THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON NATIONAL SECURITY: NIGERIA’S PERSPECTIVE

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION

Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literatures that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.

Precisely, the chapter will only consider the Conceptual Frameworks and theoretical Framework.

Social Media and Social Networking

Social media refers to a group of technologies linked together for rapid information sharing through highly accessible online platforms. The social media platforms that are widely used include blogs, Facebook, Instagram, my space, eBay reputation, Flickr, YouTube, Google maps, Amazon, user reviews, and Twitter. The various social media platforms allow millions of individuals to create online profiles and share personal information with vast networks of friends and, often, unknown numbers of strangers.

Today, unlike the past, there has been a sustained increase in social networking. For instance, currently, Facebook has over 600 million active subscribers with this number expected to increases further while Twitter has over 200 million users globally16. Emergence of social media has highly transformed broadcast media monologues into manifold community dialogues, thereby changing the information producer –consumer model into a network whereby each user has the opportunity and capacity to produce and consume internet content.

Social media platforms have well known characteristics. For instance, they enable the users to communicate with each other through various contents such as videos, photos, images, texts and sounds among others. They also help to build and support emerging networks in various fields; whether professionally, family, socially, culturally, religious or politically. Moreover,the social identity of individuals is developed and defined by the previously mentioned platforms.

They help to develop and define individuals‟ social identity17. As Montagnese18 argues, social media tools are found to have tremendously higher levels of interaction among its users as compared to traditional media tools which are considered to be having a one way communication flow.

Social media users are considered to be single entities that use media tools to communicate, share information and content, network, improve their personality as well as strengthen their social identity. People use social media platforms to satisfy various needs such as security needs, membership needs, appreciation/esteem needs, and self fulfilment needs. Social networking platforms enable people to pursue their interests, share ideas, and expand their knowledge in faster and better ways than ever before. For social interaction purposes, social media networking sites give users unlimited possibilities online to interact, share collaborate and to correspond to their hearts‟ content, restricted only by their privacy preferences or security concerns. As a result, social networking is slightly more useful for individuals as compared to organizations and

state agencies which are subject to multiple preferences and often more strict security concerns.

Apart from using social media for strictly personal purpose, people can also use these networks for the inerests and purposes of the organised groups20. Therefore, while social media usage is highly associated with interaction and communication between an individual and the information medium, organized groups including public agencies, states, movements, companies, and terrorist groups are active users of social media networks too.

Accessing the SM and Nigerian Security Challenges A Historical Overview

The concept of security is no doubt a complex phenomenon. This is the case because the issue of security continues to pose a serious challenge to nations and the global community at large. Without a doubt, issues bordering on maintaining or tackling security challenges across the globe have taken centre stage in the international political system. To this end, policy-makers across the globe and decision-makers and leaders, particularly in Nigeria, have come to the realization that security remains an unequivocal policy challenge in governance. Apart from these, the dynamics of contemporary global security challenges, including terrorism, equally influence and inform the crescendos of security challenges in Nigeria today. Intrinsically, Nigeria, as a subsisting global entity, inherited some of her internal security challenges by virtue of this status (Ani and Onyebukwa, 2016). A security challenge, such as terrorism in Nigeria, which premised originally as a global phenomenon and was inherently alien to the country, is a handy example.

Since independence in 1960, the country has struggled to contend the concerns of serious ethno-political and religious challenges. The country had co-existed as a heterogeneous entity since independence, following the colonial amalgamation of 1914 (Adamu and Ochaeni, 2016). This colonial arrangement saw over 500 ethnic groups of people, with the largest including the Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba, who speak more than 1,500 dialects and practice divergent socio-cultural and religious beliefs as well as an estimated population 170 million people, faced with the challenge of peaceful cohabitation (ibid). To date, this scrappy arrangement precipitated an insidious lack of national identity and integration among Nigerians (Adamu and Ochaeni, 2016; Akwara et al., 2013; Ashley, 2007). Accordingly, each ethnic group remains preoccupied with how best not only to identify but express these traditional distinctiveness within Nigeria, which culminated into huge security challenges manifesting in various religious, ethnic and political conflicts across the nation for many years (Akwara et al., 2013). To this end, Nigeria brawls to subsist under this array of herculean security challenges as a political entity. Unfortunately, national security as a very fundamental aspect of governance in Nigeria remains progressively vulnerable under consistently threatened national existence and cohabitation.

