p> .05), (Table 9). Since the data were homogeneous, Scheffe test was performed. It is seen that there was a statistically significant difference in the social media addiction status of the students according to the type of high school variable (F(2-593)=8.967; p<.05). Status of students' social media addiction did not differ in terms of age. This significant difference was found to be between the C Vocational and Technical High School with low academic achievement and the A High School with high academic achievement level in favor of C Vocational and Technical High School.
When the factors of social media addiction scale are examined; a significant difference was found between C Vocational and Technical High School and A Anatolian High School. (F(2-593)= 4.451; p<.05). This significant difference was in favor of C Vocational and Technical High School.
In the factor of mood modification, a significant difference was found between A Anatolian High School and C Vocational High School in favor of C Vocational and Technical High School and between B Anatolian High School and C Vocational and Technical High School in favor of C Vocational and Technical High School. (F(2-593)= 12.85; p<.05).
There was no significant difference in the factor of relapse in terms of type of high school (F(2-593)= 2.047; p>.05).
In the factor of conflict, a significant difference was found between A Anatolian High School and B Anatolian High School in favor of B Anatolian High School (F(2-593)= 11.492; p<.05).
According to the eta square (η2) values calculated to test the size of the high school type independent variable on the social media addiction total scores, it is seen that the students' school type on the social media addiction total scores have a "small" effect (η 2 =0.029). It was found that type of the high school variable had a "small" effect on the occupation, mood modification and conflict factors (η2=0.014; η2=0.041; η2=0.037), while no effect of it on relapse was found.

Findings on Fourth Sub-Problem
One-way ANOVA was performed to determine whether social media addiction status of high school students showed a significant difference according to grade level variable. As a result of the homogeneity test, since the data were homogeneous (p>.05). Scheffe test was performed. The results are shown in Table 11.  It is seen that there was no statistically significant difference in the social media addiction status of the students according to the grade level variable (F(3-592)= .724; p>.05). No significant difference was found between the subdimensions of the scale. Social media addiction status of high school students did not vary depending on the grade level. When the total score of the scale was examined, it was seen that the highest score belongs to the 12th grade students (M = 103.24)

Findings on Fifth Sub-Problem
One-way ANOVA was performed to determine whether social media addiction status of high school students showed a significant difference according to daily average internet usage period. The results are shown in Table 12. Levene test conducted to test the homogeneity of the variances belonging to the data revealed that the variances were homogenous (p> .05), (Table 12). Since the data were homogeneous, Scheffe test was performed. As can be seen in Table 13, as the daily internet usage period increases, high school students' social media addiction scores is also increase. When the sub-dimensions of the social media addiction scale are examined, it was found that there was a significance difference between less than an hour and between 1-3 hours in favor of between 1-3 hours, between less than an hour and between 4-6 hours in favor of between 4-6 hours, between less than an hour and more than 7 hours in favor of more than 7 hours [F(3-592)= 8.575; p<.05].
The use of internet for more than 7 hours among high school students showed that a great time in daily life was in internet.
According to the eta square (η2) values calculated to test the size on the social media addiction total scores, it was seen that the students' daily average internet usage period on the social media addiction total scores had a "small" effect (η 2 =0.041).
In the mood modification factor, there was a significance difference between less than an hour and between 4-6 hours in favor of between 4-6 hours [F(3-592)= 6.862; p< .05]. It was seen that the students' daily average internet usage period on the social media addiction total scores had a "small" effect (η 2 =0.033).
In the relapse factor, there was a significance difference between less than an hour and more than 7 hours in favor of more than 7 hours [F(3-592)=6.007; p< .05]. It was seen that the students' daily average internet usage period on the social media addiction total scores had a "small" effect (η 2 =0.029).
In the conflict factor, it was found that there was a significance difference between less than an hour and between 1-3 hours in favor of between 1-3 hours, between less than an hour and between 4-6 hours in favor of between 4-6 hours. It was seen that the students' daily average internet usage period on the social media addiction total scores had a "small" effect (η 2 =0.042).
Considering the total scores, it is seen that the increase in social media addiction increases as the internet usage period of the students increases.

Results and Discussion
The aim of this study was to investigate the social media addiction of high school students in terms of some variables such as age, class, type of school, gender and daily average internet usage period. In the study, the level of social media addiction of 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students who were studying in three different high schools in Kirsehir was determined. The total score (M=100.69) obtained from SMAS was statistically in the category of low level of addiction.
As a result of the average scores taken from relapse and conflict factors, it was determined that they were low level of addiction on social media. When evaluated in terms of occupational and mood modification, it can be said that they use social media in order to enjoy, to eliminate loneliness or to forget the negativity in their lives. Unlike Deniz and Gurultu's study (2018) in which high school students examined social media addiction, it was found that the students were medium level of addiction. Akkus et al., (2018) who investigate social media addictions of university students who study in the department of science education and psychological counseling and guidance found that students have low level of addiction. Gul and Diken (2018) found pre-service science teachers' social media addictions as medium level of addiction. In general, it can be said that the students in the research group were not highly dependent on social media in the studies conducted with pre-service science teachers' and high school students.
In a study conducted by Cam and Isbulan (2012) with pre-service teachers, it was found that the addiction of males on Facebook, which is one of the social media tools, is high, resulting in a decrease in their academic achievement, creating negative effects on their productivity and business performance. Yilmazsoy and Kahraman (2017) and Tutgun-Unal and Deniz (2016) reported that female students use social media more effectively than male students. Ko, Yen, Chen, Chen and Yen (2005) stated that male students use the internet for game.
In the study, it was determined that there was no statistically significant difference in social media addiction status of high school students according to age variable. Tutgun-Unal (2015) stated that students aged 17-22 are at greater risk than older people in terms of social media addiction. In the study conducted by Gunlu and Ceyhan (2017), it was concluded adolescents' use of problematic and overused mobile phones had a negative effect on their academic lives and that also caused internet addiction.
In the study, it was determined that there was statistically significant difference in social media addiction status of high school students according to type of high school variable. This significant difference was found to be between the C Vocational and Technical High School with low academic achievement and the A High School with high academic achievement level in favor of C Vocational and Technical High School. In the factor of occupation, mood regulation and conflict, a significant difference was found in favor of C Vocational and Technical High School with low academic achievement. It could be stated that the lower the academic success, the more social media addiction could be. Mingle and Adams (2015) stated that the increasing use of social media by university students and long hours spent on these platforms decreased academic performance. In their study, Wei and Wang (2011) found that students' academic efficiency decreased as a result of using social media.
It was determined that there was no statistically significant difference in social media addiction status of high school students according to grade level variable. It is thought that this result may be due to the low dependence level of high school students on social media.
There was a statistically significant difference in social media addiction status of high school students according to daily average internet usage period variable. Considering the total scores, it cas seen that the students' using of social media addiction increases as the internet usage period of the students increases. This result is similar to the results of Deniz and Gurultu's (2018) study. In a study conducted by Nalwa and Anand (2004) about students' internet addiction, they stated that as they spend more time on the internet, they are more likely to be addict. Too much use of social media can lead to addiction (Ryan et al., 2014) and students can be depressed. Anyway Jelenchick, Eickhoff and Moreno (2013) reported that high school students had higher scores on the Beck Depression Scale when they spent hours on social media.
As a result of surveys conducted with more than 6000 Hungarian adolescents, 4% of adolescents reported that they were at risk of social media addiction (Banyai et al., as cited in Al Mamun& Griffiths, 2019, p.628). Social media addiction affects about 12% of users on social networking sites (Alabi, 2012;Wu, Cheung, Ku & Hung, 2013).