Social Media And Youths Behavioural Pattern In Ignatius Ajuru University Of Education Students.

Project and Seminar Material for Sociology

Abstract

The main objective of the study is to understand social media and youths behavioural pattern in Ignatius Ajuru University of education students and the specific objectives were; to determine how the youth in Ignatius Ajuru University Of Education use social media in their daily lives, to determine if the youth in Ignatius Ajuru University Of Education prefer social media as means of communication as opposed to traditional methods, to find out the impacts social media has on behaviour changes among the Ignatius Ajuru University Of Educationn youths to determine the threats that comes with use of social media on the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education youths and to determine the relationship between social media and the behaviour patterns of youths in Ignatius Ajuru University Of Education. The study used a survey research design and data was collected from 30 respondents randomly selected from Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. The findings of the study revealed that there is a high level of using social media for various aspects only that it was revealed that social media is not used for academic purposes. The findings of the study revealed that generally most of the youth prefer social media to other channels of communication. The findings of the study also showed that Social media affects the behaviour of the youth, social media is negative to the youth, social media affects relationships for young adults and that social media affects the spiritual morals of youths. Furthermore, the findings of the study revealed that most of the respondents said that social media creates a gap between parents and teenagers, social media is the biggest route cause to marriage break ups among the young adults as most ladies spend much of the time on social media other than fulfilling family duties. More so it was revealed that social media promotes pornography as this has greatly affected the sexual life style of the youths. More so, the findings of the study revealed that there is a negative relationship between social media and the behaviour of the youth and young adults in Ignatius Ajuru University Of Education. Thus increased use of social media leads to a negative behaviour among the youths. The study recommended that, the government should regulate the use of social media among the youths and should impose strict laws on those who promote pornography via social media platforms as it is harmful to the youths.

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

The world is today celebrating the improvements in communication technology which has broadened the scope of communication through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Modern Technology in communication no doubt has turned the entire world into a “Global village”. But as it is, technology like two sides of a coin, bring with it both negative and positive sides. It helps people to be better informed, enlightened, and keeping abreast with world developments. Technology exposes mankind to a better way of doing things. Social networking sites include: Twitter, Yahoo Messenger, Facebook Messenger, Blackberry Messenger (BBM), Whatsapp messenger, 2go messenger, Skype, Google talk, Google Messenger, iPhone and Androids. These networking sites are used by most people to interact with old and new friends, physical or internet friends ( Asemah and Edegoh, 2012). The world has been changed rapidly by the evolution of technology; this has resulted into the use of technology as the best medium to explore the wide area of knowledge.

The evolution of internet technology has led to its use as the best medium for communication. Whereby, two-third of the world’s internet population visits social networking or blogging sites, thus serving as a communication and connection tool. Social networking sites (SNSs) are online Communities of Internet users who want to communicate with other users about areas of mutual interest, whether from a personal, business or academic perspective (William ,Boyd, Densten, Chin, Diamond & Morgenthaler, 2009). The millions of social networking sites have transformed the thought of global village into a reality whereby billions of people communicate through social networking sites. Numerous benefits have been obtained through distant communication through the use of social networking sites.
The speed of Internet has changed the way people receive the information. It combines the immediacy of broadcast with the in-depth coverage of newspapers making it perfect sources for news and weather information. Even with the multimedia excitement of the web, Electronic mail (email) is the most frequently used application of the Internet. Many people, who have access to the Internet at school, home and at work place use the Intemet for no other purpose than to send and to receive the mail. It’s not just friends and coworkers that are receiving email. Wherever you look, the web is providing email addresses. This has made communication between the strangers easier than ever. Chatting is one of the more popular activities on the Internet- people can talk to anyone across the world.
Online social networking sites focus on building and reflecting social associations among people who share interests and or activities. With so many social networking sites displayed on the internet, students are tempted to abandon their homework and reading times in preference for chatting online with friends. Many students are now addicted to the online rave of the moment, with Facebook, Twitter etc.

