CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background to the Study

Social media has come to stay. It is a recent etchnological development that has caught the attention of people, organization, government and civil society. Social media is becoming more prominent in social interaction and activities. According to Abdulahi, Samadi, &Gharlehi (2014), in the early 2000s, the web became much more personal as social networking websites were introduced and embraced by the masses.

The interesting part of social media is the numerous facilities and features it offer the people in their daily life. People these days depend on life in the social media for them to manage their life. According to Shabir, Yousef & Safdar (2014), social media is most recent form of media and having many features and characteristics. It has facilities on same channel like as communication texting image sharing, audio and video sharing, fast publishing, linking with all over world, direct connecting. It is also cheapest fast access to the world so it is very important for all age of people.

New media are very common with people especially journalists. This is because of the massive and undeniable contributions which have been received. The contributions have influence that way people understand and give meaning to new media.

New media consist of social media and new hard wares technological development. When social media is used interchangeably with new media, it is for deeper understanding of the concept. The link between them is the place of internet. It is therefore important to recognize internet revolution as the major contributor to the new media. This is because from the internet all other new media platforms take it base. According to Andreas and

According to Adegilero-Iwari and Ikenwe (2014), internet in a whole is the new media where as other have coined the term new media for containing group of tools or technologies available on the internet. New media has described copiously. New media is a generic term for the many different form of electronic communication that is made possible through the use of computer technology. It include web site, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, email, online community, web advertising, DVD and CD-ROM, media virtual reality environment integration of digital data with the telephone, such as interest telephony, digital camera, mobile computers, mobile app, Memory cards, Bluetooth e.t.c.

Moreover, Logan (2010) sees new media as a term that refers in general term as digital media having interactions, incorporative two-way communication and involves some form of computing as opposed to old media which in their original incarnation did not require computer technologies; now in their present configuration do make use of computer technology. According to Croteau and Hoynes (2003), new media radically break the connection between physical place and social place making physical location much less significance for our social relationship.

Michael (20100, social media is a group of internet based applications that builds on the ideological and technological foundation of web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated contents. Social media are becoming ever- more viable platforms for communication and media service. Olusesam, Sanusi, Jide and Oloyede (2014), characterized that social media can give opportunity for users to add value to the application as they use it through the edit box interface, to exercise control on the data, to interact on a more advanced software level and by creating a web of friends and interaction by socializing and gradually moving members from the physical world to the online world.

The base of the above opinion is on social interact. Social media by individual members, professionals are using same for professional activities. Olusena et al (2014) assert that in the first instance, social media suggest that there is a process of interaction between two or more. The basic idea behind social media is to create mutual relationship among users. On the other hand, the term media suggest a channel through which information is passed to a large diverse audience that may not be within the same geographical area.

To gather, the two suggest medium for social interaction among various peoples that are connected on the same subscribed social network from different local internet has multiply the activities of journalism in all journalistic spheres. According to Pew research Center (2012), it was highlighted in recent report that in digital era, new media has become omnipresence. People access it in multiple platforms and formats on myriad devices. The days of loyalty to particular news from are gone. In the same report, (59%) of Americans get news from a combination of online sources on a typical day and the internet is now the third world most popular news platform, behind local television and national television news.

The social media sites such as twitter and facebook is the most common use social media among young people in the world. According to Kamaku and Mberia (2014) the social networking sites such as twitter and facebook have become a raging craze for everyone nowadays. Media use is an integral part of the daily life of adolescents; there are a number of risks associated with social media use.

Recent studies have shown that teengers are the age brackets that use the social media most. This is as a result the social interaction features in social media and the use among teenagers is increasing day to day with high rate all over the world. According to Shabir et al (2014), majority of youth is shifting speedily from electronic media like as television viewers and radio listeners to the social media among all age of group. Youth rate is very much to shift into social media so its influence is much on youth.

Social media has been widely adopted in the twenty first century, with strong enthusiasm among youth. The latest statistics from the Pew Internet Project report indicate that 80% of US internet users between the ages 12 to 19 use social media.

Abdulahi et al (2014), state that since the introduction of social media, millions of users have be attracted, many of whom integrated their sites as a daily practice. This study focus on the prominent and common social media sites in Nigeria. These include facebook, twitter, instagram, whatsapp. Facebook is the most popular social media din the world. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and some of fellow colleges in Harvard University, (Daniel, 2013). According to Abdulahi et al (2014) facebook is the largest social network in the world. It started as a website limited to Harvard university students only, but quickly expanded to additional colleges in the Boston area. Now, one out every seven people on earth is on facebook.

The impact of social media use on the moral behaviour on teenagers is a recent concern in the world. According to Shair et al (2014), social media has led to a host of questions regarding its impact on the society, while it is agreed that the social media affects peoples’ living style and it is an ongoing process to identify the nature of these influence in every society and country specially on youth this also focus on the influence of society media on teenagers and their life style, trends and social life.

