SOCIAL MEDIA USE PATTERN AND ITSPERCEIVED EFFECTS ON READING CULTURE OF STUDENTS IN SELECTED TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The ability to read, comprehend and internalised what was read is regarded as key to attaining success in all academic endeavours as it promotes acquisition of ideas that may not be available through verbal means. With the advent of information communication technology which ushered in social media that has become widely used in the society, students tend to be more engrossed in social media usage and presence which in turn may affect their reading culture. Considering the side effect of this trend to the academic acvities of students and a means of guiding the policy makers in education industry, there is need to investigate the effects of this invented technology on the reading culture of the students. This study therefore, sought to assess the effects of social media on the reading culture of some students in three selected tertiary institutions in Osun State, South western Nigeria relying on survey research design of a correlational type. Structured questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection from the respondents drawn from the Faculty of Science, Osun State University, Osogbo, Federal Polytechnic Ede and Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun. The study adopted the multi-stage sampling techniques which
involved random selection with sample size of 288. Out of the 288 copies of questionnaire administered, 266 copies were retrieved and were found usable for the analysis. Results showed that respondents 266 (100%) prefers and uses FFacebook compared with other social media platforms. A vast majority of the respondents (Agreed = 57%, Strongly Agreed = 34.6%) stated they use the social media for academic purpose and access social media daily (170, 63.9%). However, only a meagre number 41 (15.4%) visits the library daily for readingpurpose. More than three quarter of the respondents (Agreed =61.7% and strongly agreed =16.5%) that the social media reduces their reading time. The study therefore, concluded that students in the studied tertiary institutions in Osun State usually utilized social media for various activities which include academics, business and friendship while it recommended that the students should be educated on the effective and positive use of the social media for academic purpose while the management of the institutions are encouraged to regulate the activities to be carried out by the students
on the institution based networks.