Moreover, the contemporary Nigerian security challenges stem from a plethora of national queries bordering on ethnic, religious, socio-political and cultural issues. More specifically, the BH Islamic sect, the militia from the oil-rich Niger Delta, the renewed clamor for secession in the south-eastern part of Nigeria, initially

from the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and recently from the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as well as the Fulani herdsmen killings across the country (Akov, 2017; Adamu and Ochaeni, 2016; Ezemenaka and Prouza, 2016; Ani and Onyebukwa, 2016; Badiora, 2015; Ogedebe and Jacob, 2012), are at the crux of Nigerian security challenges contemporarily. Consequently, the country has consistently grappled with various levels of ethnic, religious, socio-political and cultural security challenges. By extension, the contiguous upshots of the activities of these groups precipitated the incessant spate of instability, destabilization and wanton destruction of lives and property in Nigeria today.

SM Effects on the Nigerian Social Security Condition

The United States of America’s September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre has geared up security threats around the globe. These threats are affecting many countries, including those on the African continent, where many have lost their lives and personal belongings, including governments and its agents (Nsudu and Onwe, 2017). Nigeria is facing insecurity, similar to countries such as Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and others on the African continent. According to Nsudu and Onwe (2017), ethno-religious and political conflict in Nigeria between 1999 and 2005 has occurred more than 90 times. Different forms of conflicts have occurred from 2005 to the present, with the increase in terrorism by Boko Harm, Fulani Herdsmen and many others. Directly and indirectly, SM is affecting these conflicts; for example, in March 2017, BH released a 27-min video featuring the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, vowing to continue his insurgency until he establishes an Islamic caliphate across west and central Africa (The Associated Press, 2017).

Threats of Social Media to National Security

The security of any country can face threats from social media,which can occur through diverse means. Use of social media platforms such as Facebook, and twitter can cause various negative effects on state security and adverse consequences on the the nation‟s strategic interests. For instance, widespread use of social networks has increased cases of terrorism in the recent past as terrorist groups exploit these sites to recruit members, and spread their ideologies. Moreover, terrorist groups utilize social media platforms to and coordinate criminal activities, and and to link up with other terrorists cells across the world.

To date, the terrorist groups that widely utilize social media platforms to facilitate their operations are the Islamic–jihadists ones. For instance, the Alqaeda widely use Youtube and Facebook to recruit new members and to garner support from sympathizers and supporters across the world. Through the socia media sites, the jihadists are able to spread photos and video foot ages of successful terrorists attacks in an effort to garners support. Apart from being used as recruitment platforms, the extremists groups utilize the social media platforms to spread propaganda to publicize successful attacks and to spread fear. According to Jones, jihadists groups such as the Al-Qaeda developed a well-framed strategy to utilize social media to pursue their goals and to propagate false information and propaganda throughout the world in order to push people to perpetrate terrorist acts.

In a study conducted by Hussaini and Muhammed on the role of social media on national security in Nigeria, the findings indicated that extremist groups widely used social media platforms to perpetrate criminal operations, garner support, spread ideologies and propaganda and to coordinate their operations. This strengthened the organisation hence affecting the state security. The study also established that social media, apart from being used by terrorists and criminal gangs to coordinate their operations, it can also be utilized in various ways to limit and prevent terrorist activities and criminal operations through online monitoring of information sharing and detection of security threats.

