The study of the perceptions of internet and social media among adolescents and problematic use of ınternet

Abstract

The adolescents’ perceptions of social media in relation with problematic internet use were examined in this study. The study group consisted of 209 students (113  girls, 96 boys), who were studying secondary schools in Istanbul. "Problematic Internet Usage Scale-Adolescent" and "Open-ended Questions Form on Internet and Social Networking Sites", were utilized by the researchers, and applied to adolescents in order to determine students' level of problematic use of the internet and their perceptions regarding social media. The analysis revealed that the adolescents who stated that they “needed” to use the internet had the highest level of problematic internet use.  Significant age differences among adolescents with regard to meaning of internet pointed out how the internet played various purposes to individuals in various age groups. It has been determined that students in the 11-12 age group preferred to use the internet for "entertainment” purposes more than for other purposes. It was also found that the problematic use of the internet by these adolescents was associated with their opinions about their own academic achievements - specifically those individuals who thought of themselves as "poor" students showed a higher use of the internet in correlation with high levels of negative consequences.