Examination of the relationship between digital addiction and life satisfaction of sports high school students

Purpose of the research; The aim is to examine the digital addiction levels and life satisfaction perceptions of students studying at Incirliova Sports High School in Aydın Province. It is thought that determining the relationship between digital addiction levels and life satisfaction of sports high school students will contribute to the literature. Today, the ongoing debate about the addiction of mobile devices that students use as communication and socialization tools reveals the importance of the research problem. This research was conducted in a quantitative research approach using a relational survey model. The sample of the research consists of 338 high school students (9th - 12th grade) studying in the 2022-2023 academic year. In accordance with the purpose of the research, the Digital Addiction Scale (DBÖ) and the Life Satisfaction Scale (YDS) regarding students' life satisfaction were used. The data obtained from the participants were analyzed with the SPSS 25.0 package program. Considering the Skewness and Kurtosis (skewness and kurtosis) values, the data showed a normal distribution, and the data met the parametric test assumptions. T-test was applied for binary variables and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was applied for multiple variables. Post Hoc LSD test was used to determine the difference between groups. Additionally, the Spearman correlation method was used to determine whether there was a relationship between students' digital addiction and life satisfaction. Regression analysis was used to determine the effect of digital addiction on students' life satisfaction. According to the study results, digital addiction is a type of addiction that increases over time. This type of addiction is no different from other substance addictions. Digital addiction is a factor that reduces student success. At the same time, it has been determined that failure leads students to greater digital addiction. First of all, limiting the use of digital devices by students studying at pre-school and primary school levels and providing a supervised use of digital devices is the most basic way to get out of this vicious circle. In this research conducted with students studying at a sports high school, a limited effect of digital addiction on life satisfaction was observed. The reason for this is that students have an integrated relationship with digital devices and see these devices as a means of socialization rather than an addiction. Being deprived of these digital devices has brought about the concern of not being able to socialize. They perceived that they experienced life satisfaction as a result of seeing socializing with digital devices as a means of life satisfaction. However, digital addiction brings failure, failure brings low income level and thus low life satisfaction. In line with this problem, the results of digital addiction can be observed by creating pre-school, primary school, secondary school, high school and university sample groups for this study.