The Impact of University Level Sports Education on Social Media Addiction

Bilal Okudan1*; Ömür Fatih Karakullukçu2 

1Adnan Menderes Universtiy, Sports Science Faculty, Turkey.
2Turkey School Sports Federation of President, Ankara, Turkey.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyse the effects of university level sport education on social media addiction. For this purpose, social media addiction scales filled in by 320 students from the faculty of Sports Sciences and 333 students from the faculty of Education were evaluated. T-test, one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) and LSD test were used in statistical procedures. In the study, occupation, mood modification, relapse and conflict scores were found to be statistically significantly different in terms of gender (p<0.05 and p<0.001).  Statistically significant difference was also found in social media addiction total score in terms of the year of study (p<0.05 and p<0.001). Occupation, mood modification, relapse, conflict and social media addiction scale scores of faculty of sport sciences students were found to be lower than the scores of education faculty students (p<0.001). Conclusion: It was found that social media addiction level of students receiving sport education was lower when compared with students who were not receiving sport education and it was concluded that sport education could be effective in decreasing social media addiction. It can be recommended to provide opportunities to receive sport education and to do sport to university students who are not receiving sport education.

Keywords:University, Education, Student, Social media, Addiction, Sport.

Contribution of this paper to the literature
It is thought that taking sports training at the university level contributes to being conscious about the use of social media. This study will contribute to the sports literature on the social media addiction of students who receive sports education at university level.

1. Introduction

Social networks is a type of online activity with an emphasis on e-mail/messaging and there are a large number of social media applications that can serve these activities (Tutgun-Ünal, 2015). Social media has a large effect especially on life and daily routine as an important social platform to develop the connections with friends circle and the relationships with new friends (Tulu, 2017). The services and the technical infrastructure provided to individuals by social media may cause addiction by causing their problematic use (Aktan, 2018). Studies have shown that young people use social media to a great extent   (Akyazı & Tutgun-Ünal, 2013; Köroğlu & Tutgun, 2013; Vural & Bat, 2010) . It has been stated that many of these uses are extreme (Andreassen, 2012; Cam & Isbulan, 2012; Hazar, 2011). Individuals meet some of their needs by using the mass media and relax psychologically and through the satisfaction they get from the media, they relax psychologically and their tension is reduced.  In addition to physiological needs, mass media also emerges in terms of meeting psychological and cultural needs (Bayram, 2008). Social networking sites, one of the most important components of social media, are seen as virtual communities in which users can create personal profiles, interact with friends and meet other people based on common interests (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011). These virtual communities occur in networks, especially where young people come together (Casale & Fioravanti, 2018). While social media enables individuals to communicate, it also enables them to come together and organize for a specific purpose outside specific places (Diker & Uçar, 2016).

Social media addiction is a kind of internet addiction. A large number of studies have shown that electronic media use and social media addiction have a negative effect on daily life activities (Andreassen, 2012); (Suganuma et al., 2011). Individuals continue their social relationships in social media environment when they are not in the same environment. This is the reason why social networks are used so intensively (Tutgun-Ünal, 2015). Tablets, mobile phones and easy access of employees to the internet at the work place are seen as an important factor in social media use reaching a level that causes the society to worry (Şahin & Yağcı, 2017) . People who spend a lot of time on social media have a greater desire to know immediately about virtual communication and something that may cause virtual problem (Sahin., 2018). It has been suggested that overuse of new technology (especially online social networks) can cause a potential mental health problem, loneliness and addiction in young people (Echeburua & De Corral, 2010; Stankovska, Angelkovska, & Grncarovska, 2016). Social media addicts show obsessed behaviours and cannot control the use of these devices (Hwang, 2017). While using social media, athletes are faced with the obligation to comply with the patterns determined by the society. The use of social media, which will be carried out in violation of the social structure, will create the risk of reducing the support of the athlete from the society and the value of the club (Ünver & Köse, 2020). A large number of studies have shown that social network use can cause negative consequences such as decreased real-life groups, worse academic performance and relationship problems (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011). Social media addiction is a psychological problem that causes problems like occupation, mood modification, relapse and conflict in many areas of daily life such as private, work/academic, social areas by developing with cognitive, affective and behavioural processes (Tutgun-Ünal, 2015). Internet addiction can be seen in different ways. One of these is computer addiction including computer games; another one is internet focused addiction, while others are online shopping or gambling, online pornography, social networking sites addiction. Social networking site addiction, which constitutes an important part of social media, is the newest addiction type (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011).

