Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to determine the level of digital dependence of high school students and in this context whether cause a significant difference in the students'digital dependence according to independent variables such as gender, age,  gender, age, school type, grade level, achievement level, maternal education status, paternal education status and income level. In this survey conducted according to the general screening model, data from 828 high school students were used. Data were collected with the Digital Dependency Scale with dimensions Personal Information Form and Game Dependence, Social Media Addiction and Daily Life Impact. The results vary significantly by gender. The average males are more dependant than the average females. The game addiction levels and its effects on male students’ daily life is significantly higher than the females while the social media addiction levels of females are significantly higher than the males. Digital dependency scale does not differ significantly according to age groups in general and sub-dimensions. Type of school makes a significant difference when it comes to social media dimension but game and effects on daily life dimensions do not differ. None of the dimensions of the overall digital dependency scale differ significantly according to the level of grade. But when it comes to game dimension dependancy of students with lower marks are much higher than the students with a certificate of appreciation.

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