Abstract:

Today, human life has experienced significant change and transformation in the individual and social level in line with the technological developments. While bringing many benefits in all aspects of life, these changes and transformations have also brought a number of problems. With the widespread use of Internet technologies and the removal of the barriers of the time and space, the new communication channels have been completely differentiated from the traditional communication channels in terms of speed, practicability and the size of the access capacity. Removing the time and space barriers, these communication tools have provided the people with the ability to easily socialize in a virtual environment but also have brought the problem of discouraging them from the face-to-face communication form which is the most healthy communication form. How and at which level the individuals will be affected by this problem has become an issue of argument. In this research, the use of Facebook has been examined. Facebook is the most used social media tools that are outcomes of internet technologies. Since Facebook lives in the individuals' pockets, the virtual world precludes the real life, and the use of social media turns into an addiction, it has triggered the problems of damaging social interaction skills and face-to-face relationships. In this context, the effect of using Facebook on the time spent with family members in the family environment, which is the basic unit that underlies the first communication skills and socializing of the individual, has been examined. Facebook users living in Kütahya were selected by simple random sampling method and included in the research. The participants have been selected from primary schools, high schools, vocational schools, and public education centers in Kütahya to cover individuals of all age categories. The data were collected via survey forms which consist of questions prepared by getting expert opinions on the subject. The data were analyzed by using SPSS software.

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