IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS ON THE BEHAVIORAL PATTERN OF YOUTHS

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Theoretical Framework

The theoretical frame work of Bandura and Walters, (1963) is based on the theory of adolescent social behaviour which induces learning of concepts through understanding, interpreting, predicting the future development, dynamics of change behaviour in adolescent problems. These theories are necessary because influence of home video watching on the social behaviour of adolescent keep on changing in the society. This study look at theories that are particularly relevant to understanding the social behaviors of adolescent and their causative factors.

Cognitive learning assumes that there are psychological factors that influence behavior. However, SLT also holds that behaviour is influenced by environmental factors, and not just psychological or cognitive factors. Thus, SLT assumes that psychological and environmental factors combined influence the development of specific behaviour. SLT stresses the importance of attending to and modeling the behaviour, cognitions (attitudes and beliefs) and emotions of others. SLT sees an interactive process between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences. There are three principles that help define SLT.

1. Observational learning is achieved when the modeled behavior is structured or organized and then rehearsed symbolically, and then overtly enacted. Retention of that behavior occurs when the modeled behavior is coded into words, labels or images.
2. The adoption of the modeled behavior is strengthened when the outcomes of that behavior are valued, seen as important to the individual or lead to desirable and expected outcome.
3. The modeled behavior is more likely to be integrated by the observer when the model has characteristics similar to the observer, there is a cognitive-behavioural connection with the model, the model is admired by the observer, and the behaviour that is adopted has practical or functional value. SLT defines four requirements for learning and modeling behavior thus; 1. Attention to the modeling events in the environment and the characteristics of the observer to attend to those events (emotional, perceptual \set, arousal level).

2. Retention, which is the cognitive component involving remembering what one observed, coding, organizing and rehearsing it at the cognitive level.

1. Reproduction or the ability to reproduce or copy the behaviour which includes observing the self-reproducing the behavior and feedback of the accuracy of that reproduction.
2. Motivation or behavioral consequence that justifies wanting to adopt the behavior which includes self-reinforcement.

Social learning theory can be used to explain the development of deviant behaviour, substance use and abuse and impaired environmental behavior. Theoretically, if an individual never observed these behaviors, then those behaviors would never be learned. If a child or adolescent never was exposed to prolong viewing of media activity an individual‘s theoretically would never adopt the behavior. Once it is adopted, the behavior leads to positive consequences or outcomes, acceptance by the group, sense of power, attention of peers, establishment of a group role that instills a sense of pride and smartness.

The degree of positive reinforcement will determine whether the behavior is continued.

Group norms become a power based for this reinforcement. However, in today‘s world, that is quite unlikely. Observing and modeling behavior can be very subtle. Certainly, many circumstances will determine the individual‘s exposure to potential models. The important factor is that once the behavior is adopted, internally coded, and reproduced in such a manner that it leads to some kind of positive reinforcement that behavior will continue to be reproduced. However behavioral outcome may be perceived to be undesirable to the individual, decreasing the probability that the behavior will continue.

2.1.1 Types of Social Behaviour

Emotional behaviour: Is a form of social behaviour that causes individuals to behave emotionally within groups and individually. This type of behaviour expresses emotions such as excitement, fear, joy, anger, anxiety, shyness and sorrow.

Violent and aggressive behaviour commonly happens in crowds or groups. This occurs when certain individuals with a group act violently or aggressively and others copy the behaviour. The pressure to conform to the actions of the group normalizes the behaviour. This type of behaviour is common during instances of looting and rioting.

Prosocial behaviour is a social behaviour that is viewed as altruistic. This type of behaviour consists of helping others through selfless actions. For instance, pro social behaviour occurs when an individual helps another without expecting an action in return. Group action is social behaviour that occurs when people gather in large groups and attempt to change a particular aspect of society. Group action has a particular purpose, which influences behaviour both negatively and positively.

2.1.2 Peer Influence and Association in Adolescence

Peer groups are essential to social and general development. As children begin to gain bonds with various people and create friendships with them, it later helps them when they are adolescent. This sets up the framework for adolescence and peer groups. 140 noted that peer groups are especially important during adolescence, a period of development characterized by a dramatic increase in time spent with peers and a decrease in adult supervision. Adolescents also associate with friends of the opposite sex much more than in childhood and tend to identify with larger groups of peers based on shared characteristics. It is also common for adolescents to use friends as coping devices in different situations. A three factor structure of dealing with friends including avoidance, mastery, and nonchalance has shown that adolescent‘s use friends as coping devices with social stresses.

