Abstract:

Almost all the activities individuals carry out during their lifetime can now take place in a virtual environment by means of digital tools. This also makes it possible to talk about the existence of a digital society. In this study, in light of the definitions and descriptions of Durkheim and Merton regarding the concept of "anomy", the study examines whether the activities performed by individuals present in digital-digital spheres lead to a digital anemia status due to the lack of legal regulations that cannot reach the speed of technology. It is believed that Internet users are not aware of the legal status in some activities or are not much concerned about the legal status in order to access their own purposes. In addition, users who perform activities on the Internet and digital environment can access the works and contents that may be possessed for a financial reward (with the exception of the internet access fee), in fact they can carry out illegal activities (playing illegal betting, accessing forbidden sexual content, downloading film-series-music-pdf books, etc.). For the purpose of determining the status of these activities, a survey was applied to Internet users who are resident in Istanbul, 18-24 years of age, which was found to be the most intense use of the internet in the research conducted by TÜIK (2018) and university students. The survey technique has been used because it is included in the visual scan, which is a quantum research design and is seen as an important source of data collection. The survey was prepared, data was distributed on the internet and easily collected through sampling. The study found that the user’s free access to copyrighted products and content, due to the lack of insufficiency in legal regulations and the low resistance of sanctions, revealed a digital anomaly and the use of the concept “Dijitanomi-Digitanomi” was recommended to define this situation.

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Abstract:

Almost all the activities that individuals perform while living can now take place in a virtual environment through digital tools. This situation makes it possible to talk about the existence of a digital society. In this study, in the light of the definitions and explanations of Durkheim and Merton regarding the concept of "anomie", it is examined whether the activities performed by individuals who exist in digital-virtual areas cause a digital anomie state due to the lack of legal regulations that can not reach the speed of technology. It is considered that internet users do not have information about the legal situation in their activities or do not care too much about the legal situation in order to achieve their own purposes. Furthermore users who carry out activities in the virtual environment via the Internet, can access the works and content that can be owned by giving money, free of charge (excluding the internet access fee), and actually perform illegal activities in the virtual environment (placing illegal bets, accessing prohibited sexual content, downloading movies-series-music-pdfbooks, etc.). In the study, in order to determine the status of these activities, a survey study was applied to the internet users who are between the ages of 18-24, residing in Istanbul, who are university students, who are found to use the internet most intensively in the research conducted by TÜİK (2018). The questionnaire technique was used in the study because it is included in the descriptive survey, which is a quantitative research design, and is seen as an important data collection resource. As a result of the study, it was seen that the users' access to copyrighted products and contents free of charge due to the insufficiency in legal regulations and the low deterrence of the sanctions caused digital anomie and it was suggested to use the concept of "Dijitanomi-Digitanomie" to define this situation.