Abstract

Social media is often seen as having either positive or negative effect to youths, while trhis research duels on the harmful aspects of social but cannot avoid mentioning the benefits too. Today in our society, youths are often found accessing the web in every slit time they ascribe to as being leasure moment which derail their social ethics. Hence , the main focus of this study is to investigate the effects of socisl media on the morality of youths, while using the youths of Tubah Sub-Division as a case study.

A total of 50 respondent were selected from different study level( Grade) using the population of three schools in Tubah Sub-Division, Bamenda. In each school, the stratified random sampling techniques was used to select the student gender base on the school population. The researcher choose to use questionaires and interview schedules inorder to collection iformATIONS.in this research, the instrument used will be validated in terms of content validity.

Data gathered were analyse using simple frequencies and simple percentages. Oit intergrate both qualitative and quantitative data through various methods. Collected data is then analyse for results and recommendations. Through the use of qualitation and quantitative data analyses, it was found that the social media phenomenon is overwhelmingly popular among Tubah Sub-Divion youths as wel as one of the major contributor to moral degeneration in the country.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Social media has been become one of the main source for people to obtain information. Social media at present is one of the most engaging activities online popularly used by everyone in this generation. Users range from children to adults where teenagers are the considered the heaviest users. According to the 2015 report of the pew research center, 92% of teen go online daily which indicate their day to day lives are woven by social media. By being so active online, they are expose to various forms and contents both positive and negative. The various forms and contents of this type of media expose the teenagers to all sorts of materials. The material is then use differently by these individuals according to their own personal preferences and purposes. 

       Social media has become one of the most important communications of recent times. Idaleed and Mohd (2013) believe social media network exist as to provide communication among people regardless of distance making it open to people to easily share information: these systems are referring to social simple because they allow communication with friends and co-workers so easily and effectively. With the nature of cyber world around us today and how youths and students are immusid in it, there is growing concern on how it’s affected them (Onyenka et al,2013).  Onyenka and his associates explain that the internet could be used to connect with other people, whether business or commercial purpose, make new friends, reawaken old friends and long lost relatives. The emergence of social networking sites simplifies the whole process and they are easy to use and navigate. Social media is a form of effort for people, especially youths to move close to each other on the internet or social contacts by making connections through individuals. Social media is social interaction among people who create, share and exchange information and ideas in environments, schools, workplace, homes, and communities. Social media regardless of distance facilities people to communicate and convey information and ideas in the form of images, video and audio. Social media has been used increasingly in many cultures so that the number of user also has increased geometrically over the years. Today youths especially use SM daily for its numerous advantages side effects. There are many of social media such as technologies through the web to adapt and convey information and social platforms for example Facebook, Twitters WhatsApp in order to teach others and learn from others (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).This research sort to investigate how social media such as WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok influence youths social behavior .This study focus on youths as they are in their developmental stage, vulnerable to imitating what they see.

        Recently, Social media has become a means for people to connect with society and establish a relationship with others(Nicole and Boyd,2017).As the name implies social media Carrie’s a social undertone in which users are allowed to interacting with others to promote interpersonal relationship and give a certain effect on social behaviour of individuals worldwide. ; Kaplan and

