INVESTIGATION OF THE IMPACT OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS USED AGAINST TECHNOLOGY ADDICTION

Recently, the increase in antidepressant use constitutes the subject of scientific researches mostly. Increased use of antidepressants -especially by teenagers- reduces sociality and the quality of time spent with family, and this drives these teenagers into technology even more. By way of this information, in this research, the impacts of antidepressants on technology addiction –in high school students- are investigated. In order to understand the interaction between the two variables, we decided to test and compare the technology addiction of the students using antidepressants with the ones that don’t. “Internet Addiction Test” developed by Dr. Kimberly Young is applied to the students that were determined upon data searching. The subject students were determined among students of two high schools (one private and one public) that are located in Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu district. A total of 100 students of 15,16,17 and 18 ages (25 students per each age group) were investigated. Half of the students were antidepressant users, while the other half was not. Students who use antidepressants were tested by their school counselors and in compliance with the privacy principle. Test results were evaluated through the IBM-SPSS Version 24.0 program and it was determined that students using antidepressant had a higher level of technological addiction compared to students that did not use.