Technological Addiction or Technological Competence? Investigation of Young People's Approaches to Technology Use in the Context of Increasing Screen Time Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Due to Covid-19 disease, which has an increasing negative impact on the world day by day and has been classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, continuing education remotely at various levels has brought with it very important discussions. Perhaps, one of the most crucial of these is the increased screen usage times. The intensive use of digital media in all areas of our social life has brought to mind the frequent handling of the time spent by children and young people in front of the screen in the pre-pandemic period by academia and nonacademies. However, with the pandemic, the education process is carried out entirely in distance; in addition to that, with the elimination of the need for socialization, entertainment and information due to screens, which became the sole medium for socialization, entertainment and information, has further increased the importance of studies that reveal the effect of screen usage time on children and young people. From this perspective, our study is based on Sonia Livingstone's approach to addressing screen use not only through "risks" but also through "opportunities". When it comes to screen use and "screen time", parents and teachers evaluate screen time within the framework of technological addiction; they did not focus on the nature of screen use and how to convert it into technological competence. The main purpose of this study is to reveal the approaches of parents and teachers regarding screen times of high school students. In this context, the literature within the framework of "screen time", "technological addiction" and "technological competence" has been scanned for the research part of the study, in-depth interviews were conducted with the parents and teachers of students of different types of high schools throughout Istanbul. Due to the pandemic conditions during our time, the interviews were conducted digitally through a questionnaire; different questionnaire have been prepared for teachers and families. The findings obtained as a result of in-depth interviews were evaluated with six main headings. Headings are as foolows: screen times of young people, risks that young people may face during media use, parents' perception of technological proficiency, teachers' perception of technological proficiency, parents' approaches to screen time of young people and teachers' approaches to screen time. It is hoped that the study will contribute to the literature on the axis of digital technologies and education.