A qualitative study on young people's ways of using digital technology and digital violence

Violence is a phenomenon that continues its existence by taking the characteristics of the age we live in and exists in almost every period of social life. As a matter of fact, with the effects of digitalisation, it has become possible to talk about a digital aspect of violence, just as daily life practices have moved to digital environments. Today, technological tools and especially the internet are most widely used by young people. Digital technology tools offer many opportunities such as learning, accessing information, making friends, communication and socialising in the daily lives of young people, but as a result of the misuse of these opportunities, it has led to the emergence of a new type of violence, digital violence. The research was conducted to investigate the digital violence experiences and digital violence awareness of young people in virtual environments while using digital technology tools. In this context, the research data were obtained from face-to-face interviews with a total of 20 participants, 10 female youth and 10 male youth, using a semi-structured interview form and in-depth interview technique. As a result of the categorisations created while analysing the research data, themes suitable for the research were determined and the findings were explained with the descriptive analysis technique. Based on the data obtained, as a result of the study, it was determined that young people experience acts of digital violence depending on the use of digital technology tools and the interactions they establish in digital environments.