The sources used in determining the recreational activities of university students and the role of social media use

In this study, it is aimed to determine the social media usage purposes of the students, to determine whether individuals see social media as a reliable source in their participation in recreational activities, and to determine whether social media has an effect on the choice of recreational activities. A total of 497 university students voluntarily participated in the study. As a result of the analysis, extreme values were determined in 22 questionnaires and they were excluded from the study. The research was carried out with 286 (60.2%) female and 189 (39.8) male individuals. Scanning was used in the research, and the "Purposes of Use of Social Networks Scale" and "Relied Sources for Participating in Recreational Activities" scale were used as data collection tools. As a result of the analyzes, when the skewness and kurtosis values of the SAKAÖ and its sub-dimensions were checked, it was found that it was not suitable for the normal distribution and non-parametric tests were used, while it was found that the REKKKÖ was suitable for the normal distribution and parametric tests were applied. In addition to descriptive statistics, T-test, Mann Whitney-u test, Kruskal Wallis test, correlation and regression analysis methods were used for the statistical analysis of the data. In the light of the findings, no significant difference was found between the gender variable of the participants, the purposes of using social media and the sources they rely on while participating in recreational activities (p>.05). According to the age groups of the participants, significance was determined in the sub-dimensions of initiating communication, establishing communication and entertainment (p<.05), which are sub-dimensions of SAKAÖ, but not in other sub-dimensions (p>.05). No significant difference was found between the age groups of the participants and REKKKÖ (p>.05). Influenced by the content (photos, videos, comments) shared by individuals on social media, the variables I made/can make changes in the recreational activities that I would participate in were determined at the level of (p<.05) between the two scales. In line with the study carried out, a significant relationship was found between the use of social media and individuals' choice of recreational activities (p<.05). There is a strong positive correlation between individuals' social media use and their participation in recreational activities (r=0.582). According to the results of our analysis, it was concluded that the use of social media by individuals also affects their participation in recreational activities.