Social media addiction and loneliness of high school students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether high school students' addictions to social media and feelings of loneliness were related. The UCLA loneliness scale, and the social media addiction scale were applied for this purpose. To supplement the quantitative data, a semi-structured questionnaire was also created, and students' perspectives on social media addiction and loneliness were evaluated. The study was conducted in a Turkish Anatolian high school student. 30 students took part in the study's qualitative part, whereas 379 students took part in the study's quantitative part. The study's quantitative findings and the data acquired from them showed that the students generally have a moderate level of social media addiction and a moderate level of loneliness. Additionally, the connection between students' addictions to social media and feelings of loneliness was investigated, and it was found through quantitative data that there was no such association. Nevertheless, qualitative data showed a connection between students' social media addictions and loneliness. While the qualitative findings match with the literature, the quantitative findings disagree with it when compared to other studies of a similar nature. As a result of the study, it can be seen that high school kids have moderate degrees of social media addiction and moderate level of loneliness. As a result, although quantitative data doesn't support, based on the qualitative data it can be said that high school students' addictions to social media may deprive them from real social environment and may lead them being loneliness.