Engl. transl.: Research on the connection between time spent on the internet and the self-esteem expressed during adolescence

This article analyses the connection between time spent in the virtual internet environment and self-esteem expressed during adolescence. The study was conducted among 312 adolescents between the age of 14 and 17, from different cities in the country. The applied research methodology - a scale for the study of general self-esteem - provides an opportunity to analyse the characteristics of general self-esteem and the manifestations of self-esteem and self-underestimation in adolescence. The connection between time spent on the Internet and the levels of general self-esteem, self-respect and self-underestimation were also examined. According to the findings, individuals who exhibit high levels of general self-esteem spend the longest time on the Internet - five or more hours per day. The persons who demonstrate high levels of self-underestimation are those who spend the shortest time on the Internet. This time is episodic or once or twice a week. The empirical evidence obtained is informative of the fact that prolonged time spent on the Internet, found in adolescents with high levels of self-esteem, carry the risks of forming Internet-dependent behaviour.

The use of the M. Rozenlerg Global Self-Assessment Scale proves its usefulness for practice as a tool that, within 10-15 minutes, in the conditions of a group study, enables the assessment of the general self-assessment and the manifestations of self-esteem and self-underestimation in adolescence. There is a statistically significant relationship between the time spent on the Internet and the levels of the overall score on the Global Self-Assessment Survey Scale (χ2 = 30,464; p <0.05), as well as between the time spent on the Internet and the levels of self-esteem shown. in adolescence (χ2 = 18.484; p <0.05). People who demonstrate high levels of overall self-esteem and self-esteem stay on the Internet for the longest time. People who show a high level of self-esteem stay on the Internet for the shortest time. "Indirectly, the data inform that the long stay on the Internet, found in adolescents with high levels of self-esteem, increases the risk of Internet-dependent behavior. "