Today most youths and students possess Facebook accounts. The reason most of them perform badly in school might not be far- fetched. While many minds might be quick to blame the poor quality of teachers, they might have to think even harder, if they have not heard of the Facebook frenzy (Oche & Aminu .2010). Olubiyi (2012) noted that these days’ students are so engrossed in the social media that they are almost 24 hours online. Even in classrooms and lecture theatres, it has been observed that some students are always busy pinging, 2going or Facebooking, while lectures are on. Times that ought be channelled towards learning, academic research and innovating have been crushed by the passion for meeting new friends online, and most times busy discussing trivial issues. Hence most students’ academics suffer setback as a result of distraction from the social media. In (Obi, Bulus, Adamu &Sala’at 2012), it was observed that the use of these sites also affects students’ use of English and grammar.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Current exposure to social media exposes the teenagers to problematic materials, online victimization of youth, exposition to unnecessary online marketing and advertising, exposure to dangerous online behaviours, issues of identity theft, the emergence of digital divide and generation gap between parents and the youth. Furthermore, it leads to wastage of time, building of shallow and harmful relationships, and, eventually, causing rather than alleviating, users’ depression, loneliness, social isolation, and withdrawal among others. This study therefore seeks to determine the effect of social media and youths behavioural pattern in ignatius ajuru university of education students.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1.3.1 General Objective

The main objective of the study was to determine the effect social media and youths behavioural pattern in ignatius ajuru university of education students

1.3.2 Specific Objectives:

To determine how the youths use social media in their daily lives
To determine if the youths prefer social media as means of communication as opposed to traditional methods.
To find out the impacts social media has on behaviour changes among ignatius ajuru university of education students
To determine the threats that comes with use of social media on ignatius ajuru university of education students.
To determine the relationship between social media and the behavioural pattern of ignatius ajuru university of education students.

1.4 Research Questions

The following research questions guided the study:

How do the youth use social media in their daily lives?
Do youth in prefer social media as a means of communication as opposed to traditional methods?
What are the impacts of social media on the behaviour change of youths in ignatius ajuru university of education students?
What are the risks that come with use of social media among the youths in ignatius ajuru university of education students?
Is there a relationship between social media and the behaviour pattern of youths in ignatius ajuru university of education students?

1.5 Justification of the Study

The findings of this study will bridge the gap of lack of sufficient information on the effects of social media on the youth and behaviour change.

The findings of this study may also be useful to the policy makers in various sectors of the government. For instance, in the educational sector curriculum developers will be informed when developing curriculum for the youth.

In the health ministry, it will help doctors especially those dealing with counseling of the youth to know which tools to use to effectively communicate to the youth.

The results of the study are likely to influence further scholarly research by other researchers who may be interested in this field of knowledge and initiate appropriate mitigation.

1.6 Scope of Study

This study was limited to social media and the behaviour of youths in ignatius ajuru university of education. Social media was the independent variable and behaviour pattern of youths was the dependent variable of the study. The study was carried out in ignatius ajuru university of education, Rivers State in the southern part of Nigeria.

1.7 Definition of Terms

As words may mean differently in different contexts, the following definitions are given as the words used as intended to be understood for the purpose of this study.

Social Media:

They are forms of electronic communication which facilitate interactive base on certain interests. Social media include web and mobile technology

Social Networking Sites:

A website where people put information about them and can send to others.

Social Networking:

The use of internet to make information about yourself available to other people especially people you share an interest with to send messages to them.

Media:

Are all those media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. “They are messages communicated through a mass medium to a number of people.

Computer:

A computer is a machine that receives or stores or process data quickly according to a stored program.

Tweets:

A short message posted on Twitter (a micro blog).

1.8 limitation of the Study

First and foremost, the researcher faced some limitations of funds in terms of capital to carry out. Time for carrying out research was also another challenge/limitation in that the researcher was still studying [continuing with the program at the university while carrying out research. In the field, the researcher faced a problem in that some respondents were not welcoming and reluctant in answering questions. In addition to some respondents did not rectum the questionnaires due to reluctance. The study was also very costly to accomplish since it involves several movements, buying of tools, printing among others. Data discussion and analysis caused a big challenge as well. Because it took a lot of time

1.9 Organisation of the Study

This study is organized into five chapters. Chapter one included the background of the study, research problem, research objectives and questions as well as limitation of the study. Chapter two contains the literature review. Chapter three includes the methodology and study area. Chapter Four contains the results and discussion of key findings of the study. Chapter Five finally looks at the summary, conclusions, and recommendations based on the findings.

Chapter Five

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

5.0 Introduction

This chapter dealt with the discussion of the findings, conclusion and presents recommendations of the study.

