A comparative study on social media addiction of high school and university students

Abstract

Considering that social media addiction is probably the most recent type of technology addiction, the present study was designed based on the six components suggested by Griffiths (2013). Toward the main purpose 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 5 structured items regarding demographics of the respondents. In addition to the original findings of the present study, similar research on social media addiction in some other countries were examined for comparisons. The results 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