Facebook Addiction Tendencies Among Teachers -A study conducted on Puttalam District Tamil Medium school teachers

Abstract

Facebook which was introduced to the public since 2004 is a tool for communications and for interactions around the world. Despite the positive contributions, addiction to Facebook is a dilemma in the modern world with hardly enough research. Studies on Facebook addiction seems to simply conclude that, there is a problem with overuse of Facebook, which needs further understandings. This study therefore, aimed to investigate Facebook usage, Facebook features used, Facebook dependency and Facebook related mental health problems of Puttalam district Tamil medium school teachers. A mixed research method carried out including 40 teachers from the Puttalam Educational Zone using Purposive sampling. Facebook Addiction Scale based questionnaire was the main instrument of data collection from Teachers. In addition a self-developed interview schedule was used to collect data from teachers to collect additional data about the problem. The qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis methods and the surveyed quantitative data analyzed using One way ANOVA generated using the SPSS Ver. 18 software. The results shows that 87.5% of the survey respondents were Facebook users while the remaining 12.5% had never used Facebook in their life. Young teachers’ usage of Facebook is greater than others. 74% of teachers use Facebook to read messages and news. Also this study shows male teachers are more active than female teachers. Moreover there was a significant relationship between male teachers and Facebook dependency. Male teachers spend a lot of time in Facebook, feel an urge to use Facebook frequently, become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook. As a results of addictive behavior they face physical and mental problems and negative impacts on their job