Examining internet addiction levels in adolescents through some variables

Today, internet exists in every part of our lives. The effects of internet, which constantly develops as a communication means, cannot be ignored anymore. Internet is used meet basic needs such as communication, entertainment; explore new information, shopping by individuals from every age group and all social levels. Overusing the internet in an uncontrolled way has caused internet addiction among individuals, especially adolescents. Internet addiction has adverse effects on societies and individuals. There are some risk factors that result in the uncontrolled use of internet among individuals, namely, internet addiction, due to some socio-demographic, psychological, biologic characteristics. Internet addiction is more common among adolescents who are in the process of individualisation and structuring their personality. There are individual, familial, and social risk factors, which can cause internet addiction among adolescents. The aim of this study is to put forth the prevalence of internet addiction among adolescents, the purpose of internet and its effects on their daily functioning. The study was conducted with 252 students of 7th, 8th and 9th grades, aged 13-15 years from a private school in Keçiören, district of Ankara. The study group was selected by the purposive sampling method from the population constitute the sample of the research. In this study, "Internet Addiction Scale" and "Personal Information Form developed by the researcher" were used as data collection tools in the assessment of internet addiction of adolescents. In addition, a family consent form for conforming their children's participation in the research was obtained from the parents. IBM SPSS Statistics 20 and Microsoft Excel 2013 software were used for the analysis of the data. The relationships between the data were examined by Chi-Square Test, Independent t Test and One Way Analysis of Variance. When the findings obtained from the study were examined, no significant relationship was found appertaining to internet addiction in terms of socio-demographic characteristics of adolescents. However, there was a statistically significant relationship between the levels of internet addiction according to the purpose of playing game variable in personal information form. In addition, it was found that the relationship between the level of internet addiction according to the purpose of using social media and networks variable in the same form was statistically significant. As a result, there is a need for more comprehensive studies focusing on the rate of internet use and the purpose of internet use among adolescents.