Haenlein,2010,Macnamara and Zerfass,2012).Social behaviour is part of social behaviour against unacceptable behaviour. It center in attitude, perception, reaction and deposition of an individual to  others around him(Kaplan and Harleim,2010).There are positive and negative social behaviour. Both of them affect youths because the majority of the users are them. Currently, they learn bullying, blackmail, involvement in fraud, impersonation among other negativeinfluencesthroughWhatsApp,Facebook,Instagram,YouTube .Lowisz stated that instead of using social media for positive communication and benefits of connectivity, youths use it to the contrary. There is no doubt that social media enhance societal development and personal growth because useful information is been gotten from the internet. However social media has its downside in which children are not monitored, it could their social media as they imbibe the negative side. Incidentally, Parents are quite busy fent for their families, they not have enough time to sit  and discuss with their children. Many questions that are meant for parents to ask and answer online. Youths do not have the previlege of communication and leaning social behaviour from parents this most youths mostly learn social behaviour through chats on social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram. The favorite among the realm of social networking are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, Blackberry, Messenger and others. These web and social forums are way of communicating directly with other people socially and in the media. The social media is playing a large and influential role in decision making at occasions in the global world: economically, politically, educationally, socially and morally. Nyland et al (2007)posit that the motives of using social media include; meeting new people, entertainment, maintaining relationships ,social events and media creation. Schills (2001) opined that the social media sites encourage negative behavior for  young adults students such as as procrastination (catching up with friends)and they are more likely to drink and do drugs. Without doubt there has been considerable discussion regarding the frequent use of social media tools(Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, InStagram ) by  youths of today. Research show that this has widely spread implications particularly for the areas of education and the society at large ,for instance the e identification and compactible  teaching method of complimentary curriculum decisions and the design of non-classroom educational assignments. Idakwo (2011) assert that social interaction and social world have been affected at the advert of the social media. Nowadays since our generation is considered as android generation, Majority of our teenagers today own phones, laptops which they spend more time browsing. Many youth can’t go 2-3 hours without checking and updating their profile on social media network even at the detriment of other activities. In the light above teachers and parents complain of the poor behavior of these young youth. For examination, some teachers advised students to surf the internet for educational materials, parents worry about their children not studying during holidays but rather spend hours in social network .It is clear that many scholars must have studied the influence of social media on youths and students. Meanwhile the research dwells on the negative aspects of social media but cannot avoid mentioning the positive one too.

Background to the study.

     The world today celebrating the improvement of communication technology which has broadened the scope of communication technology through information and communication(I.C.T)        Historically it’s amazing to find out that youth of this days are morally bankrupt. our society has witnessed a tremendous determination in it moral social and educational values  especially among the youths. The root of social media stretch far deeper than you might imagine. Although it’s seems like a new trend, sites like Facebook are naturally outcome of many centuries of social media development. The earliest method of communication across great distance used was written correspondence delivered by hand from one person to another. In1792, the telegraph was invented. This allow messages to be delivered over a long distance. Although telegraph messages were short, they were a revolutionary wat of convey news and information. Technology began to change very rapidly in the 20th century. After the first super computer was created in the 1940s,scientists and engineers began to develop ways to creat networks between those computers and this later lead to the birth of  internet. The earliest form of internet such as CompuServe were  developed in the 1960s.Primitive forms of email were also developed during this time. By the 1770s , network technology had improved and by 1779 UseNet allowed users to communicate through a virtual newsletter. By the 1980s , home computers wee becoming more common and social media was becoming more sophisticated. Internet relay Chats or IRCs were first used in the 1988 and continue to be populate well into the 1990s .  The first recognizable social sites, Six Degree was created in 1997 which enabled users to upload a profile and make friends with others. In 1999,the first blogging sites became popular, creating a social media sensation that’s still popular today. After the invention of blogging, social media begin to explore in popularity. Sites like My Space, gain prominence in the early 2000s and site like photo bucket facilitated online photo sharing. YouTube came out in 2005,creating and entirely new way for people to communicate over a great distance. By 2006, Facebook and Twitter both become available to users through out the world. These sites remain some of the most popular social network on the internet. Today there’s a tremendous variety of social networking sites giving access to everyone especially youths of nowadays to access the internet.        Conceptually, nowadays social media is essential for youths in the field of education to learn new trend in education to improve writing and communication skills, culture promoting, religious and political information gathering and Sharing links, better living style, growth and development of society (Merriam Encyclopedia,2001). Social media has different impact in various aspects on the youths of Tubah sub division and this project cover the different area of life of demographic, government officials and in line elections and policies, education, family, friends and community, health, news and events, internet evaluation, online activities and searches, public policy, technology, media and use of media  (Turow,2010).

Shrestha Lucky(2013) described social media as a means of connection among people which they create, share and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and network. There is much immoral behavior that has superimposed behavior of teenagers as a result of the use of social media platform. These include violence, sexual abuse, bullying, harassment, criminality.                      