Peer groups offer members the opportunity to develop social skills such as empathy, sharing, and leadership. Peer groups can have positive influences on an individual such as on academic motivation and performance. But they can also have negative influences, like encouraging experimentation with drugs, drinking, vandalism, and stealing through peer pressure. Susceptibility to peer pressure increases during early adolescence, peaks around age 14, and declines thereafter.

During early adolescence, adolescents often associate in cliques, exclusive, single-sex groups of peers with whom they are particularly close. Despite the common notion that cliques are an inherently negative influence, they may help adolescents become socially acclimated and form a stronger sense of identity. Within a clique of highly athletic male-peers, for example, the clique may create a stronger sense of fidelity and competition. Cliques also have become somewhat as a ―collective parent‖, i.e. telling the adolescents what to do and not to do. Towards late adolescence, cliques often merge into mixed-sex groups as teenagers begin romantically engaging with one another. These small friend groups break down even further as socialization becomes more couple-oriented. While peers may facilitate social development for one another, they may also hinder it. In Spanish teenagers, emotional (rather than solution-based) reaction to problems and emotional instability has been linked with physical aggression against peer. Both physical and relations aggressions are linked to a vast number of enduring psychological difficulties, especially depression, as is social rejection. Because of this, bullied adolescents often develop problems that lead to further victimization. Bullied adolescents are both more likely to continue to be bullied and more likely to bully others in the future. However, this relationship is less stable in cases of cyber bullying, a relatively new issue among adolescents.

On a larger scale, adolescents often associate with crowds, groups of individuals who share a common interest or activity. Often, crowd identities may be the basis for stereotyping young people, such as jocks or nerds. In large, multi-ethnic high schools, there are often ethnically-determined crowds as well. While crowds are very influential during early and middle adolescence, they lose salience during high school as students

2.2 Conceptual Framework

2.2.1 Social Media

Affilorama (2011)defines social media as a content created and shared by individuals on the web using freely available websites that allow users to create and post their own images, video and text information and then share that with either the entire internet or just a select group of friends. CubixDev (2011) sees social media as the new term for socialising online. It allows people to freely interact with each other online where-ever they are and whenever they want. Investopedia (2011) defines social media as Internet-based software and interfaces that allow individuals to interact with one another, exchanging details about their lives such as biographical data, professional information, personal photos and up-to-the-minute thought. ProPR, 2008, social media are online communications in which individuals shift fluidly and flexibly between the roles of audience and author. To do this, they use social software that enables anyone without knowledge of coding, to post, comment on, share or mash up content and to form communities around shared interests

Coyle & Vaughn, (2008), stated that social media has existed for few years as a way for people to communicate in society and build relationships with others With the increase of technology used for communicating with others and the popularity of the Internet. Social media has become an activity that is done primarily on the Internet, with sites like MySpace,

Facebook, Viber, Whatsapp, Twitter, 2go, Africhat, Bebo, Mozat, Friendster, and Xanga (Coyle & Vaughn, 2008). Social networking sites (SNS) may be defined as: Web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and

(3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system (Boyd & Ellison, 2007).

2.2.3 Group Behaviour

There is no doubt that peers are very important to school students. During this phase of the lifespan, people spend increasing amounts of time in the company of their peers (Brown & Klute, 2003; Collins & Laursen, 2000) and increasingly focus on peer relations as crucial to their sense of identity (Pugh & Hart, 1999).

Group behaviour emanates from the causes that contribute to the group’s effectiveness. The well-structured, well defined role and status hierarchy, able leadership, well developed norms and strong cohesiveness a group has, the greater is the groupthink. As groups function and interact with other groups online, they develop their own unique set of characteristics including structure, cohesiveness, roles, norms and processes which they have set for themselves on their various social networks. As a result, groups may cooperate or compete with other groups, and intergroup competition can lead to conflict.

