The Relationship between New Media Literacy and Social Media Addiction Among University Personnel

This study examines the relationship between new media literacy and social media addiction among university personnel. Designed as a quantitative study using correlational survey and causal-comparative designs, it included 237 academic and administrative staff members at Istanbul Gelisim University. Data were collected with the New Media Literacy Scale and the Social Media Addiction Scale and analyzed using Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis H, and Spearman rank-order correlation. Findings show that participants had high new media literacy levels, while social media addiction scores clustered toward the upper end of the scale range. Significant differences emerged in functional consumption by gender, in selected dimensions by age and education level, and in most new media literacy dimensions by the most frequently used platform. The most notable result was a strong positive relationship between total new media literacy and total social media addiction scores (r = .806; p < .001). These findings suggest that digital competence does not automatically ensure controlled use.