Investigation of University Students' Awareness of Digital Game Addiction

Today's digital games attract the attention of many people from various age groups. Some sources suggest that acquaintance with digital games is as low as three years old. When digital games are evaluated from a general perspective, it is seen that the largest user group is individuals in adolescence and youth period. Individuals at this age spend most of their time playing digital games. However, playing digital games for uncontrolled and excessive periods causes some physical and mental negative effects on both children and adults over a long period of time. In the long run, such excessive use turns into an important problem, such as digital game addiction. Digital game addiction, which is considered a behavioral addiction, is defined as a situation in which digital games cause various changes and deteriorations in daily life as a result of the inability to control the desire of individuals to play digital games. In this context, it is crucial to identify and increase the awareness of young people who spend more time with digital games and are at risk of digital game addiction. In this research, the awareness of university students about digital game addictions was examined. The research sample consists of university students studying at various education levels. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and chi-square tests were used in the analysis of the study, which was designed with the survey model, one of the quantitative research methods. As a result of the research, it was found out that digital games are generally used for entertainment and spending time purposes, women have a higher level of awareness than men, and there is a significant relationship between gender and the device where digital games are played. The obtained findings were compared with the studies in the literature. In line with the results, some suggestions were presented. [For the full proceedings, see ED630948.]