Examination of Teacher Candidates' Social Media Addictions and Academic Procrastination Behaviors According to Various Variables

Özet

This study examined pre-service teachers' social media addiction and academic procrastination behaviors according to various variables. The study used survey model as a research model. The participants were 171 teacher candidates studying at Sivas Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Education. The results of the study indicated no significant difference between the academic procrastination behaviors of the teacher candidates and their gender, years of undergraduate education, social media membership status, frequencies of social media usage, years of social media usage, times spent on social media, and environments they were in to connect to social media. No significant difference was found between social media addiction levels of teacher candidates and environments they were in to connect to social media and their social media usage years. However, while the mean scores of male teacher candidates in the "conflict" sub-dimension of the SMAS were significantly higher than the mean scores of female teacher candidates, there was no significant difference in other sub-dimensions according to their gender. Again, in the "conflict" sub-dimension of the social media addiction scale, the mean scores of the second year teacher candidates were significantly higher than the fourth year students. While the mean scores of the teacher candidates with social media accounts in the "occupation" sub-dimension of the SMAS were significantly higher than those who did not have a social media account, there was no significant difference between their social media addiction levels in other sub-dimensions and their social media membership status. In addition, the study determined that those who used social media more than once a day had higher addiction levels in the "occupation" sub-dimension of SMAS compared to those who used social media once a day and more than once a week, and addiction levels differed according to the time they spent on social media. The results indicated that there was a low level, positive and statistically significant relationship between the APBS scores of the teacher candidates and the scores they got from the whole SMAS and other sub-dimensions of it except for the "mood modification" sub-dimension. The findings were interpreted and discussed based on the relevant literature.