169 © 2020 by the authors; licensee Asian Online Journal Publishing Group Asian Journal of Education and Training Vol. 6, No. 2, 169-175, 2020 ISSN(E) 2519-5387 DOI: 10.20448/journal.522.2020.62.169.175 © 2020 by the authors; licensee Asian Online Journal Publishing Group Investigation of Internet Addiction Levels of Physical Education Teachers Çağrı Hamdi Erdoğan1 Ramazan Topuz2 ( Corresponding Author) 1Ministry of Education, Şehit Ahmet Cihan Kilci Middle School, Kayseri, Turkey. 2Selçuk University, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Konya, Turkey. Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the internet addiction levels of physical education teachers. In the study, the descriptive survey method was used, which aimed at revealing the existing situation. The research group was comprised of 356 physical education teachers actively working at the public schools of Kayseri province in the 2019-2020 education year. In the study, Personal Information Form and Internet Addiction Scale were used as the data collection tools. SPSS program was used for the analysis of the data. According to the research results, internet addiction levels of physical education teachers was determined as “displaying no symptoms”, and according to this result, the internet addiction levels of the physical education teachers was interpreted as “low level”. Additionally, it was determined that there were statistically significant differences in the internet addiction levels of physical education teachers concerning age, marital status, professional experience, monthly income perception, school type, and school location; however, there was statistically no significant difference concerning the gender and sports branch. Keywords: Physical education, Sports, Psychology, Teacher, Internet, Addiction. Citation | Çağrı Hamdi Erdoğan; Ramazan Topuz (2020). Investigation of Internet Addiction Levels of Physical Education Teachers. Asian Journal of Education and Training, 6(2): 169-175. History: Received: 16 December 2019 Revised: 27 January 2020 Accepted: 2 March 2020 Published: 23 March 2020 Licensed: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License Publisher: Asian Online Journal Publishing Group Acknowledgement: Both authors contributed to the conception and design of the study. Funding: This study received no specific financial support. Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests. Transparency: The authors confirm that the manuscript is an honest, accurate, and transparent account of the study was reported; that no vital features of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the study as planned have been explained. Ethical: This study follows all ethical practices during writing. Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................... 170 2. Method ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 171 3. Findings ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 172 4. Discussion and Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................... 173 5. Recommendations .......................................................................................................................................................................... 174 References ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 174 http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.20448/journal.522.2020.62.169.175&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2017-01-14 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ https://www.asianonlinejournals.com/index.php/EDU/article/view/1439 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9569-2120 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7591-4670 https://www.asianonlinejournals.com/index.php/EDU/article/view/1439 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9569-2120 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7591-4670 https://www.asianonlinejournals.com/index.php/EDU/article/view/1439 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9569-2120 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7591-4670 https://www.asianonlinejournals.com/index.php/EDU/article/view/1439 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9569-2120 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7591-4670 Asian Journal of Education and Training, 2020, 6(2): 169-175 170 © 2020 by the authors; licensee Asian Online Journal Publishing Group Contribution of this paper to the literature This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the internet addiction levels of physical education teachers. 1. Introduction Internet is a network that connects one or more technological tools such as phones, computers and tablets, enabling the communication (Oztoprak, 2001). With the rapidly developing technology in today's world, the use of internet has become an indispensable part of our lives (Arisoy, 2009). Its active use in school, business and community life has rendered it a mandatory need in each passing day. The use of the internet has become an obligation for the daily activities in all areas ranging from official transactions to providing services for the entire nation. Additionally, the internet has become irreplaceable in terms of its funny and enjoyable use (Günüç, 2009). In each passing day, owing to its conveniences and opportunities, internet technology has become an indispensable part of our lives just like the television and computer. The factors underlying this phenomenon are the ease of access, variety of services and opportunities offered by the internet and similar tools, having a flexible technology, powerful visuals, and