The effect of social media use on high school students' socio-cultural lives: The case of Ardahan province

Today, social media is a concept at the center of human life with the developing technology. Social media is one of the concepts that play an active role in keeping people in communication with each other. It is seen that social media has influenced almost every segment of society. It is seen that everyone uses social media in various ways depending on their interests. When we look at the students in terms of social media usage, it is seen that they use social media throughout their lives. Students use social media both to help them in their classes and in areas they want in their daily lives. Because they are trying to keep up with society with developing technology. Thus, they find themselves in social media in every field. In this study, the effects of social media will be tried to be revealed through the studies carried out and will be revealed through in-depth interviews and surveys. The study was carried out in 5 high schools in the central district of Ardahan province and tried to be revealed. In-depth interviews and surveys were used as methods. The survey includes 5 open-ended questions, 8 demographic questions, and 31 multiple-choice questions. As a result of the applications, it was determined that social media has an important place in most students' lives. It has been revealed that students' families' income levels, education levels, ages, and even the schools they attend have an important place in social media use. It has been determined that the limited opportunities of the Ardahan province lead students to social media and to spend time with their friends due to the lack of nice and different activities to do in their after-school time. Students' exposure to social media at school has made it possible to conduct studies on this subject. In addition, among the hypotheses determined as a result of the studies, only the hypothesis that social media has a negative effect on student-family relations has been shown to have the opposite effect, and the other hypotheses have been proven correct. There fore, people try to keep up with other people. Within the scope of the subject of the thesis, it will be examined what effects social media use has on the lives of high school students, their daily lives, and what they experience during their time at school.