An investigation of university students’ internet and game addiction with respect to several variables

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether internet and game addiction of university students differ in regard to variables such as gender, grade, having computer and internet connection and game type which they prefer. The sample of this study consists of 996 students from Faculty of Educational Science at Ankara University and Education Faculty at Gazi University. In terms of gender variable, male students' internet and computer game addiction levels were significantly higher than females. It was found that there was no significant difference between internet and computer game addiction levels in terms of students' grade and game type variables. Students who have personal computers showed significantly higher levels of addiction to internet and computer game than those who don't have personal computers.The students who have internet connection showed significantly higher levels of addiction to internet and computer game than those who don't have internet connection in their homes. Özlem ÇAKIR, Tuncay AYAS, Mehmet Barış HORZUM 96 SUMMARY Purpose and Significance: In spite of the fact that computers provide convenience for people in many ways, their misuse may sometimes result in physiological and psychological damage on the users.Today people include computers in their lives to solve their questions easily.However, the over usage of them bring about internet and game addiction. Some researchers agreed that these types of addiction differentiate with gender, computer and internet ownership; on the other hand, some of the researchers disagree with this opinion. Because of the different findings in other culture research, this study aims to demonstrate whether game and internet addiction of university students vary according to specific variables such as gender, computer and internet ownership in Turkey.