Youths' Internet Use and Results: A Review Study

Abstract

Today, the Internet as well as its use has become an essential communication tool in all areas of life. Opportunities provided by the Internet are utilized in many activities in life. The rate of Internet use and the time spent on the internet have been increasing gradually. This situation calls for taking into account not only the contributions of the Internet but also its negative consequences. Thus, in recent years, problems caused by Internet use have been escalating, and the concepts of problematic Internet use or Internet addiction have frequently been on the agenda. All these indicate that it is very important to become healthy Internet users. This is a review study on youths' Internet use as well as on previous research findings regarding Turkish youths' internet use. In the study, these findings were synthesized, and youths' Internet use and results were evaluated in the framework of these findings. Evaluation of the research findings revealed that the highest level of Internet use was found among individuals whose ages ranged between 16 and 24 with a rate of 67.70%. Fun and playing games occupy most of the Internet use among the youths. Moreover, it was found out that there was an increase in the use of Internet technologies to communicate with a number of people at the same time by experimenting different identities. Intensive internet use of youths indicated that the Internet may become a potential tool for the implementation of their developmental tasks. Therefore, being a healthy user without becoming an Internet addict is very important in terms of youths' mental health. In this context, there is a growing need for carrying out preventive and protective studies for youths' mental health.