In a similar study by Awan, the findings indicated that ISIS highly capitalize on online cyber war making use of slick videos, online messages spreading hate and applications meant to radicalize in addition to creating a new generation of cyber jihadists. Through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, the group is able to spread their propaganda and beliefs to numerous online sympathizers across globally.

In a study done in Nigeria by Kimutai27on the nexus between social media and national security threats, it was established that terrorists use social media for radicalization, spreading ideologies, recruitment, communication and training of its members. The terrorist groups and criminal gangs also use social media to communicate with cyber-criminals and to spread propaganda.

Increase in cyber-crime is a direct consequence of social media, and this has resulted to security breaches of a nation. In the recent past, there have been increased cases of cyber-attacks infiltrating national systems and the ever soaring web of social media sites could prove problematic for national cyber security. As a result of expansion in social media networks, there have been various emerging challenges for government transparency and security.

Cybercrimes occur when people with ill motives use devices, mobile phones and the internet to send messages with the intention of causing embarrassment or hurting other persons in the process. During cyber bullying, the perpetrators conceal their identities behind a computer. This way, the cyber-crime perpetrators are able to act without being recognized. Cyber bullying has also been simplified by the ability to create fake or pseudo profiles. These profiles provide an opportunity to say anything to another individual without the worry of any repercussions. This has facilitated spread of hate speech and incitement which threatens security and wellbeing of the people. Cybercrime perpetration and fuelling of ethical debate has also been facilitated by anonymous blogging. This enables the bloggers to spread information that, if not well monitored can threaten the state security.

The BH, Terrorism and Security Challenge in North-Eastern Nigeria

Terrorism under BH remains a fundamental security challenge facing Nigeria today. The insurgent group became a terrorist organization in 2013 following the style of its activities in Nigeria (BBC News online 24 November 2014) . According to a CNN online publication on 2 February 2018, BH started its heinous activities in Nigeria in 2002 with the worse hits carried out between 2014 and 2015. Moreover, from inception up to the present, BH has remained consistently resolute in perpetrating its callous activities in the country. Unfortunately, their nefarious engagements have resulted in the loss of thousands of lives and destruction of properties across the country and most particularly in the north -eastern part of the country. It is on record that approximately 20,000 lives have been lost and more than 2.3 million people are displaced due to attacks by the BH (ibid). The activities of this terrorist group, especially in the north-eastern part of Nigeria, endeared the United States of America to list the country as one of the terrorist prone countries of the globe in 2010 (ibid). Apart from the globally condemned abduction of approximately 276 teenage girls from a secondary school in Chibok, also known as the Chibok girls, on 14 April 2014, the group had recently, on 19 February 2018, attacked Government Girls and Technical College Dapchi and abducted yet another 110 students of this institution (Vanguard Newspaper online 02 March 2018; SABC News online 14 March 2018). Although they have since been released, a great deal of controversy still surrounds the story of their abduction and subsequent release.

Although BH has not abated in its almost daily assassination and kidnapping spree, the insurgent group in recent times has advanced from its original strategic guerrilla form of attack into a new type of threat that engages women and child suicide bombers to unleash their mayhem on soft targets (Knoope and Buchanan-Clarke, 2017). The federal government of Nigeria has grappled with curbing the security challenges originating from the activities of BH. The almost daily loss of lives and properties resulting from the activities of this group has defiled several security strategies advanced against them by the federal government. Ironically, Nigerian security services have employed a number of counterproductive strategies and tactics to defeat BH (Walker, 2012). Unfortunately, the group continues to carry out its despicable terrorist activities in the north-east with no end in sight.

