Abstract
Mobile Phone is often seen as having either a positive or a negative effect to its users while this research dwells on the harmful aspect of social media, but cannot avoid mentioning the benefits too. Today in our society, youths are often found accessing the web in every slight time they ascribe to as being leisure moment which derails their social ethics. Hence, the main focus of this study is to investigate the effect of Mobile Phone Usage on the morality of youths while using Oredo LGA, Edo State as a case study. A descriptive research design of exploratory type will be adopted for the study. A total of 70 respondents were selected from different study level (grades) using the study the population will comprise of all 4 schools in Oredo LGA of Edo State. The researcher will narrow the study to an accessible numbers. In each school, the stratified random sampling technique was used to select the student’s gender based on the school population. The researcher will choose to use questionnaires and interview schedules in order to collect information. In this research, the instruments used will be validated in terms of content validity. According to (Mugenda, O. M., & Mugenda, A. G., 1999) reliability in which a research instrument yields consistent results or data after repeated trials will be done through test and retest techniques. Data gathered were analysed using simple frequencies and simple percentages. It integrates both qualitative and quantitative data through various methods. Collected data is then analyzed for results and recommendations. Through the use of qualitative and quantitative data analysis, it was found that the social media phenomenon is overwhelmingly popular among Nigerian youths as well as one of the major contributors to moral degeneration in the country.
CHAPTER ONE
PRESENTATIONS
1.0 INTRODUCTION
This chapter covers or outline background of study, problem statement, research objectives and question, study limitation, delimitation, significance of the study, assumptions and definition of terms in more detail manner.
1.1. Background of the study
Information and communication Technology have revolutionalized every sphere of human society especially the advent of mobile phone which has brought an information and communication revolution worldwide. The world now has become a global village where distances among nations become meaningless. People living thousands of miles away can communicate or even transact with each other instantly. In Pakistan for instance the findings of study show that the new generation there used the mobile phones for interpersonal communication. However, young generation spent more time on average using mobile phones and somewhat agreed that mobile phones reduced face-to-face interaction. Direct interaction is equally important to bring families close to each other, resolve disputes and develop a healthy society. Mobile phones can be used as a tool to strengthen these family relations. In this way a more cohesive society can be developed in this technology boom. Barely a decade ago, few policy analysts, if any, predicted that Africa will be the continent to beat in the uptake of mobile communications. A quiet revolution took place until early 2000 that many began to notice the fast growth of the mobile technology. The demand for mobile phones in Africa in the last few years has been more than most people expected and continues to expand. Operators have traditionally target urban areas, but it is the demand from rural and low income areas that have exceeded all expectations. The use of phones has already become part of African culture. As urban markets become saturated, the next generation of phone users will be rural based, and they have commenced to flood with all sorts of new types of smart phones. The arrival of the cell phone in rural areas has taken Nigeria by storm. It has turned out to be such an amazing transition happening since most people in the start, did not reckon its capacity to gradually become a lifestyle choice. It has certainly changed the way people communicate and becoming a natural necessity for people of Nigeria. This can be seen from the numbers of cell phone units sold in the past years. The cell phones in Nigeria have gone from 1 million in 2002 to 6.5 million in 2006. Some of this boost has found their way into the rural areas of Nigeria and that is what this thesis focuses on. It is not long ago that cell phone was an unfamiliar item for the many inhabitants in rural Nigeria.
Now that the issue has reached an alarming rate and as it is the tradition in our dear country whenever an issue arises, we point accusing fingers and play the blame game instead of brainstorming on how best to tackle the problem. And that is why this study was chosen to shade limelight on impact of Mobile Phone Usage on moral decadence. According to blogger (Johnston, 2013), the connection between media and morality is almost taken for granted: Plato, for example, banished all storytellers from his imagined Republic except those whose tales were “in accordance with the patterns we laid down when we first undertook the education of our soldiers” because listeners or viewers would, he thought, admire and imitate characters’ bad behaviour. Later thinkers have, for the most part, agreed with Plato, as the moral panics that have greeted new media over the centuries, from novels to comic books to video games, can attest; as well as ongoing concern about the possible negative moral effects of media, there’s also a long tradition of works created specifically to teach the morals we consider to be desirable. But while there’s been a lot of research done on how media exposure affects specific behaviours, relatively little has focused on how it influences our judgment of right and wrong.
Morality for me has more to do with how one relate with other people and to find the right and wrong in how one deals with others and to act rightly of course. The study will investigate on youth moral deterioration in Oredo LGA of Edo State, Nigeria. Specifically, it aimed at finding the gaps of “stakeholders” attribute to youth moral, deterioration; and explore the necessary approaches to restore morality.
