The effects of social media on the values of the high school youth: The example of İzmir

Social media is becoming an environment where people are more active day by day. With the development of communication tools, this effect reaches all areas of life. This situation appears in the literature of sociology, as in other scientific fields, and it is seen that research on social media is intensified. The fact that social media has gained such a place in society and has become an indispensable part of daily life, especially for high school youth, has led us to investigate the effects of social media on the values of high school youth. The aim of this thesis is to deal with and understand the effects of social media on the values of high school youth in the example of Izmir. In this research, the effects of social media on values; social integration, social power and comfort, universality and environmentalism, caring for the family and virtue, nationalism, socialist and traditional culture, caring for knowledge, mystical and spiritual, political and private life dimensions. The research data is based on the results of the questionnaire applied to a total of 1000 11th grade students in Anatolian high school, Anatolian imam hatip high school and science high school selected by quota, and 30 student interviews. As a result, a statistically significant and positive relationship was found regarding the effect of social media on the values of young people. In addition, the quantitative findings were supported by qualitative data. Keywords: Social Media, Youth, Values, The Example of İzmir.