Social media users are also more active in some parts of group activity: They post about group activities on their Facebook pages, and Tweets; they are more likely than others to invite newbies into a group; more likely than others to be targeted for invitation to groups; more likely to use the internet to discover groups; more likely to say the internet enables them to participate in more groups and more likely to say they spend more time on group activities because of the internet. Social media users are significantly more likely than other group participants who go online for group activities, to say that the internet has a “major impact” on their ability to engage with their groups. Group pressure has influenced many of the students to also participate in Facebook which is the latest feature on social media, where an individual creates a group and invites a maximum of seven contacts to that group who then all chat together online. Backstrom (2008) examined the preferential behaviour of Yahoo Groups, he found that different types of groups produce varying degrees of engagement and activities on internet seven contacts can see what the others display on the social site. With this feature, a group can be named, e.g. “Kissing Buddies”, where the seven individuals may feel part of the group and may express themselves more openly or restrictively in the context of that particular group of friends. In other groups, named e.g. “Maths Class”, “Science Freaks”, the students reported that they discuss challenging academic work together on Facebook.

The students report that they yearn to be part of something exciting; it is for this reason that they make use of applications that involve being part of a group. Such group applications assist adolescents to discuss issues with the relevant individuals with whom they choose to discuss matters. At present, there is a range of organizational forms on virtual sites such as groups, among them the knowledge-based organization alternatively known as the knowledge-intensive or virtual organization (Hurme 2005:101).

School student social media users organize themselves into groups for the simple reason that they achieve more when working together that they can do alone. An organization is often defined as a group of people who work together (Hurme 2005:105). It can be for instance large or small, hierarchical or flat, centralized or distributed. The adolescents’ groups/organizations, and consequently, the organizational communication forms are decentralized as there is no “real” hierarchy, nor evident boundaries. The students use the informal channels to discuss schoolwork-related issues, e.g. homework and assignments (Hurme 2005:105). The students benefited from discussing academic work with their friends on Facebook and other social networks, therefore, the adolescents socially exchange with their online contacts and benefit or ‘lose’ from associating with them.

2.2.5 Gender Differences and Social Media Usage

Studies have shown that male students have been online more than female students in previous years because of earlier forms of technology such as video or computer games (Lin & Subrahmanyam, 2007). Female students have reported that they use the Internet for things like chatting and downloading music (Giles & Price, 2008). Because of this, one may hypothesize that female students will be more likely to be attracted to social networking sites and other online social groups (Giles & Price, 2008). According to most research done on the topic, the amount of teenage girls and boys who are communicating on these social networks is equally divided (Bonds-Raacke & Raacke, 2008).

Research has shown that though female and male students are both likely to have a SNS account, the reasons for the accounts may vary based on gender (Bonds-Raacke & Raacke, 2008).For girls, social networking sites are primarily places to reinforce pre-existing friendships; for boys, the networks also provide opportunities for flirting and making new friends (Bonds-Raacke & Raacke, 2008) Girls are also more likely than boys to post sexually explicit pictures of themselves, and to talk about sexual activity in public forums (Rafferty, 2009). However, boys are more likely to create an account simply because they are trying to meet a significant other, or because they are already in a relationship with someone who has requested them to join (Bonds-Raacke & Raacke,2008).

Girls are also more likely than boys to share personal information about their daily lives (Merten & Williams, 2009). Results of a recent study involving Facebook, MySpace, and Xanga showed that though most teenagers aged 13-17 used these sites for fun and positive reasons, 55% of girls shared personal stories about depression, anxiety, and relationship problems (Merten & Williams, 2009). Only 15% ofboys shared any personal information besides their hobbies, interests, and friendships (Merten & Williams, 2009

In a recent study, it was shown that male students seem to benefit more from Internet use and communication technology than female students do (Peter & Valkenburg, 2009).This was hypothesized because boys tend to have more difficulty expressing their thoughts and emotions face-to face with others than girls do (Peter & Valkenburg,2009). As previously mentioned, the early stages of social networking included web technology such as AIM, which helped many adolescents “chat” with others on the computer instead of in person (Peter & Valkenburg, 2009). The amount of teenagers, both male and female, participating on social networking on SNSs is staggering, and this may explain why certain problems arise from these sites that have become a major problem in today’s society.

2.5 Review of Related Studies

The following related studies reveal the level of social media participation among school students. Though, much international studies are reviewed. The study has not been addressed much locally as its effects significantly impact on Nigerian adolescent students.