being open to interaction (Esen, 2010). With the internet, users have met a new channel where they can easily access all kinds of information, long distances do not matter and quick communication with others is possible. The internet allows individuals to easily perform all kinds of activities in accordance with their tastes and desires without having too much control (Aydoğdu, 2003). Globalizing the world and eliminating borders, the internet provides an opportunity for people living in numerous different cities, countries, and even continents to communicate quickly and economically (Kaya., 2011). Eliminating the borders in global and local terms, the internet opens up new ways of communication and interaction, and by becoming a medium, where more ordinary transactions are completed in each passing day, it draws the boundaries of the daily life. On the other hand, although it offers opportunities to explore the social life, the internet threatens to damage the fundamental values of interpersonal relationships and society (Denizci, 2009). Internet use is seen as a way of dealing with some kind of stress. People, who are intensely distressed, anxious, and excited, spend time on the computer and provide distraction for themselves through internet, thus, they can decrease their internal problems or the severity of these problems (Ogel, 2010). Internet users, especially young people, are influenced by all kinds of information and value, which are rapidly spreading through this virtual world. With its anonymous and interactivebasics, the internet becomes an element of everyday life and quickly engulfs people (Derin, 2013; Kır, 2008). The effects of the internet in the community structure and individual lives of people are increasing in proportion to the developmental speed of the internet. While many experiences and individuals living in crowds were unnoticed or hidden in a mess, today any point or individual has become accessible in the world through the internet (Arisoy, 2009; Tamam, 2009). The internet is a multidimensional concept that has different meanings for everyone, without a fixed function. The internet can be seen as an electronic library for some, a newspaper for some, and as a political propaganda medium for others. In other words, the function of the internet is completely shaped depending on the user. Examining the previous studies, it can be stated that internet use is predominantly social and the internet is seen as a means of communication. In this context, the internet offers much more participation compared to other mass media (Bayraktutan, 2005). Having access to the internet, people create a field of dominance of their own and can design and control this field according to their own wishes. In this world, which they create for themselves, they can even forget the problems that are difficult to overcome and evade from the troubles of daily life through this means. An individual, who lives alone in his/her own world and daily life, can relieve his/her loneliness with the internet. Additionally, thanks to the internet, he/she can completely differentiate his/her identity and gain approvals by pretending to be someone else. Individuals search for environments in which they can be approved and appreciated under any circumstances. While this quest for approval and appreciation is a result of intensive and fast life in large cities, it can emerge from the lack of sufficient satisfaction in social life in smaller cities. In fact, the virtual world offers us the opportunity to bring together the impossible imaginary and the existing truth (Dikme, 2014). A person's inability to stop using an item or behavior is defined as addiction. In each passing day, certain changes occur in one's daily activities and routines due to addiction, with a gradual deterioration in the functionality of life. Certain symptoms of addition are seen as being overly engaged with a substance or behavior, being unable to control oneself about the use of this behavior or substance, worrying other people about oneself as losing control, and continuing to use despite its harmful consequences (Egger & Rauterberg, 1996). While becoming addicted, both fomentation and ambition provides a pleasure and a sense of fun at the same time. This condition remains a memory in the prefrontal lobe of the brain. This situation turns into a need after a while, resulting in overuse and addiction. Besides its effects on the brain structure, genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors are also effective in the process of becoming addicted, which is a chronic problem (Uğurlu, Sengül, & Sengül, 2012). In the initial definitions, addiction was evaluated only as the drug addiction. However, with the development of technology, some behavioral changes have also started to be mentioned in the concept of addiction (Cengizhan, 2005). Examining the literature on addiction, it is seen that addiction is studied in two main topics as behavioral addiction and drug addiction. In drug addiction, certain issues are addressed such as heroin, alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, etc., while in behavioral addiction it is discussed whether a certain behavior is displayed in an abnormal frequency, addressing the problems that the individual encounters in one's personal and social life (Karaman & Kurtoğlu, 2009). Addiction is a situation that occurs when a substance is taken with repeated doses and continuously increasing amounts, without eliminating the symptoms of an organic disorder; it is an unavoidable and severe situation of desire that creates some mental and physical