ocial media addiction has been defined as the state of being overly occupied with social media channels, having an intense desire to stay connected to these channels all the time and spending too much time in these channels that will harm other activities in social life, student/business life, interpersonal communication and mental state (Andreassen., Torsheim, & Pallesen, 2014). Social media addiction, which does not have a precise definition, is expressed as a subfield of internet addiction (Eijnden, Lemmens, & Valkenburg, 2016; Longstreet & Brooks, 2017). Or the addicted use of social media (such as Facebook, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Twitter) can be seen as a specific form of technological addiction (Turel, Brevers, & Bechara, 2018). With social media, users create content independent from time, place and control and distribute and reproduce the content they produce (Aktan, 2018). Social media, which allows people to show their interests through their personal pages, to interact with others through various applications, to obtain information, to make friends, to share photos and images with other people and/or to present data to people about their personal information, can create addiction when it is used unconsciously and excessively (Balcı & Baloglu, 2018).

2. Method

2.1. Participants

The participants were students who attended university in different departments of Ondokuz Mayıs University and who were at the same time social media users. The questionnaires filled in by 300 male and 280 female students were evaluated. 275 of the students were students in the faculty of Sport Sciences, while 323 were students in the faculty of Education who were not receiving sport education.

2.2. Measurement Instrument

Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS): Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS) is a measurement instrument developed to measure the social media addiction levels of university students. After all validity and reliability studies, the scale included 41 items. The subscales of the scale are occupation including items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12; mood modification including items 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17; relapse including items 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22; and conflict including items 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38., 39, 40 and 41. The items in the scale were scored as “1=Never, 2= Rarely, 3=Sometimes, 4=Often, 5=Always”. The highest score one can take from the social media addiction scale is 205, while the lowest score one can get is 41 (Tutgun-Ünal, 2015). Scores between 41 and 73 show that the individual does not have addiction. Scores between 74 and 106 show the presence of addiction. Scores between 107 and 139 show moderate addiction, while scores between 140 and 172 show high addiction and scores between 173 and 205 show very high addiction (Aktan, 2018).

2.3. Statistical Analysis

SPSS 25, 00 program was used for statistical analysis. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was conducted to find out whether the data were normally distributed and the data were found to be normally distributed. Independent samples t-test was used to compare paired groups, while one way ANOVA and LSD test were used to compare more than two groups.

3. Findings and Comments

Anthropometric characteristics of the participants are given in Table 1. In Table 2, social media addiction is compared by gender. In Table 3, the comparison of social media addiction according to the year of education is given. In Table 4, the comparison of social media addiction according to the sports education status is given.

Table-1. Comparison of age, height and weigh in terms of gender.
Parameter Gender
N
Mean
St. deviation
t-test
Age (years) Male
326
21,55
2,31
0,94
Female
305
21,40
1,78
Height (cm) Male
326
175,78
4,99
13,05**
Female
305
170,00
6,11
Weight (kg) Male
326
73,26
7,44
17,46**
Female
305
63,13
7,11

 Note:  **p<0.001.

The average age of students in this study is 21.40 years for females and 21.55 years for males. While the ages of the participants are similar to each other, their height and body weights are statistically different (p <0.001).

Table-2. Comparison of social media addiction scores in terms of gender.
Subscales Gender
N
Mean
St. deviation
t-test
Occupation Male
339
32,92
9,91
4,37**
Female
314
29,57
9,66
Mood modification Male
339
14,35
4,61
4,78**
Female
314
12,65
4,47
Relapse Male
339
14,19
4,50
4,15**
Female
314
12,72
4,55
Conflict Male
339
53,22
15,31
2,83*
Female
314
49,73
16,14
Total scale Male
339
114,68
31,49
4,01**
Female
314
104,67
32,19

Note: *p<0.05   and ** p<0.001.

