The relationship between social media addiction levels and alexithymia in young people at home during pandemic process

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between social media addiction levels and alexithymia in young people who were at home during the pandemic process. The descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 520 young people between 01.01.2021-15.01.2021. Data were collected using a personal information form, Social Media Addiction Scale and Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U tests and correlation and regression analysis were used to evaluate the data. The total score average of the Social Media Addiction Scale of the youth was 94.65 ± 37.63 and the total score average of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale was 50.04 ± 12.14. It was determined that 44.6% of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale received 51 points. A positive and moderate correlation was found between Social Media Addiction Scale and Toronto Alexithymia Scale (r = 0.463, p = 0.001). Social media addiction was found to affect alexithymia by 21.3% according to the regression analysis. It has been determined that the social media addiction levels of the young people are medium and their alexithymia levels are high. It has been found that there is a significant relationship between social media addiction and alexithymia.