INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE READING AND WRITING ABILITIES OF UNDERGRADUATES
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INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE READING AND WRITING ABILITIES OF UNDERGRADUATES
Chapter one
Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
Social media is a multi-purpose web-based platform that uses text, sound, video, and images to make communication more dynamic, appreciating, and pleasant (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).
It is a method of human interaction in which people produce, share, exchange, and comment on content inside virtual communities and networks (Ahlqvist et al., 2008).
It makes significant and widespread improvements to communication between organisations, communities, and individuals (Kietzmann et al., 2011).
Magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, images or pictures, video, rating, and social bookmarking are some of the various forms of social media technology.
The text components of social media spell out vividly employing alphabets to convey information via reading. The graphics and video components supplement the text by providing a better visual grasp of the intended content
whereas the sound components appeal primarily to the ear in order to convey the intended message to targeted readers. Social media networking is a relatively new sort of internet application. Many people understand and appreciate it.(pempek et al., 2009)
Reading and communicating necessitate the exact and concise transmission of information into the brain. When reading is done solely through text, most of the information that needs to be transmitted to/by the brain is lost along the way (Stevenson, 2004; Parkinson, 2012).
This is due to the fact that all of the senses involved in pictorial imaginations and understanding, as well as ear connections and contributions, are not utilised, leaving only the text for the mind to transform into meaningful information for use.
Pictures interacting with text provide a deeper knowledge of the subject than text alone. This also improves memory (Levin, 1989).
Academic reading is the type of reading that occurs when learning or studying at an educational institution. It is active reading that requires clear thinking (Pritchard, 2008).
Reading an academic text differs significantly from reading comic books, novels, and periodicals. Academic writings deal with thoughts and ideas connected to disciplines studied in college or university.
The objective is to both challenge and document what one reads. Simply simply, one must be ‘critical’. A critical reader will challenge author-presented concerns and perspectives.
Instead of simply reading and not pondering on the material, the reader will recognise which parts of the message are useful and may be utilised to support or oppose their opinions in a persuasive and effective manner.
In academics, reading is inextricably linked to writing. Thus, what is written will always have a connection with what is read (Lines et al., 2012; Gillett, 2013).
According to Loving and Ochoa (2010), social media has proven to be generally addictive for undergraduates who prefer to devote significant amounts of their limited study time to chatting, maintaining social connections, and making new acquaintances during their years of study.
These, according to Ofuani and Gberedio (2009), reduce the amount of time students need to spend reading their books and other study materials. The primary reason for doing this study is that, as an educator, witnessing students’ unwillingness to read books and now writing in short form and other study materials broadly owing to the social media threat is a troubling phenomena.
Most undergraduates’ low academic performance is attributed to their usage of social media, which has an impact on their reading and writing. As previously stated, the influence of social media has resulted in undergraduates reading far less books. Even examination malpractices could be traced to the usage of social media.
The constant usage of social media has hampered undergraduates’ reading and writing abilities. As a result, they have become passive readers who would rather browse.
They would rather spend several hours chatting with pals than reading. Some even utilise social media in lecture halls instead of paying attention to what is being taught, because they rely on its information accessibility to offer direct lifting of solutions.
Statement of the Study
The problem that prompted the study is the rate at which undergraduates trade off academic learning for social media content generation sites such as Facebook and 2go, among others.
The prevalence of social media use today raises numerous concerns. The situation is not only worrisome for all education stakeholders, but it is also rather alarming.
This highlights the necessity to address social media difficulties in students’ cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor domains. If nothing is done to stem the tide now, long-term damage will occur.
This will be detrimental to our country’s education system since the necessary manpower to address our socioeconomic development difficulties will be unavailable.
Currently, it appears that the majority of kids who arrive to school with internet access focus more on social media connections than on academic learning.
The time spent reading, writing, and researching may appear to be devoted to social media interactions that have no influence on their cognitive, affective, or psychomotor development.
This could have a disastrous influence on pupils’ learning abilities. This has a propensity to improve the outcomes of underprivileged pupils in schools. This is not good for our country’s education, which is looking for a path to recover from its current shaky state.
With the present rate of social media usage among undergraduates, it is possible that if the neglect of textbooks and scholarly journals is not addressed soon, more of our library’s textbooks and journals may be completely forgotten. This is yet another obstacle to our country’s academic viability.
Furthermore, the ubiquity of social media and the speed with which information is produced appear to foster a relaxed attitude towards appropriate spelling and language.
This can be exported to traditional writing, which may limit pupils’ ability to write correctly without using a computer’s spell check capability. Worse, many undergraduates cannot read and write, which has been increasing every year, may be tied to students’ reading and studying time spent on social media activities.
The objectives of the study
The study’s aims are:
To investigate the influence of social media usage on undergraduates’ attitude towards learning in the University of Benin.
To determine whether students spend more time on social media than reading at the University of Benin.
To determine whether spending time on social media by undergraduates affects their writing abilities in the University of Benin.
Determine the pros and downsides of social media on pupils’ academic achievement.
1.4 Research Hypotheses
To ensure the study’s success, the researcher developed the following research hypotheses:
H0: There is no substantial influence of social media usage on undergraduates’ attitudes to learning at the University of Benin.
H1: Social media usage has a considerable influence on undergraduates’ attitudes towards learning at the University of Benin.
H02: Undergraduates’ use of social media does not influence their writing abilities at the University of Benin.
H2: Spending time on social media by undergraduates affects their writing abilities at the University of Benin.
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