1.2. Problem Statement
There has been a marked increase of high school riots, youth always addicted to phones and unwelcomed sexual advances among youths on street and around homes. The recent news of high school student arrested at Nairobi super highway attest to this immoral behaviours on rise. They could be more unreported cyber-crimes happening around youth life. In this regard the researcher will make study and find the main causes of these immoral behaviours among youth and also find among the “stakeholders” effort in restoring moral standards (Oladipo, 2009), argued that parents are the first moral teachers and role models that young people had. Effective parenting characterized with love, care, attachment and trust between parents and children is more likely to lead to children and youths’ good moral behaviour. Nevertheless, ineffective parenting leads to children’s and youths’ bad behavior. The researcher will therefore focus parent as one of the stakeholder to promote good morals thus also administered questionnaire to them In their finding (Bonachristus, Umeogu & Ifeoma, Ojiakor, 2014) that the internet has a double edge sword characteristic in that it can be used for both good and bad. For one and on the good side, 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 the socialization networks instead of academic sites, the time meant for studying have been directed towards socializing and it negatively affects youth’s behaviours. According to (Shu-Sha A. G. and Kaver S., 2009), “internet addiction is the use of the Internet to escape from negative feelings, continued use of the Internet despite the desire to stop, experience of unpleasant emotions when Internet use is impossible, thinking about the Internet constantly, and the experience of any other conflicts or self-conflicts due to Internet use”. It is addiction that can cause students to chat while classes are ongoing and even in the church. It is addiction that will cause users to give up sleep all in the name of chatting at the expense of their programmes lined up for the next day A recent news in Daily Nation newspaper in Nigeria is not a welcome too, (Langat, 2015) stated that a group of 550 students, most of them minors, have been arrested in basement in Eldoret where they are suspected to have gone on hedonistic rampage of drugs and possibly sex.
Shocked parents said their children lied that they were going for choir practice, shopping or other innocent errands. Most probably they learn these things from glamour of social media.
1.3.1 General Objectives of the Study
To investigate and find on impact of Mobile Phone Usage on moral development among the youth in Oredo LGA, Edo
1.3.2. Specific Research Objectives
I. To find out the extent of youth involvement in social media
II. To study the impact of mobile phone usage on their moral behaviour
III. To determine the risks that comes with use of mobile phone usage on the Oredo LGA youth.
IV. To be able engage stakeholder who are moral duty bearers and find ways of mentoring the youth to be just and morally upright citizens
1.4. Research questions
1. What is the extent of youth involvement with social media?
2. What are the impact of mobile phone usage on their moral behavior?
3. What determines the risks that comes with use of mobile phone usage on the Oredo LGA youth?
4. How to engage stakeholder who are moral duty bearers and find ways of mentoring the youth to be just and morally upright citizens?
1.5. Significance of the Study
Studies indicate that moral values and behaviours are relevant to individuals, society and the nation at large. (Santrock, 2005), explains that children and youth are supposed to grow morally good for their own social and life development. Societies and nations with morally children and youths are more likely to prosper than societies characterized with immorality. Despite the negative effects caused by the gangs in the society and the nation at large, little is known or reported in different parts of the country including Oredo, how social media lure youth into crime. This is what prompted the researcher to investigate the causes for moral deterioration among youths in Oredo LGA. This research will finally answer the questions on what are negative impact of Mobile Phone Usage on moral decadence and the main purpose of this research is acquiring knowledge from the field that is not yet fully explored
The study looks at impact of Mobile Phone Usage on moral development among the youth, its findings will be relevant because it will inform parents, teachers, students and all the relevant stake holders on the impact of mobile phone usage on the moral decadence among teenagers. (Carroll, J.A. & Kirkpatrick, R.L., 2011) The result of this study thus make the youths who in this study are being referred to as teenagers, to be aware of how social media influence their morality negatively. It will also help those working with youths by suggesting some ways in order for them to relate with youth‘s social activities especially with regards of using social media sites. In line with this, those working with youths will know a way how to help them if they encountering problems arising trough social media interaction with others. The parents too will be made knowledgeable on their children‘s purpose of using social media sites and be aware how it affect their children’s moral behaviour. With enough knowledge, parents can think of possible preventive ways if their child is prone to develop a weak interpersonal relationship with other people because of too much addition and dependence of social media sites (Whiteman, 2015). Finally this study will be spring board for other researcher to take on further or use as reference. It is in view of the above; the researcher seeks to investigate the factor contributing to the moral decadence among the youth hence will seek a valuable solution to restore good moral.
1.6. Study limitations
The study is limited by time and financial resources and as result the research had to source for more financial resources and use alternative means. Since few similar studies have been done especially in institutions of higher learning, there is limited empirical literature on the area of impact of Mobile Phone Usage on moral development among the youth in the context of Nigeria. Another expected limitation is that the youth might fail to give correct information on the basis of invasion of their privacy. The researcher explained to them that the study was purely for academic purposes and not motivated by any other interests whatsoever.
1.7 Delimitations The study
was delimited to only existing schools within Oredo LGA and targeted 70 sample against a population 440 youth sample size. The study was also delimited to questioning and interviewing boys and girls who have access to internet both at home and elsewhere.
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