Impact of Social Media on Socialization of University Students (A Study on East West University’s Undergraduate Students)

Abstract

The introduction of affordable smart phone and data plans have increased the popularity of social networking sites for last few years. People are engaging themselves to social media for communication purpose and find social media easier rather than face to face communication. Their communication starts in virtual world and gradually starts to grow. Social media has become a medium of online socializing. So, it is crucial to know whether social media is disrupting the socializing power of an individual in real life. This research identifies the effect of excessive use of social media on socialization. To achieve the goal of this study, it considers the average social media application usage time and level of socialization of an individual in real life. Survey was taken to know the level of socialization. 205 students of East West University in Bangladesh participated in the survey. After analyzing the data, it was found that there is a negligible negative correlation between excessive use of social media and socialization. It means that even if excessive use of social media increases drastically, the level of socialization may not decrease. Because the slope of the graph is close to zero. Therefore, it can be said that there is no effect of excessive use of social media on socialization of an individual. Excessive use of social media is not responsible for disrupting the socializing power of an individual.