Effects of Social Media on the Nigerian Students and Youth.

ABDULLAHI, Muhammad Habibu Badala Academy Secondary School, Azare +2348032721286 Date of Birth: 14 March,1997 17 Years Old. [email protected]

THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE NIGERIAN STUDENTS/YOUTH.

Indeed, it is very hard for us to know/detect the percentage of how our life has been changed completely by the effects of social media, until we stop for a while and trace back two to four years to see how different it was. In recent year’s social media, likely more than anything else has devastated effects in most of our daily lives. According to my own opinion, social media may be defined as an online platform that focuses on facilitating and building the social relationship among people who share the same interest, activity, views or perceptions. Examples of social media include the Facebook, twitter, Skype, what Sapp, BB chat, galaxy chat, 2go and many others too numerous to mention. It is known to all of us that every coin has two sides. The world is stylish literates can easily handle. Therefore, the social media has both the negative as well as positive effects on Nigerian students/youth. So far, it has very huge negative impact on all students globally. The negative effects of social media are vast. Some of its negative effects include: Time wastage, health effect, religious effect, it causes serious accidents on our major roads, wrong way of earning cash (419), waste of resources(surplus), decrease in productivity, it reduces learning and research capabilities of students, reduces useful commands over language, writing skills

effect, it leads to examination malpractice, fraudulent activity, influential effect, misunderstanding between two or more mutual friends, inefficiency effect and so on and so forth. First of all, considering time wastage, students, while searching and studying online, get attracted to using social media sites and sometimes they forget why they are using internet. This wastes their time so much and sometimes the students are not able to deliver their work in specified time frame. So far I have made some observations that students nowadays do not do the same activities, trials, and applying more effort as students of before. Instead of reading their notebooks or textbooks, studying, playing outdoors with other children, and engaging themselves in some recreational activities, or trying to do something that may help them in the future, they end up being cooped up in their various rooms just face booking, twitting using cell phones or laptops and some new technological gadgets that can engross their attention easily and so on. Hence because of the technological advancements we have gotten and the availability of more gadgets to students at their disposal in order to help them do their assignments wisely, instead these stupid/hopeless students end up spending their precious time in front of their computers chatting and playing unnecessary videos and games which will not help them in their academic work. Hence, advisably all parents that have good care for their children should register to these social websites so that they get what their children’s are doing/sharing online in order to monitor them and take appropriate measures. Health effect, the excessive use of these sites affects both the mental and physical health. Some students while using these sites do not even bother to take their food on time, talk less of having enough rest. But they take coffee in excess (too much) in order to remain active and focused, so this affects their health negatively. So far, the overuse of the social media on a daily basis has the negative effects on the physical as well as the mental wellbeing on students by making them inactive and unmotivated to create contact with people in the society. Hence, it affects tremendously the brains of

young children as they are more prone to anxiety. Also it gives chances to young adults to express their effective understanding and enable bad ways of socialization among some shy teen-agers, which may lead to the influence of other students to join on in and learn bad habits that might feature in the social website e.g. sex discussions. It causes serious accidents on our major roads: some unscrupulous youth/students hang online while driving, using a vehicle which is a very dangerous habit. So how can two birds be killed at the same time in this context? It is totally impossible! Are they to concentrate on driving the vehicles or chatting with their friends? As a result of this, serious accidents occur and many lives and property are loosening, even though road safety officers are trying their best in order to put this kind of students/youth through and save their lives by enlightment campaigns and ad vocations. Waste of resources: this is among the most challenging phenomenon to the Nigerian students/youth on their parents. Nowadays, most of the students are parasites to their parents (i.e. they defend on them) everything is done to them by the parents or their bread winners. This situation is worrying the parents/bread winner(s) because some students may not use their single kobo on food or exercise book that can help them in their academic work. Hence, as known to all of us that many of our nowadays students use their cellphones to browse, call or to play games, so it requires recharge card before it calls or browses. So any student that is interested in calling somebody or browsing must get a means of buying recharge card. And browsing requires 5k/kb as a result before the application loads it requires about not less than five naira, so out of hundred naira recharge card at least ten naira has gone, what remains? The balance is ninety naira and it goes all in sending, receiving messages and pictures, this can easily turn frugal students or very careful youth to learn what we call extravagancy or excessive spending of money.

It reduces their learning and research capabilities: I can guess that about 95% of students/youths rely on the information posted by their friends/others accessible easily on these social Medias sites. For class assignments or homework this may equally reduce their learning, research, capabilities and efforts toward their studies. It leads to examination malpractice: This is a wrongful act that deals with any behavior(s) that is illegal or against the ethics of examination, but which is committed by either the students or examiners in order to give an advantage to a student to pass the examination by any means. Additionally, it is a bad social habit which is sometimes called cheating. This act and any form of this habit that may lead to it commitment is totally forbidden to all students; in order to let them defend on their own. This year, large number of students uses the social media in order to cheat, more especially during their terminal/final senior secondary school examination popularly known as WAEC, NECO and JAMB. Surprisingly, the students use simple ways to cheat. For example we have a new invented social media site called Ceebook , this site post all the exams questions to all students that register with that web site i.e. before the commencement of that paper/exams. Therefore from one student it may rich up to millions of them within short period of time. So how do we expect students to read on their own and do their work independently without reliance on these sites? Something annoying here is that many Nigerian students defend on social media when they are given take-home assignment. If they really want to learn why wont they consult textbooks so as to understand the basic concept? So that they may give/create their own definition(s) or understanding. But the majorities of them visit these sites and type the question(s) and wait for response from others and they just copy and paste what somebody has written. This is what we call plagiarism which is totally bad.

In conclusion, the social media is one of the most important things that engrosses students/youth attention and has vast negative effects as outlined and discussed above on the Nigerian students/youth. Consequently, on this very vast planet of ours today, if social media is use excellently it can give us all the greater choices on how we live and what happens currently in the world. There is every tendency that those students/youth that use the social media in excess may become half-baked in the society (not fully educated) as a result of how they waste their precious time using the social media not paying much of their attention in reading and conducting research, and thus decrease their research, capabilities and effort towards effective learning.