Social Dimensions of Adolescents' Use of Social Media: A Descriptive Study on a Sample of Secondary School Students in Jeddah

Abstract

Nowadays, the usage of social media sites among the members of the society has grown and has become more popular among young people, especially the adolescents who are more exposed to these digital sites. In this study we are trying to identify the social dimensions of using the social media among high school student boys. This study is a descriptive study that adopts the social survey method. The field study data were collected from a sample of students in some secondary schools in Jeddah, estimated at 302 students, through a questionnaire distributed to those respondents. The most important results of this study is related to family dimensions found that the majority of the study sample belong to medium-sized families, who live in rented apartments, with middle-income, mostly it comes from the salary of the job, and most respondents' parent have a low level of education which is secondary. The data on social dimensions which is related to friends has indicated that respondents share their preference to use mobile phones to access preferred social networking sites such as WhatsApp, YouTube and Snapchat, with addiction to their excessive exposure to sites that address their various contemporary issues. The results showed the modest role of the educational school in directing; the use of adolescents for social media, as well as the gap in the relationship between students and their teachers, although some of the students are urged to use social media sites more often.