The role of digital literacy and problematic media use in elementary school students' attitudes towards reading

The general aim of this study is to reveal the role of digital literacy and problematic media use in primary school students' attitudes towards reading. The study group of the research consists of a total of 236 students, 122 of whom are 3rd graders and 114 of whom are 4th graders, and their parents who continue their educational activities in Bartın province. The personal information form developed by the researcher, the "Attitude Scale Towards Digital and Print Reading" adapted by Ciğerci et al. (2022) and the "Digital Literacy Scale for Primary School Students" developed by Şahin et al. Parents were administered the "Problematic Media Use Scale" adapted into Turkish by Furuncu and Öztürk (2020). The analysis of the research data was carried out using the SPPS 25 package program. In addition to descriptive statistics, t-test for independent groups and one-way analysis of variance (One Way ANOVA) were used for comparisons between groups. In addition, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were used to examine the relationships between variables. Cohen's d and Eta squared (η) calculations were used to calculate effect sizes. According to the findings obtained from the study, it was determined that primary school students' attitudes towards digital and print reading differed significantly according to their gender, the grade level they studied and the number of books they read in a year, while their problematic media use status differed significantly only according to their gender. A significant difference was found in digital literacy levels according to their gender and grade level. A low-level significant relationship was found between students' attitude scores towards digital and print reading and their problematic media use, and a medium-level significant relationship was found between their digital literacy. In addition, in line with the regression analysis results, it was determined that students' digital literacy skills and problematic media use significantly predicted their attitudes towards digital and print reading. As a result, it is recommended to reduce problematic media use and increase digital literacy skills to improve students' attitudes towards print and digital reading.