disorders in the person in case of discontinuation of substance use (Turnalar, 2008; Ziyalar, 1999). Addiction is an irresistible request to repeat a constant action, although it harms one’s own mental and physical health or social life (Kırık, Arslan, Karaman, & Çetinkaya, 2015). Addiction has emerged as an important Asian Journal of Education and Training, 2020, 6(2): 169-175 171 © 2020 by the authors; licensee Asian Online Journal Publishing Group biopsychosocial problem since people realized that certain substances changed their mental state and made them feel different, though temporarily (Beyazyürek & Satır, 2000). In our age, which can be called as the technology era, the use of computers and internet networks has taken its place among the indispensables of the human life. Although the main purpose of the internet is to reach information easily, cheaply, quickly and securely and facilitate communication, since it increasingly becomes widespread with an unpredictable speed and due to the ease of access, it started to result in a pathological overuse, which can be called as a new type of addiction (Arisoy, 2009). The internet addiction, which was added into the literature as a type of behavioral addictions, was resulted from certain facts of internet such as shifting from the technical or academic area to the actual area, becoming a source, where every single person can have an access to, and widening the horizons in communication. Internet addiction is a type of addiction that can be seen at all ages and genders (Oztürk, Odabaşıoğlu, Eraslan, Genç, & Kalyoncu, 2007). Internet addiction is defined as the inability to prevent the tendency to use the internet, considering the time spent without internet as insignificant and worthless, observing excessive anger, temper, and aggression on an individual when he/she has no access to internet, and influencing the family, professional, and social life of an individual (Young, 2004). In general terms, internet addiction is expressed as the use of internet too intensively to control, which, in turn, results in the inability to fulfill one’s responsibilities and having problems in one’s social relations (Zorbaz, 2013). Considering its structure and the services it offers, the internet has the ability to be used widely in education field, since it is the most valuable learning environment for the people of the internet information societies (Kaya, 2006). The information share is also employed through the internet. It is a huge network that is growing in line with the demands of individuals from all of the world to store, share and access information. The internet has become a virtual library where everyone can have an access to unlimited information from anywhere (Yılmaz & Horzum, 2005). In this context, it is important for the teachers to use the internet efficiently in education. In order to encourage the teachers to use the internet efficiently, it is of significance to examine their internet addiction levels, which will contribute to the field. This study aimed to examine the internet addiction levels of physical education teachers. In addition, the internet addiction levels of physical education teachers were compared based on certain characteristics. 2. Method 2.1. Research Model This was a research that was designed in the descriptive survey model. Survey model research studies are defined as the kind of studies, in which information is gathered from a large mass through multiple choice answers determined by the researcher (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2006). 2.2. Research Group The research group was comprised of 356 physical education teachers who were actively working in the 2019- 2020 education year in public schools in Kayseri province, Turkey, and were randomly selected. Of the physical education teachers in the research group, 124 (34.8%) were female and 232 (65.2%) were male; 192 (53.9%) were married and 164 (46.1%) were single. 2.3. Data Collection Tools In this study, which was conducted to determine the internet addiction levels of physical education teachers and compare them through certain characteristics, the Personal Information Form and Young Internet Addiction Scale were used as the data collection tools. The Personal Information Form was developed by the researchers in order to determine the demographic characteristics of the physical education teachers in the research group. The likert-type Internet Addiction Scale, which was developed by Young. (1996) included 20 questions. Bayraktar (2001) translated the scale into Turkish, employing its validity and reliability tests. The reliability of the scale, which was translated into Turkish, was calculated as 0.91 in terms of the Alpha coefficient, and 0.87 in terms of the Spearman-Brown value. The results demonstrated that the scale was reliable. Internet Addiction Scale, which was translated into Turkish and included 20 questions, is implemented in a likert-type rating. In the scale, the participants are asked to choose one of these multiple choices “Never”, “Rarely”, “Sometimes”, “Often”, and “Always”. These choices are rated as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 points. In the evaluation of the scale, scoring 80 points and over indicates that the participant is “internet addicted”, scoring between 50-79 means the participant “has limited symptoms”, and scoring 50 and below indicates that the participant “displays no symptoms” (Cakır & Horzum, 2008). 