Social media addiction sub-dimensions and total scale scores are significantly different according to gender (p <0.05 and p <0.001).

Table-3. Comparison of social media addiction scores in terms of year of study.
Subscales
Year of study
n
Mean
St. Deviation
F
Occupation
1
123
28,63
11,04
6,51**
1,2<3,4
2
186
30,28
9,17
3
166
32,74
10,19
4
178
32,91
9,15
Total
653
31,31
9,93
Mood modification
1
123
12,71
5,40
2,96*
1<4
2
186
13,43
4,25
3
166
13,44
4,51
4
178
14,29
4,43
Total
653
13,53
4,62
Relapse
1
123
12,33
5,24
3,96*
1<2,3,4
2
186
13,44
4,24
3
166
13,70
4,42
4
178
14,13
4,47
Total
653
13,48
4,58
Conflict
1
123
47,20
17,89
4,63*
1<2,3,4
2
186
51,45
14,91
3
166
52,36
15,21
4
178
53,89
15,22
Total
653
51,54
15,80
Total scale
1
123
100,86
37,38
5,34**
1<2,3,4
2<4
2
186
108,59
29,56
3
166
112,23
31,37
4
178
115,21
30,54
Total
653
109,87
32,20

 Note: *p<0.05 and ** p<0.001.

A statistically significant difference was found in the scale sub-dimensions and the total scale score according to the year of education (p <0.05 and p <0.001).

Table-4. Comparison of social media addiction scores in terms of faculty.
Subscales Faculty
N
Mean
St. deviation
t-test
Occupation Sport Sciences
320
29,98
9,42
-3,38**
Education
333
32,59
10,24
Mood modification Sport Sciences
320
12,62
4,20
-5,04**
Education
333
14,41
4,84
Relapse Sport Sciences
320
12,43
4,24
-5,89**
Education
333
14,49
4,68
Conflict Sport Sciences
320
48,27
15,60
-5,30**
Education
333
54,69
15,37
Total scale Sport Sciences
320
103,30
30,89
-5,21**
Education
333
116,18
32,21

Note: *p<0.05 and ** p<0.001.

A statistically significant difference was found in the scale sub-dimensions and total score according to the sports education status (p <0.001).

4. Results and Discussion

In the present study, male participants were found to have a mean age of 21.55 and female participants were found to have a mean age of 21.40. Heights and weights of the male and female students in the study were found to be statistically significantly different (p<0.001)

In their studies, Cömlekci and Başol (2019); Balcı and Baloglu (2018); Demir and Kumcağız (2019); Baz (2018) and Aktan (2018) did not find statistically significant difference between female participants and male participants in terms of social media addiction. Tutgun-Ünal (2015) found that social media addiction levels of university students did not differ in terms of gender, while they were found to differ significantly in the subscales of occupation, mood modification and conflict. Tutgun-Ünal (2015) found difference in favour of women in occupation and mood modification subscales.  According to Özdemir (2019) study, in comparing the social media addiction of university students by gender. Significant differences were found in the sub-dimensions of engagement, emotion regulation, conflict and social media total scores by gender. It is observed that the mean scores of the male participants are high.. Tutgun-Ünal (2015) found a difference in favour of men in conflict subscale. While Ciftci (2018) found difference in favour of men in relapse and conflict subscales, he did not report any differences in occupation, mood modification and social media addiction in terms of gender. In the present study, occupation, mood modification, relapse, conflict subscales and total scale scores were found to be statistically significantly different in terms of gender (p<0,05 and p<0.001).  The scores of male students were found to be significantly higher than those of female students. Male students are more occupied with social media than female students and they receive more emotional support from social media.

Aktan (2018) found the mean scores of social media addiction scale as 35.20 in occupation factor, as 13.17 in mood modification factor, as 13.43 in relapse factor, as 33.14 in conflict factor and as 97.71 in social media addiction total scale. In the present study, mean scores were found as 31.31 in occupation factor, as 13.53 in mood modification factor, as 13.48 in relapse factor, as 51.54 in conflict factor and as 109.87 in social media addiction total scale.

