The Relationship between Problematic Technology Use and Mental Health Problems in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Meta-Analysis

Authors : Erdal HAMARTA, Önder BALTACI, Ömer Faruk AKBULUT, Muhammed AKAT

Pages : 374-385

Doi:10.51535/tell.1283101

View : 84 | Download : 61

Publication Date : 2023-06-30

Article Type : Review Paper

Abstract :Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on individuals both psychologically and socially. The current research shows that problematic technology use and mental health problems increased during the pandemic period. Method: In this study, studies examining the relationship between problematic technology use and mental health problems in the COVID-19 pandemic were examined and a meta-analysis was conducted. The present meta-analysis focused on the problematic technology use insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(i.e., internet addiction, smartphone addiction, social media addiction, and game addiction); and mental health problems in the COVID-19 pandemic. Searches were conducted for relevant studies using the ProQuest, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, and TR Dizin databases. A total of 56 studies met the inclusion criteria. A total of 53,047 participants were reached in these studies. Results: Rosenthal’s classic fail-safe N analysis reveals that the meta-analysis result is statistically significant insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(p=.000);. Moreover, the fact that the Begg and Mazumdar rank correlation is not significant indicates the absence of publication bias insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(p=0.28);. In addition, no missing studies were found in Duval and Tweedie’s trim and fill analysis. The results demonstrated that problematic technology use was moderately positively correlated with mental health problems insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(r=0.33, n=53.047);. In addition, the Q statistic insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(1833.059); examined to control heterogeneity shows that all variables are heterogeneous. The results of the I2 statistic insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(93.4%); show that a high level of heterogeneity has been achieved. Discussion: This finding shows that problematic technology use was associated with various mental health problems during the pandemic period.
Keywords : Problematic technology use, Mental health, COVID 19, Pandemic, Meta analysis