The relationship between university students' perception of boredom in leisure time and internet addiction in the social isolation process

The aim of the study is to examine the correlation between the perception of boredom in leisure time and internet addiction levels of university students in social isolation process and to compare these in terms of various demographic variable. The universe of research consists of the students who continue their education at Manisa Celal Bayar University. The sample group consists of a total of 503 volunteers, 296 females (Mean=20.64 ± 2.36) and 207 males (Mean=21.29 ± 2.72), who was chosen by easy sampling method among students. Including the personal information form developed by the researcher, "Young's Internet Addiction Test - Short Form" (YIAT-SF) adapted into Turkish by Kutlu, Savcı, Demir ve Aysan (2016) and "Leisure Boredom Scale" (LBS) adapted into Turkish by Kara, Gürbüz and Öncü (2014), were applied to the participants. Skewness, Kurtosis values and Levene Test results were examined to determine the distribution of the obtained data. After it is determined that the data show a normal distribution, among the statistical analysis methods; percentage, frequency, arithmetic mean, Independent Groups T Test, ANOVA, MANOVA, Pearson Correlation and Regression Test were performed. The study aims to examine the correlation between the perception of boredom in leisure time and internet addiction levels of university students in the social isolation process and to compare these in terms of various demographic variables. The universe of research consists of the students who continue their education at Manisa Celal Bayar University. The sample group consists of a total of 503 volunteers, 296 females (Mean=20.64 ± 2.36) and 207 males (Mean=21.29 ± 2.72), who were chosen by easy sampling method among students. Including the personal information form developed by the researcher, "Young's Internet Addiction Test - Short Form" (YIAT-SF) adapted into Turkish by Kutlu, Savcı, Demir and Aysan (2016) and "Leisure Boredom Scale" (LBS) adapted into Turkish by Kara, Gürbüz and Öncü (2014), were applied to the participants. Skewness, Kurtosis values and Levene Test results were examined to determine the distribution of the obtained data. After it is determined that the data show a normal distribution, among the statistical analysis methods; percentage, frequency, arithmetic mean, Independent Groups T Test, ANOVA, MANOVA, Pearson Correlation and Regression Test were performed. As a result of the findings, it has been determined that the scores of the participants obtained from YIAT-SF in terms of gender, age, educational status, leisure time opportunities, weekly leisure time, difficulty in evaluating of leisure time, daily internet usage time, daily online status, a platform where time is frequently spent on the internet, social status, participation in physical activity before and during the pandemic variables showed significant differences. The scores of the participants from LBS showed a significant difference in terms of the variable of the number of people living at home, in addition to the aforementioned variables. The scores the participants obtained from LBS showed a significant difference in terms of the number of people living at home variable too, in addition to the aforementioned variables. Furthermore, while a strong and positive correlation was found between YIAT-SF and the getting bored subscale of LBS, it was found that there is a moderate and positive correlation with the dissatisfaction subscale of LBS. As a result, the perception of boredom in leisure time significantly affects individuals' internet addiction levels. It was determined that as university students' internet addiction levels increase in the social isolation process, their perceptions of boredom in leisure time increase As a result, the perception of boredom in leisure time significantly affects individuals' internet addiction levels. It was determined that as university students' internet addiction levels increase in the social isolation process, their perceptions of boredom in leisure time increase.