Association between digital literacy, internet addiction, and cyberloafing among higher education students: A structural equation modeling

The current study aims to examine the association between digital literacy (DL), Internet addiction (IA) and cyberloafing (CL) levels of higher education students in Turkey. In addition, the study examined the correlation between "daily Internet use," "initial Internet usage," and "purpose of Internet use" with the variables of DL, IA, and CL. The study groups consisted of 1220 higher education students including all faculties and all grades of a state university. The "Digital Literacy Scale," "Internet Addiction Scale," and "Cyberloafing Scale" were used as data collection instruments. The study's findings revealed initial Internet usage to be a predictor of DL, IA, and CL. Similarly, participants who spent more than 6 h using the Internet during a day have a higher level of DL, CL, and IA. Results from structural equation modeling reported a positive association between DL and IA, a negative association between DL and CL, and a positive relationship between IA and CL. Moreover, an indirect effect was revealed from DL to CL through IA. The study suggests improving students' DL skills, as they form the basis of avoiding CL behavior, and using the Internet mostly for educational purposes.