2.4. Statistical Analyses In the research, SPSS program was used for data analysis. The frequency, percentage, and descriptive statistics of the data obtained from the scale are given in tables. In order to determine the internet addiction levels of the physical education teachers in the research group, certain data such as arithmetic means ( ), standard deviation (Sd), and significance (p) were obtained. It was determined, through the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, that the internet addiction levels of the physical education teachers in the research group demonstrated a normal distribution (p>0.05). As per the comparisons; t test method was used for paired comparisons for independent groups, and one-way analysis of variance method (ANOVA) was used for multiple comparisons. The significance level was admitted as p<0.05. X Asian Journal of Education and Training, 2020, 6(2): 169-175 172 © 2020 by the authors; licensee Asian Online Journal Publishing Group 3. Findings Table-1. Distribution of demographic characteristics of the physical education teachers in the research group. Gender N % Marital Status N % Female 124 34,8 Married 192 53,9 Male 232 65,2 Single 164 46,1 Age N % Professional Experience N % 20-29 Years old 122 34,3 0-9 Years 144 40,4 30-39 Years old 154 43,3 10-19 Years 160 44,9 40-49 Years old 80 22,5 20-29 Years 52 14,6 School Type N % School Location N % Secondary School 168 47,2 Rural 48 13,5 High School 188 52,8 Urban 308 86,5 Monthly Income Perception N % Sport Branch N % Low 56 15,7 Individual Sport 166 46,6 Medium 264 74,2 Team Sport 190 53,4 High 36 10,1 The demographic characteristics of physical education teachers in the research group are presented in Table 1. It was determined that 124 (34.8%) physical education teachers in the research group were female, 232 (65.2%) were male; 192 (53.9%) were married, 164 (46.1%) were single; 122 (34.3%) were in the 20-29 age group, 154 (43.3%) were in the 30-39 age group, and 80 (22.5%) were in the 40-49 age group. Additionally, 144 (40.4%) physical education teachers in the research group had a professional experience of 0-9 years, 160 (44.9%) had 10-19 years, and 52 (14.6%) had 20-29 years; 168 (47.2%) of them worked in secondary schools and188 (52.8%) were working in high schools; 48 (13.5%) of them were working in rural area, while 308 (86.5%) were working in urban areas; the branch of 166 (46.6%) of the physical education teachers was individual sport, while it was team sport for 190 (53.4%) of them; the monthly income perceptions of 56 (15.7%) physical education teachers was low, it was medium for 264 (74.2%) and high for 36 (10.1%). Table-2. The mean score of the physical education teachers in the research group obtained from the overall internet addiction scale. Scale N Sd Internet Addiction Scale 356 31.00 17.965 The results concerning the overall internet addiction scale scores of the physical education teachers in the research group are presented in Table 2. As a result of the analysis, physical education teachers in the research group gained =31.00 mean score from the overall internet addiction scale. According to this result, internet addiction of the physical education teachers in the research group was determined as “displaying no symptoms”. According to this result, internet addiction of the physical education teachers in the research group can be interpreted as “low level”. Table-3. Comparison of the internet addiction levels of physical education teachers in the research group concerning their gender, marital status, school type, school location, and sport branch. Gender N Sd t p Difference Female 124 33.45 19.320 1.889 .060 No Male 232 29.68 17.096 Marital Status N Sd t p Difference Married 192 27.19 16.381 -4.433 .000 Yes Single 164 35.45 18.748 School Type N Sd t p Difference Secondary School 168 33.36 17.462 2.367 .018 Yes High School 188 28.88 18.189 School Location N Sd t p Difference Rural 48 37.04 20.668 2.524 .012 Yes Urban 308 30.05 17.355 Sport Branch N Sd t p Difference Individual Sport 166 32.25 19.245 1.231 .219 No Team Sport 190 29.90 16.742 Total 356 31.00 17.965 The results concerning the comparisons of internet addiction levels of the physical education teachers in the research group in terms of gender, marital status, school type, school location, and sport branch are given in Table 3. According to the results of the analysis, it was determined that there were statistically significant differences in the internet addiction levels of the physical education teachers concerning marital status, school type, and school location; however, there was statistically no significant difference concerning the gender and sport branch. It was determined that the internet addiction levels of the married physical education teachers in the research group were statistically significantly lower compared to those of the single ones. Similarly, it was determined that the internet addiction levels of the physical education teachers in the research group working in high schools were statistically significantly lower compared to those working in secondary schools. Additionally, it was determined that the internet addiction levels of physical education teachers working in the schools located in urban areas were statistically significantly lower compared to those working in the schools located in rural areas. X X X X X X X Asian Journal of Education and Training, 2020, 6(2): 169-175 173 © 2020 by the authors; licensee Asian Online Journal Publishing Group Table-4. The comparison of the physical education teachers in the research group about their internet addiction levels in terms of age, professional experience, and monthly income perceptions. Age N Sd F p Difference 20-29 Years old (a) 122 35.85 16.544 7.366 .001 b