Addictive effects of social media use on Generation Z

While the rapid development of technology affects all areas of daily life, Web 2.0 technology has changed all parameters of both the media and the individual. The social media platforms that emerged with this change have placed users in a position to take them from the consumption part of the media and produce content. These changes have brought with it a number of digital diseases. Z generation individuals who come to the forefront with their digital competencies, puts social media tools at the center of their lives and may experience addiction problems due to excessive use of social media. In the study, how much social media occupies a place in the lives of generation z individuals, the effects of social media addiction on the daily life of individuals and their demographic variability to find out if it has changed. While 48,748 students of Sakarya University created the research universe, the research sample is composed of 300 students of Sakarya University Faculty of Communication. Quantitative analysis method was used in the research and the data were collected through the survey. Social media addiction levels of generation Z individuals are "under-dependent," research suggests differentiations were detected at these levels according to age and daily usage times. Accordingly, women are more engaged on social media, younger individuals are more likely to become addicted to social media and it has been concluded that the dependency levels of individuals in parallel with the duration of use have increased. However, all the findings were tried to be interpreted together with many communication theories.