THE PERCEPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA ANTAGONISM ON YOUTH DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF ILORIN METROPOLIS)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

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 embracedthis 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 presenceare 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 yielddifferentlevels 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 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 timeslead toprofound 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/youthshave 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.

STATEMENT OF THE GENERAL 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.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The major aim of the study is to examine the perception of social media antagonism on youth development in Nigeria. other specific objectives of the study include;

1. To examine the effect of social media on the Nigerian youth.
2. To examine the impact of social media antagonism on youth development.
3. To assess the importance of social media in Nation building.
4. To highlight the level of use of social media by youths in Nigeria.
5. To recommend better ways of enhancing youth development in Nigeria.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

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?

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: Social media antagonism does not have an effect on youth development in Nigeria.

H1: Social media antagonism has an effect on youth development in Nigeria.

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.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study is restricted to the perception of social media antagonism on youth development in Illorin metropolis.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Perception: the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.

Social Media: Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks.

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