Background to the study
Socialization is a lifetime process that goes on when individuals change careers or societal responsibilities. It is a long-standing human tradition that involves how people interact with one another in their living environments (Haralambos, Holborn and Healed, 2008). Before new technology emerged and changed socializing into a new social structure, socialization has been long observed. The development of the internet and social media coincided with the shift to a technological age. Because of technological advancements, it is now simpler for anyone, particularly young people, to use the internet and participate in social networking with their peers (Ibrahim, 2012). Social networking has completely changed how people engage with one another. It is a method for facilitating online social interaction. People use it to look for and enjoy other people’s company online. It encourages people and organizations with similar interests to share information and services. Kaplan and Helen (2010) describe social media as a collection of internet-based applications that enable the production and sharing of user-generated content. In a similar spirit, Arshin (2010) described social networking sites as virtual spaces where individuals come together and exchange knowledge. These social networking websites allow anybody to join. One has the right to establish a buddy network as soon as they form an account and upload their data to their profile pages. Nevertheless, some social networking sites are made exclusively for mobile devices, while others may only be accessed via PCs or other information communication technology. There are many of these social networking sites, but only a handful will be included here: Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, and so on. One may join as many social networking sites as they like; there are no restrictions or constraints on how many. Although the major components of social networking sites are the same, the cultures and reactions that emerge around them are different. The majority of websites assist users in making connections with strangers based on common hobbies, ideologies, or leisure activities. While some websites cater to specific viewers, others draw users based on shared characteristics, such as a language or shared ethnic, sexual, religious, or national identity. Social networking sites, however, only have one common objective. To promote innovative approaches to information sharing and communication. Additionally, it offers fantastic chances for members, such as senior high school students and librarians, who utilize it to advertise the library’s services and get first-hand knowledge of its consumers via interaction with them. On the other hand, students gain from some of the articles on certain websites since they may be instructive and educational, and after reading them, students can remark on them. Several seniors in high school have developed the practice of frequenting various social networking sites, which has begun to affect their general attitude—academically, physically, and socially. Academics are a student’s main focus, particularly in senior high school since this is the time when careers are being built. As a result, it is crucial that students take their studies and reading seriously. According to Akintunde (2001), it is crucial for kids to acquire a strong reading habit. Because reading proficiency helps students to succeed and interact with the world outside of the classroom (Mabekoje 2011). He emphasized further that reading regularly broadens readers’ horizons and is crucial for independent language learning, particularly speaking and writing. Reading is a critical tool for students to use in order to enhance their literacy and environmental knowledge since the whole educational process and the development of literacy rely on written words (Mabekoje 2009). However, senior high schools that offer accounting classes should be using social media and networking sites to promote and advance their academic careers through various social networking sites, but the opposite is the case because this group of students is frequently seen during school hours in various hiding places either discussing social networks or browsing with their phones. Long (2012) hypothesized that many young people today are addicted to social networking activities, forgoing their time for homework and reading in favor of chatting with friends. Even during lecture times, many students are on their phones, engaging in some form of chatting, which can be quite distracting and lead to concentration loss most of the time. Social networking, with all of its advantages, shouldn’t be allowed to distract pupils from thinking about how Nigeria will evolve. It is important to make sure reading is back on track in order to advance development and the progress of the country since it empowers everyone and prepares the mind for social difficulties. The primary goal of this research is to ascertain how social media affects senior high school pupils.
Statement of problem
The fact that the system recently began with a broad spectrum of educational laxity in the use of social media networks is one of the variables that have been linked to the gradual degradation in the quality of the Nigerian educational system and the students they produce. Along with having an impact on pupils, these uncultured, worrying behaviors also tend to affect all levels of the educational system—junior, senior, and tertiary. It is already well known that most students not only have accounts on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp but are also glued to the current online craze (Oche & Aminu, 2010). Due to the abundance of social networking sites available online, many students are tempted to neglect their studies and reading assignments in favor of conversing with friends online.
This disturbs the pedagogical balance of English use in our educational system and even in society at large. As a result of using social media networks, several studies have revealed that students’ grades and academic performance suffer, they have less time for studying, and they score poorly on both internal and external exams (Banquil et al., 2009; Kirschner and Karpinski, 2010; Ndaku, 2013). More so than ever before, social media network issues including incorrect spelling, acronym use, time wastage in chat rooms, twitter, and facebook are causing considerable worry in Nigerian schools. For instance, students who are used to using short versions of terms in chat rooms forget to stop and use them in formal settings. They substitute words like “4” for “Four,” “U” for “You,” “D” for “The,” etc. This has an impact on their grade in class and the majority of them perform poorly in English language classes because they post and access documents with distorted grammar, which causes an increase in grammatical errors, incorrect spellings, word corruption, and the use of slang and street expressions. Correction of these distortions and abnormalities is necessary.
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