The Corona 19 epidemic(COVID-19) created a new history that divided the world before and after Corona. Wearing a mask has become commonplace and the era of non-face-to-face(untact) has arrived.
Universities, in particular, faced the challenges of improving the quality of education due to unprepared distance learning operations and the closure of university facilities. However, 2 years after the corona pandemic swept away, there is still no clear plan to support college students to adapt to college life.
The time of university(Emerging adulthood) is the stage before fully entering adult roles in society. This is a period that affects individual development and adaptation to students, and is an important time to develop the ability to cope with and adapt to change.
In the midst of the COVID-19 situation, a new term called the "V(Virus) Generation" was coined. It refers to the generation that experienced a virus crisis during school days, and not awkward with untact communication and distance learning. V(Virus) generation college students had low access to school-provided information and lacked a sense of belonging or interpersonal connection. It cause lowered adaptation to college or satisfaction. According to the Ministry of Education, the dropout rate of college students has risen since the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Adaptation to college means include both internal adaptation and adaptation to the environment.. University students' adaptation to college is a very important factor in growing into an adaptive member of society. Because maladjustment to college life affects the entire life of an individual even after the college student period.
On the other hand, in the non-face-to-face era, college students adopted the use of smartphones as a way to relieve stress. The number of users and the utilization rate of SNS applications have also increased. Among the online communities used by college students, 'Everytime' is an application that was continuously announced as an essential app for the new semester in the 2021 and 2022 college student surveys. In order to join 'Everytime', school certification is required, so users can have a sense of fellowship as members of the same school. In addition, it is possible to express opinions anonymously, so students are using it more comfortably.
In this study, explored how college students' increasing use of the Everytime app affects their adaptation to college in the non-face-to-face era of COVID-19. In particular, this study aimed to confirm the effect and correlation of the frequency of using Everytime on adaptation to college(academic, social, emotional, and physical adaptation, attachment to college).
The following are the results of the study.
First, the result of the correlation analysis revealed thati the use of an online community(Everytime app) has an effect on adaptation to college. The higher the frequency of daily use of the Everytime app, the more it has a significant negative effect on adaptation to college. In particular, statistically significant results were confirmed in social adaptation, emotional adaptation, physical adaptation, and attachment to college.
Second, the time spent using Everytime did not have a statistically significant effect on college students' adaptation to college life. Also, college students usually used Everytime for around 10 minutes per connection.
Third, the degree to which college students judged themselves that Everytime affects college life adjustment and the degree to which college students think that Everytime is necessary for college life adjustment have no significant correlation with actual college life adjustment.
In summary, the more frequently college students who are experiencing stress in the non-face-to-face era of COVID-19 use the Everytime app, the more it affects the adaptation to college life. As a way to improve college students' adaptation to college, university support such as the formation of a university's own online community, and digital mental health counseling such as applications or videos, or screening tests through regular tests As a result, it is hoped that a system that can intervene early in college students' adaptation to college will be established.