Contemporary Problem in Leisure Time Participation: Social Media Addiction

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The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between social media addiction levels and leisure time activity participation of sport sciences faculty students. The research group consists of 189 male (age=21.71±3.37) and 203 female (age=21.87±3.90) students (n=392) studying at the Faculty of Sports Sciences of Bingöl University in the 2024-2025 academic year. Personal information form, Development of the Leisure Activity Participation Scale and Social Media Addiction Scale were used as data collection tools. As a result of the data analyses, it was determined that the data were normally distributed. In line with the findings obtained, no significant difference was found between the variables of social media addiction and leisure time activity participation according to the gender variable. There was no significant relationship between the variables of social media addiction and leisure time activity participation according to the age variable. When the variables of social media addiction and leisure time activity participation were evaluated according to the income status variable, it was determined that the social media addiction dimension showed a significant difference, and the difference was in favour of the participants with better income status. When the relationship between social media addiction and leisure time activity participation variables was analysed, no significant relationship was found. The results obtained indicate that there is no relationship between social media addiction and participation in leisure activities in the athlete sample. However, it shows that income level may be a direct factor in social media addiction. In this sense, it is a priority to use qualitative methods in future studies in order to examine behaviours in depth.