Problematic social media use, digital gaming addiction and excessive screen time among Turkish adolescents during remote schooling: implications on mental and academic well-being

ABSTRACT

Objective: The present study aimed to describe screen use patterns among Turkish adolescents during the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic with a special emphasis on social media and digital gaming addiction, and explore how these are linked to adolescents' mental and academic well-being.Materials and Method: The study sample consisted of 9th to 12th grade students from three public high-schools in Istanbul, Turkey (n=201). Participants were required to complete a comprehensive questionnaire which gathered information about various domains including problematic screen use, attitudes towards online education, and mental/academic well-being during the lockdown period.Results: The overall screen time exhibited a significant increase during the lockdown, with the most common discretionary screen activities being social media use, communication, and watching movies/series (p<0.001). The students spent significantly less time on physical activities (p=0.003) and face-to-face meetings with their friends (p<0.001). Male students presented with higher scores on gaming addiction (p<0.001), whereas a significantly higher proportion of the female students (28.57% vs. 14.81%) were classified as atrisk for social media addiction (p=0.046). Both gaming addiction and social media addiction were associated with higher depression scores (p=0.003 and p<0.001 respectively).Conclusion: Screen use patterns may have diverse consequences for youth's well-being during the pandemic. The addiction risk and other detrimental outcomes are likely to be associated with the qualitative features of screen activities, rather than just the amount of time spent on digital media by the adolescents.