Abstract:

This research attempts to examine the effects of social media on self-esteem development and its psychological personality development based on Erik Erikson's personality development theory. The experimental method which is one of the quantitative research methods that allows the research conditions to be changed and repeated as desired was used. The dependent variable of the research was self-esteem and psychosocial personality development the independent variable was the use of social media and YouTube videos. The research was conducted with 60 students studying at an Anatolian High School in Rize for 6 (six) months, in accordance with the necessary ethical permissions. Student groups were selected through targeted sampling, considering aspects such as gender, social-economic level, etc. Petersen's self-expression questionnaire for adolescents and Erikson's socio-psychological development questionnaire of personality measurement tools, whose validity and reliability have been proven, were used in the study. In the study, a dependent sample t-test was conducted to examine the significance of the difference between the self-esteem and psychosocial personality development pre-test/post-test scores of the experimental group. As a result of the analysis, it is seen that the scores of the students in the experimental group regarding the self-esteem scale competence and coping, superiority and professional goals sub-dimensions increased significantly before and after the experiment. When the results regarding the psychosocial personality development scale scores are examined, it is seen that among the post-test results of the students in the experimental-control group, there is an increase in favor of the experimental group in the dimensions of trust, autonomy, initiative, personality, personality, except for the dimension of diligence. The findings of this study show that social media plays an effective role in the personality development of adolescents.

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