Andres Kaplan (2010) described in his study that social media is a set of internet based application that constructs on the ideological and technological foundation of wed and that permit the design and exchange of user generated content.

Merriam Webster encyclopedia Britannica Company defines: youth is the time of life when someone is young. Youth is the time when a young person has not yet become an adult. Youth is very important for future of any nation and country’s progress and development.

Now a day Social media is essential for youth in the field of education to learn new trends in education, to improve writing and communicating skills, cultural promoting, religious and political information gathering and sharing links, better living style, growth and development of society (Merriam Encyclopedia, 2001).

The internet and American life project: social media internet has different impact in various aspects on American’s life. And this project covers the different areas of life in which some areas are here demographics, government official and on line elections and policies, education, family, friends and community, health, news and events, internet evaluation, online activities and searches, Public policy, technology, media and use of media (Turow, 2010).

Social media such as Facebook, Skype, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace may have been freshly marketed as great leveler as gathering in which divides of races, classes, and ethnicity. Shrestha lucky (2013) described that social media is means of connections among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks (Shrestha lucky, 2013). Alison Doyle an American Psychologist: She define Social media as, it is various online technology tools that enable people to communicate easily and people use social media to share information , text, audio, video, images, podcasts, and other multimedia communication.

There is much immoral behaviour that has superimposed moral behaviours of teenagers as a result of the use of social media platforms. These include violence, dating, sexual abuse, bully, harassment, criminality, cyber-gender. According to Lenhard (2007) when it comes to teen dating violence and sexual abuse within dating relationships, technology can be an often used tool in dating abuse. Sexual harassment exists in school but now post-break ups sexual harassment has jumped the physical barriers and has beco me an epidemic on social media websites. This harassment goes by multiple names: cyber bully, social sexual sharing, cyber gender harassment and even terms as graphic and demeaning as revenge pornography. Teens get away with poting these images because it mostly happens at night since people don’t want to get caught so they usually put it up at night and then they remove it afterward.

1.2      Statement of the Problem

Social networking sites have become a very important aspect in young people life. Internet use has grown considerably in the last decade and majority of young adult uses the internet daily if not more so, (Lenhart and Madden, 2007). According to Davies and Cranston (2013), social media offers young people several benefits and opportunities, including access to information, extended social networks, social skill practice, identify expression, informal learning opportunities interest-based gropus, development and maintenance of friendship and fun. Social media has been described as an important part of a young person’s life and a platform for experimentation, creative self- expression, and identity formation, (Cortesis, 2013).

The increased use of social media by teenagers across the world has several risks and consequences. They include privacy concern such sharing too much information, posting of false information about themselves or others, exposure to fraudster and addiction to internet or social media use that might impact negatively on their social, psychological and emotional well-being, (Gwenn and Katherine, 2011).

Apart from the above challengers, the study will focus on the implication of social media use on the moral bahaviour of teenagers using the above issue as yardsticks. The study is positioned on teenagers in Nigeria because the use of smartphones by teenagers is recent as such few studies have been directed to the period and age within a suburban community in Delta State.

1.3      Objectives of the Study

The study shall been guided by the following objectives.

1.    To determine the extent do teenagers in Orhuwhorun town access social media.

2.    To find out the ways do teenagers in Orhuwhorun town access the social media.

3.    To ascertain why do teenagers in Orhuwhorun town access social media sites.

4.    To determine the gratifications that teenagers in Orhuwhorun town derive from using the social media?

5.    To examine the ways do using social media sites influence the moral behaviour of youths in Orhuwhorun town?

1.4      Research Questions

1.    To which extent do teenagers in Orhuwhorun town access social media

2.    In what ways do teenagers in Orhuwhorun town access the social media?

3.    Why do teenagers in Orhuwhorun town access social media sites?

4.    What are the gratifications that teenagers in Orhuwhorun town derive from using the social media?

5.    In what ways do using social media sites influence the moral behaviour of youths in Orhuwhorun town?

1.5      Significance of the Study

This research work is important because it centers on issues in mass communication. Social media has been an important concept for discussion in public places. Therefore the findings of this research will open up further research idea for other scholars. Also, parents will be able to understand the inherent negative factors of the social media as well as knowing the implications so as to protect their wards

1.6 Scope of the Study

The study is restricting to parents in Orhuwhorun town since the study is the influence of social media on the moral behaviour of teenagers.

1.6      Definition of Terms

Teenager: This is young adult that are between the age 10 to 18 years. There are also referred to adolescent.

Influence: Influence is regarded to any factor that is capable of affecting the ones behaviour. It is the determinant variables with result.

Social Media: This is the social interactive media where users have connection with each other in sharing of information for social gains. Social media is means of connections among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks

Behaviour: This is the characteristics of a person that influence is disposition and acts and reaction as a result of some factors about life and environment.

Moral: This is a set of code generally accepted by a given society to supervise the activities of human being. It is the norm that people use to check mate their activities. It is not legally bind with sanction but deviant can be punished through self-determined.

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