Facebook use by University Students: From Intense use to addictive behaviour

The intense use of Facebook by university students is raising several questions regarding the influence of the social networking websites on the educational processes. While social learning theories advocate towards the diversification of teaching methods, the important amount of time spent by students on social networking websites may negatively influence the learning outcomes. Recent work shows that university students have large Facebook networks, log on several times per day and spend a lot of time on the website. The question is how much of this intense Facebook use is due to an addictive behavior. The objective of this paper is to present a multi-level multiple linear regression model that explains the influence an addictive behavior has on the number of minutes spent daily on Facebook. The model is using the following variables: the withdrawal syndrome scale, the network size, the frequency of use, and the time spent on Facebook. The model has been tested on a sample (N=204) collected in 2015 from a Romanian university. The results reveal that the addictive behavior has an indirect effect on the time spent on Facebook, which is mediated by the network size and the frequency of use.