Determination of Internet and Digital Game Addiction Level of Students According to the Opinions of Parents, Teachers and Students

Abstract

Due to the effect of COVID-19 pandemic, the use of technology and internet has taken place widely in all areas of life of individuals and provided positive benefits to individuals in various fields. Although the use of internet and technology provides many benefits, spending excessive time on internet due to the pandemic conditions has detrimental effects such as internet addiction that has been wide-spreading in human life. In this context, in this study, it has been tried to determine the digital game addiction levels of the students, which has become prevalent with the internet and internet addiction. 66 parents, 207 teachers, and 978 students participated in this study in which a mixed research method was used. The results acquired through the research demonstrate that the students are addicted to internet and digital games. The majority of the participant parents state that their children spend 3 hours or more on the internet a day with the purpose of playing games. Parents state that they have concerns whether their children are aware of the internet safety risks and they feel discomfort with the time their children spend on internet. Similarly, the majority of teachers participating in the research believe that students are addicted to digital games. Another result obtained from the research is that the majority of the participant students spend 3 hours or more a day, especially for playing digital games. However, contrary to their teachers and parents, students do not consider themselves as internet and game addicts.

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“…But, when they are separated from their smartphones, their main thoughts are related to anxiety or expectation that something needs to happen. Here we can conclude that maybe they are not aware of their dependency (Hursen et al, 2023) and do not consider that it exists.…”