In a study conducted by Osarenren (2009), peer group influence has seven essential functions. These functions are: a replacement for family (though only to a certain extent); a stabilising influence; a source of self-esteem; a source of behavioural standards; security in numbers; opportunities for practice; and opportunities for modelling. Peer relationships can therefore be a powerful positive or negative influence. This influence can take place when members of a group are compelled to do something they would not otherwise have attempted or when they are stopped from doing something they would have liked to do.

According to a recent study done on visual impression management and social networking sites, approximately 60% of adolescents will spend more time selecting which pictures to post on their profile than actually communicating with others (Siibak, 2009). This shows that these SNSs are not just for keeping in touch with classmates and meeting new people, they are used to build adolescent identities (Siibak, 2009). Because social networking sites are used primarily by adolescents and young adults.

A recent survey showed that approximately ninety percent of teens in the United States have Internet access, and about seventy-five percent of these teens use the Internet more than once per day (Kist, 2008). This study also showed that approximately half of all teens who have Internet access are also members of social networking sites, and use the Internet to make plans and socialize with friends (Kist, 2008). As one researcher stated, “Teens use [the Internet] as an extension of their personality, to show their friends-and the world- who they are, what they care about, and to build connections with other like-minded people” (Goodman, 2007, 84).

The early studies of youth literacy with social media suggest that students do, in fact practice these skills. Ethnographic studies find that teens use social technologies to delve deeper into interest-driven communities and activities (Ito et al., 2009). Perhaps SNS provide a platform for youth to participate in communities that help them learn, and practice skills, within particular knowledge areas. Greenhow & Robelia (2009) examine the SNS use of 11 lowincome youth and find numerous social behaviours that provide a theoretical link to learning outcomes. For example, students in their study use MySpace profiles to display creative work and receive feedback from their network. Youth report experiencing social support for school-related tasks, daily stresses, and problems. SNS help blend school and outside life for the teenagers in this study.

Many students reportedly prefer being online to other media, including the telephone, TV, and radio (2002 Gallup Survey, cited in Heitner, 2002). According to data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project (Lenhart et al., 2005), the vast majority (89%) of teens use e-mail and 75% use instant messaging (IM), which allows them to have multiple simultaneous conversations with a defined group of peers. More than 50% of teens possess more than one e-mail address or screen name, which they can use to send private messages to friends or to participate anonymously in online forums, such as chat rooms (Lenhart et al., 2001).

In empirical support for the inclusion of group norm in the social media, Terry and Hogg (1996) found that group norm for friends and peers significantly improved predictions of school students’ intentions to engage in frequent exercise, although this was only the case for individuals who identified strongly with the in-group. More recently, a study by Mason & White (2008) found that inclusion of group norms relating to friends and peers increased the accuracy of predictions of young women’s intentions to engage in frequent breast self-examinations. There appears, therefore, to be strong theoretical and empirical support for the inclusion of the group norm construct in the behaviour. In the current study, the role of group norm in the decision-making process for engagement in frequent social media use among adolescents was examined, and it was expected that adolescents who perceive frequent social media use to be normative among their friends would have stronger intentions to engage in frequent social media use themselves.

In fact, the evidence is mixed as to whether students engage in extensive pretense and identity play online (White, 2008). In one study of twelve- to fifteen-year-olds, of the 175 participants who responded to questions about online pretense, 49 percent had never pretended to “not be yourself,” and 41 percent reported pretending a couple of times. Seven participants reported pretending often and two reported that they pretended all the time. Most common was pretending to be older, and was often done in the company of a friend and as a joke. Only 2 percent reported that they pretended to explore a new self or identity.

In a study of Dutch adolescents by MMCC (2010), 246 out of a total of 600 participants reported having experimented online with their identity at least sometimes. Pretending to be someone older was most commonly reported, especially among girls. The most common motives for identity experiments were self-exploration (to observe others’ reaction), social compensation (to make up for shyness), and social facilitation (to form relationships). The study does not make it possible to assess exactly what share of the sample pretended often to be someone else.

According to a report from Fact Bound Research Ltd, member of MMCC Group (2011), reported that the rate of consumption and usage of Social Media and its influence on lifestyle of respondents may vary according to gender. Therefore, respondents were asked to state their gender. The survey shows that about 53% of the respondents were Males while the remaining 47% were Females. This means that more male adolescents Nigerian uses the social media tools for various purposes than their female counterpart