The effect of social media on young people's leisure time utilization: The case of Duzce University

The aim of this research is to learn how university students spend their free time and to understand whether their use of social media has an effect on their leisure time. In the research, a questionnaire form was applied to 506 university students determined by random sampling, to measure their leisure time and social media usage. The answers of the questionnaires were entered into the SPSS data program, various variables were compared and the results were obtained by performing chi-square analysis. In the research, it was concluded that the majority of the young people (33.7%) had 6 hours or more free time per day. University students spend most of their free time on the Internet and listen to music; young women mostly watch TV series and movies, go to the cinema and theater and read books and magazines; On the other hand, it was concluded that young men mostly play games on the computer and phone, and do individual or team sports. Young people stated that the most important reason for not participating in leisure activities was the lack of opportunities and financial inadequacy in their city, and it was observed that the economic status of the young people's families also had an effect on these results. Young people with low financial situation did not participate in leisure time activities due to financial inadequacy, while young people with high financial situation stated that they did not participate in leisure activities due to lack of opportunities in their city. Most of the university students (39.7%) stated that they use social media for 3-4 hours a day. The three most frequently used social media platforms by young people are Whatsapp, Instagram and Youtube. It was concluded that young women use various social media platforms more frequently than young men. It has been observed that young women do not find it safe to make friends on social media, while young men are warmly attracted to the idea of making friends on social media. University students stated that they use social media more to have fun, relax and spend their leisure time, and that social media is a habit for them. In the research, it was concluded that university students generally spend most of their leisure time on social media platforms and digital environments.