CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1.
Background
of the Study
Social media was invented as a
result of modernization in all countries of the world. Social media is an
important tool for learning among youths, Bliss 1998. Social media can be seen
through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and other social websites. The
invention and introduction of it is to change and transform the way we think,
learn and live our lives, interact and also to embrace growth and technology.
In recent times, the Internet has
become the major means of communication for many people, if not all.
Specifically, youths have welcomed and embraced this new method of
communication as the very important way to keep in touch with family and
friends. Social media websites, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter are the most
popular and most visited places for youths to spend their time. Nowadays, it is
difficult to point out a youth that can stay away from social media website for
a day. Half of their day is often spent on social media, Agiriga 2000.
Attention has always been given to the presentation of peer attitudes and
behaviour on and towards social media networks. Looking at it closely, it looks
as if a good number of youths creating networks and online presence are an essential
mode for the management of identity, lifestyle, and social relations. It has
been discovered and noted that the ability of a youth to join a community is affected
by both the number of friends he has within the community, and more crucially
how those friends are linked to one another, Ayodele 1997. Some researchers evaluated
the preferential behaviour of Yahoo! Groups. They discovered that diverse types
of groups yield different levels of engagement. Members of a smaller, private
group often times have higher level of engagement than members of a large,
public one. The more groups a person belongs to, the better and more he would
be heavily involved in all of them.
More importantly, media has the
capability to control a whole lot. It can control a person’s life, how much
friends one will have, etc. It suggests enthusiasm, aptitude and chance mainly
in students very much. With rapid improvements in communication technologies,
the new media began taking up more space within communal living every passing
day. In the same light, the media influences the social interactions,
communications of people, the social balance, and the internal dynamics of the
society and the life style of people. Social media have switched our previous
world to a world where mere tools are the message itself; people are now embracing
the new habits and crafting new social life styles. The influence of New Media has
on social life has multiple-dimensional, multifaceted interactions, rather than
only one-dimension. Hence, the media, the youths, society and cultural means influence
each other and bring forth new means to create a lasting society alongside with
this process. Presently, the crises and terrible failures which have a
paramount position within social balance, take place all around the world in
different facets and with different speed. Quite a good number of youths have
lost their lives as a result of the friends they met on social media, while
some people’s life styles have changed from good to worse because of social
media. These crises most times lead to profound losses of human life or
economic losses as mentioned above. Thus, governments and non-governmental
organizations should make effort to take many protective and preventive
measures in this field. In this form of crisis situations, institutional
efforts are not solely fulfilled; hence, the duty and efficiency of people,
youths have also changed and developed, similar to the growth in communication
technologies. Through social media, people/youths have started going through diverse
crises and reacting to crises much more frequent and fast. Studies have been conducted
on the extent or level to which social media crisis situations and created maps
of new media tools for these situations.
1.2.
Statement
of the Problem
The
increase in the use of social media platforms like facebook, twitter, 2go,
instagram etc. have significantly affected the average life of youths in the
country. The development of the Nigerian youths has witnessed significant
challenges as what is expected of the Nigerian youth has not been seen. The
general rise in the use of social media in Nigeria has negatively affected the
youths as more than 70 percent of youths in Nigeria are in one social media
platform or the other.
Livingstone
(2008) opined that for teenagers, the online realm may be adopted
enthusiastically because it represents their’ space, visible to the peer group
more than to adult surveillance, an exciting yet relatively safe opportunity to
conduct the social psychological task of adolescence. Technology brought about social media which
is a valuable tool but is somewhat misused by today‘s youth. The two main forms
that the youth use to access social media are cell phones and the Internet
which have brought about major changes in their lifestyle.
In addition, social media has
increased the rate of prostitution within the society. This is because social
media provide an easy means of contact for youth who indulge themselves in this
nervous behavior. Due to what youth are watching on social media, the culture
of descent dressing which African were known for is almost extinct if not for
the sanction of dress code. Some youth dressed half –naked to consider
themselves civilized, no wonder some of the females do report cases of rape and
sexual harassment.
With
the current exposure and easy access that the youth are able to get out of
these mediums, this study will establish the impacts it has on the youth.
Issues that are expected to arise out of this research include exposure to
problematic materials, online victimization of youth, exposition to unnecessary
online marketing and advertising, exposure to dangerous online behaviors’,
issues of identity theft, the emergence of digital divide and generation gap
between parents and the youth, the degradation of our cultural values, peer
influence and also their morality level before and after the exposure to social
media.
1.3.
Aim
and Objectives of the Study
The
aim of the study is to examine the perception of media antagonism and youth
development in Ilorin Metropolis. However, other specific objectives of the
study are to;
1. Examine
the effect of social media on the Nigerian youth.
2. Examine
the impact of social media antagonism on youth development.
3. Assess
the importance of social media in Nation building.
4. Highlight
the level of use of social media by youths in Nigeria.
5. Recommend
better ways of enhancing youth development in Nigeria.
1.4.
Research
Questions
Major research questions to be answered include:
1. What
the effect of social media on the Nigerian youth?
2. What
is the impact of social media antagonism on youth development?
3. What
is the importance of social media in Nation building?
4. What
is the level of use of social media by youths in Nigeria?
5. What
are the ways of enhancing youth development in Nigeria?
1.5.
Research
Hypothesis
H0:
Social media antagonism does not have an effect on youth development in Ilorin
metropolis.
H1:
Social media antagonism has an effect on youth development in Ilorin metropolis.
H2:
Social media antagonism is a common practice to youth development in Ilorin
metropolis.
1.6.
Significance
of the Study
The study would be of immense
importance to Nigerian youths as it would unveil the effect of social media
antagonism on Youth development. The study would greatly benefit students,
researchers and scholars who are interested in developing further studies on
the impact of effect of social media in Nigeria. It is hoped that the findings
of this study will bridge the gap of lack of sufficient information on the
effects of social media on the youth of morality. The findings of this study
may also be useful to the policy makers in various sectors of the government.
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