The assessment of the attitude of the Z generation on the use of social media in the context of social media literacy "Eskişehir scale research"

Nowadays, the change continues to exist with the discovery of the internet, which is called the greatest invention of the last century, and especially with the introduction of social media into the life routines of Z generation individuals. Social media platforms, which are adopted more and more by day and used as a mainstream communication channel without time and space limitation, determine the young generation as the target group. This raises the idea of educating the Z Generation individuals on social media literacy against the damages of social media. In the first part of this study, the development of internet and social media has been followed, Z generation has been discussed with the generations and the importance of media literacy has been discussed. In the second part of the study, the data obtained by the quantitative research method were collected through a survey method. Considering the reasons and usage habits of the Z generation in terms of social media, it has been examined whether these preferences and attitudes towards using social media differ in terms of social media literacy. As a result, a significant relationship was found between the Z generation individuals who took the media literacy course and the individuals who did not take the media literacy course with respect to their attitudes towards the use of social media. Key Words: Social Media, Media Literacy, Generation Z.