The relationship between digital addiction and alexythymia in young adults

The most emerging improvement of our age is undoubtedly the changes in the field of information and technology. This change has modulated the ways of communication and interaction between people and brought them to the digital dimension. Individuals spend more time and live in a virtual environment which is away from social life, particularly in some areas such as internet, social media applications, smart phones and digital games. Thus, while the concept of addiction related to the uncontrollable excessive use of the digital environment is introduced, it is thought that this excessive use may also be related to alexithymia. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between digital addiction and alexithymia in young adults, together with the variables of gender and age. Personal Information Form, Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-26) and Digital Addiction Scale were used for data collection. A total of 305 young adults, 208 women and 97 men, participated in the study. The age of the participants is between 18-30. A weak and positive correlation was found between the difficulty in describing and distinguishing emotions and bodily sensations subscale of alexithymia and the subscales of digital addiction overuse, relapse, blocking the flow of life and mood. A weak and positive correlation was found between the difficulty in recognizing emotions subscale of alexithymia and the subscale of digital addiction preventing the flow of life. According to the findings obtained from the research, gender and age variables predict the level of digital addiction and alexithymia. Keywords: Digital Addiction, Alexithymia, Young Adults