        Theoretically, Psychologists such as Albert Bandura

,Ajzen,Kohlberg Lawrence ,Piaget came up with theories explaining moral development of children, youths and even . Albert Bandura theory of social learning observation and modeling play a primarily role how and why people learn. Bandura’s theory goes beyond the perception learning being as a result of direct experience with the environment. The social learning theory(Bandura,1977)refer to learning through social media settings ,focusing on observation as an important aspect of learning that model the behavior of learners accordingly. Social media presents plenty of social learning examples with people imitating others whether acting a movie scene ,  dance moves from a music video not the least the many social media challenge people attempt. Bandura’s theory shows the significance of observing, modeling and imitating the behaviour ,attitude and emotional reactions of other through social apps such YouTube  ,Instagram,  TikTok .Parents /guidance or teachers should guide and educate these youths using these social apps. Another psychologist name Jean Piaget came up with a theory explaining moral development of children which he proposed  that between the age of 5-9 ,children develop moral realism ;that is the believe that morality is conducted by authority figures and breaking rules will lead to punishment .Piaget argue that children construct schemes of social reactions just as they construct schemes relating to the world objects.Internet in others lead to voluntary (autonomous)  social efforts .Lawrence Kohlberg an American psychologist expanded on Piaget theory by theorizing that there are three levels of moral development with six stages.

          Contextually, Social media has become a part of everyday lives. The many platform has the way we communicate. They provide quick access to information and entertainment at the touch of a bottom.As noted social interaction influenced social behavior. Research into the social context of behavior has found that social factors and others influence the onset and can be use to treat mental illness .Social cognitive psychologist such as Bandura argue that cognitive processes ,observing and imitating maladaptive modelled behavior can cause the onset of mental illness .Research into the social context attitudes and behavior has shown that social factors such as sociodemographics  (race ,age,  gender, social class,)can influence attitudes, behavior and self- perception. In Tubah sub-division ,the most widely use of social media platforms use mostly by the uses are WhatsApp, TouTube,  Facebook,  TikTok, Instagram, which are gaining a stream. Most youths in this area explore social media platforms for various reasons such as allowing teens to create online identities, communicate with others, build social networks ;these networks  can provide teen with variable support, especially helping those with expirence exclusion.

Statement of problem.

      Social networking site has become a very important aspect in youths life today. Internet puse has grown considerable in the last decade and majority of youths uses the internet daily. The sudden emerge and fast invention of social media and technology have change the level of communication today in the world . There has been a marked increase in high school  risks, youths have become phone addicted both at home and at school .The increase use of  social media by teenagers by the youths of Tubah sub division (Northwest Region of Cameroon) have several risks and consequences which include non privacy concern such as  sharing too much information ,posting of false information about themselves or others, exposure to fraudster and addiction to internet or social media use that might impact negatively on their social psychological and emotional well-being. In this regard researcher will study and find out the main cause of these immoral behavior among youths and also find  out among stakeholders efforts in restoring moral standards .Oladipo(2009) argue that  parents are the first moral teachers and role models that these youth people have. Effective  parenting characterize by love,  care, attachment and trust between parents and children is more likely to lead children and youth moral behavior. Nevertheless ineffective parenting lead to childred , youths bad behavior. The researcher therefore focuz parents as the stakeholders to promote good moral behavior thus also administer questionnaires to them.In their findings (Banachristus, Umeogu and Ifeoma,Ojiakor,2014 )that the internet has a double edge sword characteristic in that it can be used both for good and bad. For the good site it has made, it has made education very easy and more accessible. One can be in his/her house and get a degree or socializing. How can one reconcile the two? By spending more time on socialization networks instead of academic sites, the time meant for studying has been directed toward socializing and it’s negatively affects youth’s behavior  

General Objective of The Study

To investigate the influence social media on moral decadence and social behavior among youths in Tubah sub division Bamenda.

Specific Objective of The Study  

1. To find out the extent of youth involvement in social media.
2. To study the impact of social media on youths moral behavior.
3. To find out why majority of youths use social media.
4. To be able to engage stakeholders who are moral duty bearer and find ways of mentoring these youths to be just and mentally upright citizens.

General Research Question.

How those social media influence moral decedence and social behavior in Tubah sub division youths.

Specific Research Questions

1..What is the extent of youth involvement with social media  

2..What are the impacts of social media on their moral behavior  

3..Why do youths use social media  

4..How to we engage stakeholders who are moral bearers in mentoring these youths.