In their study, Balcı and Baloglu (2018) found the mean social media addiction level of the participants as 48.66. Ciftci (2018) found that the mean score of participants from social media addiction scale was 99.85. The conflict factor mean score and the social media addiction total mean score found in our study is higher than the aforementioned studies. In conflict factor, a score between 49 and 63 is considered as moderate addiction (Aktan, 2018). Sample differences and time difference may have affected this situation. It is thought that social media addiction increases each day. It has been found that individuals who neglect their spouses/family and friends and use the chat functions of social media experience conflict and at the same time their academic/professionals works are interrupted. This situation should not be ignored in university students and it should be accepted as a problem that should be solved. For example, in one study, Balcı and Baloglu (2018) found a positive significant correlation between social media addiction and depression. Scores between 74 and 106 indicate low addiction, while scores between 107 and 139 indicate moderate addiction (Aktan, 2018). In this study, the scores taken from social media addiction scale is 114.68 for men and 104.67 for women. According to this scoring, while male students have moderate level of media addiction, female students can be accepted as having low level of social media addiction.

According to the results of their studies, Tutgun-Ünal (2015) and Gürültü (2016) concluded that social media addiction scale scores did not differ significantly in terms of year of study. Ciftci (2018) reported differences in occupation, relapse, conflict and social media addiction. In this study, significant differences were found in social media addiction in terms of year of study (p<0.05 and p<0.001). Occupation levels of first year students were found to be lower than third and fourth year students. It was found that third and fourth year students were more occupied with social media when compared with first and second year students. It can be said that these students cannot take their social media use under control and they repeatedly show this behaviour. It can also be said that third and fourth year students are more in conflict with social media and that they are negatively affected. It can be seen that third and fourth year students had higher addiction levels than first and second year students.

Baz (2018) did not find a significant difference in social media addiction total scores in terms of department. Tutgun-Ünal (2015) found that social media addiction levels of university students differed in terms of the faculty they were studying in. Aktan (2018) found a statistically significant difference between the program students were studying in and their occupation in social media. In this study, occupation, mood modification, relapse, conflict and total scale scores of sport faculty students were found to be lower than those of education faculty students  (p<0,001). In a study by Mammadzade, Yılmaz, Abiş, İmamoğlu, and Şahin (2020) it was seen that exercising had an effect on anger control and anger introversion, but had no effect on social media attitude. And in the study, it was suggested that young people who are not active in sports should do sports for anger control and control of anger in. In the study of Garashli, Yılmaz, Abiş, İmamoğlu, and Şahin (2020) it was concluded that team sports and individual sports have a similar effect on athletes' gender, sport type, body weight, age, psychological fragility and speech anxiety. Sports education and exercise can provide plus changes in personality traits,  optimal performance, feelings and attitudes,  and the quality of life of university students (Aslan & Imamoglu, 2020; Koca, İmamoğlu, & İmamoğlu, 2018; Yamak, İmamoğlu, & Çebi, 2016) .

Scores between 74 and 106 indicate low addiction, while scores between 107 and 139 indicate moderate addiction (Aktan, 2018). In this study, mean social addiction scale scores were 103, 30 for sport sciences faculty students and 116, 18 for education faculty students. These scores showed that sport sciences faculty students had low level of addiction, while education faculty students had moderate level of addiction. In many studies, it has been determined that sports increase the hope level and reduce the stress level in people (Deryahanoğlu, İmamoğlu, Yamaner, & Uzun, 2016; İmamoğlu, 2020; İmamoğlu., Tutkun, & Shen, 2018; Yamak & İmamoğlu, 2019) .   

5. Conclusion 

It was found that students receiving sport education had lower social media addiction than students who were not receiving sport education and it was concluded that sport education will be useful in decreasing social media addiction. It is recommended to provide opportunities to receive sport education and to do sport to university students who are not receiving sport education.

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