Social media as a socialization channel in hearing impaired individuals

Social media, which entered human life with the rapid development of internet technology, has become a part of people's lives worldwide, started to affect people's lives and interpersonal relationships and become a subject of many studies. This research includes participant with % 40 or more hearing loss, between the ages of 15-55, live in Bingöl city, during January 2020 and March 2020, and who actively use social media. The population of the study consists of 102 participants in total. Within the scope of the research, a total of 128 hearing-impaired participants were reached, but 26 of these were excluded from the study due to being outside the age range and missing data entries. Quantitative method and survey technique were used to collect data in the research. Within the scope of the study, it is compiled from statements that individuals with hearing disabilities can easily understand through the Google Forms platform. The questionnaire was delivered to the participants through social media and one-on-one interviews. The statistical analysis of the data was made with the percentage rates given by the Google Forms platform and the SPSS Statistics 26.0 Program. According to the research results examined, it has been observed that individuals with hearing disabilities frequently use social media. 72.5% of the participants spend more than one hour of their daily time on social media. It was seen that the participants mostly use social media to be aware of current developments, to chat, communicate, share and research. The participants stated that social media meets the most information and socialization needs. 69.6% of the participants use social media to get information about social life. In addition, 65.7% of the participants stated that they carried the social media friendships to real life as well. It was observed that the participants mostly used instant messaging applications (WhatsApp, Messenger, etc.), social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) and sharing platforms from social media tools. When the attitudes, goals and the most used social media tools of participants' and other findings are analyzed, social media seems to play a significant role in the communication and interaction of hearing-impaired individuals in society. When the research findings are considered in general terms, it is possible to say that social media is quite effective in the socialization of the hearing impaired.