Adapting the Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale to Turkish

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In the years before mobile technologies became a significant part of daily lives, the hours or minutes spent on computer activities (Kraut et al., 1998), on video games (Anderson, Gentile, & Buckley, 2007; Green & Bavelier, 2003; Subrahmanyam, Greenfield, Kraut, & Gross, 2001), and on various combinations of these events (Media Matrix, 1999; Nielsen Media Research, 1999) were considered in determining the frequency of media and technology usage. Rideout, Foehr, Roberts, and Brodie (1999) focused on measuring time spent on daily activities such as watching TV and movies, listening to music, playing videogames, and listening to the radio to determine children and adolescents' frequency of media and technology usage. Along with the gradual spread of the Internet, the measurement of the usage frequency of Internet and affiliated technologies has started to gain importance. In this context, Kraut et al. (1998), in their study measuring the use of media and technology, had revealed that determining the weekly usage period of the Internet is a significant criterion in revealing the usage frequency of media and technology.As the act of measuring media and technology use concerns stationary tools that don't involve mobile technologies, such as desktop and laptop computers or game consoles, it is said to have been easier compared to measuring the technological tools of today (Rosen, Whaling, Carrier, Cheever, & Rokkum, 2013a). In fact, with the assistance of wireless networks, users today now can access the Internet, sending and receiving e-mails through technological mobile devices (mp3 players, tablets, smartphones, other wireless mobile devices) that don't require being used motionless, and they are able to perform all kinds of daily events through computers using online messaging tools anywhere and at anytime. The use of media and technological tools independent of time and space has made the measurement of these tools' usage frequency harder and more complex (Rosen et al., 2013a). International Data Corporation's research (IDC, 2013), which examined the usage frequency of current media and technological tools in which 7,446 individuals between the ages of 18 and 44 participated revealed that eight out of 10 adults and nine out of 10 adolescents started paying attention to their phones within 15 minutes of waking up. Another study has revealed that adults check their phones approximately 34 times a day for short periods less than 30 seconds. National research has revealed that 58% of smartphone users check their phones at least once every hour, and that 73% of them panic when they lose their phones. Other research performed in Turkey by Google (2013) has revealed that 76% of smartphone users don't want to leave their houses without getting their phones and that 42% of them would prefer to stop watching TV instead of giving up their smartphones. On the other hand, research performed in Japan by Kamibeppu and Sugiura (2005) related to mobile-phone usage and short messages revealed that more than half of the participants had felt insecure when their instant messages weren't answered and that this caused them anxiety.Methods Related to Measuring Technology UsageResearch in the literature on measuring technology usage generally mentions four different methods: (a) measurement on a daily basis or measurement of hours/minutes spent using (Junco, 2013, 2014; Rosen, Carrier, & Cheever, 2013; Rosen et al., 2013a); (b) measurement of usage frequency at specific times (Brasel & Gips, 2011; Burak, 2012; Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010; Thompson, 2013); (c) use of Likert-type measurement tools covering opinions such as definitely agree/definitely disagree for measuring attitudes (Jenkins-Guarnieri, Wright, & Johnson, 2013a, 2013b); and (d) sharing or examining the experiences of participants at specific times (Judd & Kennedy, 2010; Moreno, Jelenchick, Koff, & Eikoff, 2012a; Wang & Tchernev, 2012). …