A study on the impact of school-themed TV series on high school students and their social media usage practices

The aim of this thesis is to examine the TV series viewing habits of high school students, to reveal their social media usage practices through TV series and to examine the effects of school-themed TV series on students. The data of the study were collected from 479 volunteer students who were selected by convenient sampling method in Niğde city center by using a general survey model. A questionnaire form consisting of 2 sections was used to collect the data. The first part included questions about students' school, class and gender information, television viewing habits and social media usage practices through TV series, and the second part included Likert-type survey questions consisting of 25 items measuring the effect of school-themed TV series on students. According to the results of the research, it was determined that most of the students watch television between 1-3 hours a day and follow the series mostly on television. While the actors and trailers were effective in starting to watch the series, it was determined that one of the main reasons for stopping watching the series was the morally inappropriate scenes. It is seen that the students do not follow the series on social media, whereas a significant portion of the students follow the series actors on social media. While the total score obtained from the questionnaire regarding the impact of school-themed TV series on students did not change according to gender and grade level, it was determined that it changed according to the high school attended. In addition, it was observed that female students and students studying at Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School were more affected than other groups in the factors of consumption and expectation and negative experiences in communication. Various recommendations are presented to educators, parents, researchers and other stakeholders.