Social Media Use and Moral Development of Students: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Social media has now become an integral part of human socialization. There is no argument that it offers both the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ and is having a lot of influence on humanity especially the youth. To this end, this study examined the influence of social media usage on the moral development/education of Senior High School students. Focus was on students studying in the Kwabre East Municipality in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Based on the purpose of the study, the descriptive cross-sectional survey design was employed. Respondents for the study were 446 SHS students selected using the proportionate random sampling technique. A self-developed instrument (questionnaire) with a reliability coefficient of 0.87 (Cronbach Alpha) was used for data collection. Both descriptive (frequency counts, percentages, means, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Point Biserial Correlation) were employed for data analysis. It was revealed among others that, Senior High Schools Students studying in the Kwabre East Municipality use social media for lots of purposes but chiefly for; sharing information, gleaning information, communication and getting new friends. Again, most of them spend between 1-4 hours on social media for the purposes indicated. Also, it was revealed that the students had high levels of moral development but the amount of time spent on social media had a weak negative inverse relationship with their moral development. It was recommended among others that, the Ghana Education Service, Heads of schools and other stakeholders should organize a sensitization programme on social media use for students in senior high schools. This way, social media can be effectively utilised for maximum and positive benefits. Also, an approach is needed to better balance the relationship between social media and moral development/education of students. School authorities and parents should monitor the activities of students on use social media.