ABSTRACT
The paper deals with the most widespread electronic medium among adolescents – the
Internet. The main aim was to discover how young people spend their leisure time in the
online world, with a particular focus on the relationships and differences between Internet
use, particular activities, and legal drug use. The chosen quantitative research methodology
was applied through a Leisure Time Activity Questionnaire and selected questions from the
SMF questionnaires on a sample of 180 respondents attending secondary school, aged 15
to 19. We found that almost 90% of the respondents spend more than 2 – 3 hours a day on
the Internet, of which 20% spend up to 6 hours or more. Despite expectations, we found
significant negative relationships between the amount of time spent online and rates of legal
drug use. Additional analysis showed significant differences between groups of adolescents
in online activities such as gaming, listening to music, killing boredom, watching pornography
and arranging activities. These results point to a possible protective effect of selected types of
activities that young people engage in while online in relation to engaging in drug use behaviours.
KEY WORDS
Adolescence. Electronic Medium. Internet Use. Legal Drug Use.
DOI