5.1 Summary

5.1.1 Determining the level of Usage of social media

The findings show the level of usage of social media is high as respondents agreed to most of the statements used to measure this objective. This is from the fact that 70% of the respondents agreed that they use social media daily with an acceptance mean of 3.7, 75% of the respondents accepted Social media is the best channel of communication with an acceptance mean of 3.7,65% of the respondents also accepted that they use social media to get sexual talks with an acceptance mean of 3.63, 74.2 agreed that they use social media chatting with friends with a mean of 3.72,69.7% agreed that they use social media to get news with a mean of 3.48,87.3% agreed that they use social media to get life style patterns where as 85% of the respondents rejected that they use social media for academic purposes with a rejection mean of 1.29. This implies that most of youths in ignatius ajuru university of education on highly use social media since most of the statements were accepted. (kuss and Griffiths, 2011). (kuss and Griffiths, 2011). On the internet, youths engage in a variety of activities some of which may be potentially addictive. The mass appeal of social media on the internet could be a cause for concern, particularly when attending to the gradually increasing amount of time students spend online. Undergraduates spend more time on Facebook, Twitter and other social media through smart phones that are now in abundance among these youths. I also agree with the findings of the study that there is a high level of social media usage among the youth in ignatius ajuru university of education.

5.1.2 Level of preference of social media

The findings of the study revealed that 95% of the youths prefer social media to other mediums of communication. According to recent research about social media networks and Internet usage, social networking sites like Facebook have become sopopular that many university students will get an account even if they do not want to (Peter, Schouten, & Valkenburg, 2006).1 also agree with the findings of the study since most of the university students and generally the youth in Nigeria spare most of their time on social media thus signifying a high level of preference.

5.1.3 Impact of social media on the behaviour of the youths

The findings of the study show that 70% of the respondents agreed that Social media affects the behaviour of the youth with a mean of 3.7, 75% of the respondents agreed that social media is negative to the youth with a mean of 3.725, 80% of the respondents strongly agreed that social media affects relationships for young adults with a mean of 4.67, 80% of the respondents agreed that social media affects the spiritual morals of youths with a mean of 4.0.

5.1.4. Threats of Social media

From the findings of the study, most of the respondents revealed that social media creates a gap between parents and teenagers thus denying them a chance to give them advice and also it was revealed that social media is the biggest route cause to marriage break ups among the young adults as most ladies spend much of the time on social media other than fulfilling family duties. More so it was revealed that social media promotes pornography as this has greatly affected the sexual life style of the youths. Social media networks, as well as other new forms of communication technology, are also a concern to many school professionals because of the level of distraction they create within the school and the entire community especially among the youth (Greenfield & Subrahmanyam, 2008). Research has also shown that an adolescent is more likely to harass or harm another if they are not together face-to-face, which also can make a social networking site a perfect place for trouble to manifest (Mesch, 2009). However, there is no current legislation that protects tenagers from this type of harassment, even though there are laws for more traditional types of bullying (Geach & Haralambous, 2009).

I agree with the findings of the study that social media is more harmful to the youth as the teaches the youth bad morals like pornography and many more.

5.1.5. Relationship between social media and behaviour of the youths

The findings of the study revealed that 84% of the respondents agreed that there is a negative relationship between social media and the behaviour of youths in ignatius ajuru university of education. This means that an increased use of social media leads to the deterioration in the morals and behaviour of youths. Jeong (2005) noted that internet addiction is significantly and negatively related the behaviour of youths.

(Olowu & Seri 2012). Indicated that teenagers are spending too much time on social networking sites at the detriment of other necessary things such as their studies and career. He revealed that social media negatively affects the behaviour of the youth. I personally agree with the findings of the study that there is a negative relationship between social media and the behaviour of the youth too much addictions causes them to adopt bad behaviours like pornography and wasting time.

5.2 Conclusions to the Study

5.2.1 Determining the level of Usage of social media

The findings of the study revealed that there is a high level of using social media for various aspects only that it was revealed that social media is not used for academic purposes.

5.2.2 Preference of Social Media

The findings of the study revealed that generally most of the youth prefer social media to other channels of communication.

5.2.3 Impact of social media on the behaviour of the youths

The findings of the study show that Social media affects the behaviour of the youth, social media is negative to the youth, social media affects relationships for young adults and that social media affects the spiritual morals of youths.

5.2.4 Threats associated with Using Social media

The findings of the study revealed that most of the respondents said that social media creates a gap between parents and teenagers; social media is the biggest route cause to marriage break ups among the young adults as most ladies spend much of the time on social media other than fulfilling family duties. More so it was revealed that social media promotes pornography as this has greatly affected the sexual life style of the youths.

5.2.5. Relationship between social media and behaviour of the youths

The findings of the study revealed that there is a negative relationship between social media and the behaviour of the youth and young adults in ignatius ajuru university of education. Thus increased use of social media leads to a negative behaviour among the youths.

5.3 Recommendations

The government should regulate the use of social media among the youths as it affects their behaviour negatively.
The government should impose strict laws on those who promote pornography via social media platforms as it is hamful to the youths.