Biafra Agitation as a Security Challenge in the South-Eastern Region of Nigeria

The secession story of Biafra in the eastern part of Nigeria has progressed along a violent and non-violent trajectory. While the Nigerian civil war, which lasted from 1967 to 1970, was a violent representation of declaration of state of Biafra, the MASSOB and recently IPOB represent the non-violent angle of the struggle. The end of the civil war in 1970 marked the end of violent approaches to the struggle. A new era of non-violent agitation for Biafra self-determination was born following the formation of MASSOB in September 1999 (Sändig, 2015). Unfortunately, various forms of clampdown from the government diminished the activities of this group (Ibeanu et al., 2016) . However, in 2014, the IPOB emerged as a renewed non-violent Biafra agenda under a new leadership following the diminished relevance of MASSOB to the struggle and its improbable possibility of actualizing Biafra sovereignty.

Notwithstanding IPOB’s claim of a peaceful organization, the Nigerian government had, however, accused it of being violent and insisted that secessionism is treasonable, and therefore constitutes a threat to the country’s national security interest and is unacceptable. The Nigerian government premised its accusation against this group on violent reactions prompted by provocative military onslaught against members of IPOB on 2 December 2015 at Onitsha. Equally, many more IPOB protesters were reported killed during various protests at Owerri, Aba, Asaba, and Port Harcourt by different forms of continued military clampdown on its activities across the south-eastern part of Nigeria between 2015 and 2017 (Johnson and Olaniyan, 2017). At this time, it became obvious that security fears and tension were heightened and this exerted pressure on the Nigerian government to deal with the agitation in the area.

To further affirm the level of perceived security challenge posed by IPOB, the group was labelled a militant terrorist organization by the armed forces of Nigeria. In the words of the armed forces spokesman, according to Reuters 15 September 2017: “The Armed Forces of Nigeria wishes to confirm to the general public that IPOB from all intent, plan and purpose as analysed, is a militant terrorist organization”. This move further escalated security proclivity of IPOB and forced President Buhari to declare that the unity of Nigeria was “not negotiable” (Ibeanu et al., 2016).

Although the IPOB differs in their protest behaviour with BH, the philosophical aspirations of both movements are viewed as potential security threats to the cooperate existence of the country. Overall, the insurgent groups emerged with feasibility of rebellion or escalated rebellion within the political and economic context of Nigeria. In other words, both movements possess covert or overt rebellion, which constitutes existential security challenges to the country in their activities. They are also fuelled by people’s discontent with inequality and equally have been subjected to various levels of indiscriminate repression capable of radicalizing their followers and pushing them into violent resistance (Sändig, 2015).

The Role of Social Media in Escalating Security Challenges

As indicated earlier, SM can be described as online-based tools and services connecting people, and enabling interaction with each other over the internet. The new media has increased social and political interactions through WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms (Chukwuere and Onyebukwa, 2017). Social networking sites are used by terrorist groups with dedicated servers and websites to spread their propaganda (Nsudu and Onwe, 2017). They use the medium for recruitment, fund raising, training mechanisms and other forms of cybercrime. This platform helps in promoting local and international terrorist groups and the insecurity associated with it. International and local terrorist groups deploy SM to organize or strategise attacks and ways of escape (Nsudu and Onwe, 2017). The authors further alluded to the fact that they use the medium to increase their presence and to spread propaganda. Locally, Nigerian insecurity is increasing and lives and properties are threatened on a daily basis. This insecurity is affected by the penetration and diffusion of SM. SM cannot be easily controlled or censored from the general public as a result of social freedom and a lack of cyberspace law (Nsudu and Onwe, 2017). The social freedom of speech associated with SM makes it free for users to generate contents at any time and post them online.

SM is not only used by terrorist groups to challenge the peace and stability of a country; the citizens themselves are using the medium to render terror on each other by means of fake news and fake postings, which promote propaganda and fear. An example is the increased number and differing nature of unverified news or information surfacing on SM platforms, emanating from the corridor of northern and south-eastern Nigeria. Furthermore, Nigeria’s national security has been implicated in the misuse of SM (Kimutai, 2014). Most times, this news and information are neither confirmed nor verified, which results in the dissemination of fake news. However, at the broadcast of any kind of attack or terrorist news, thousands and millions react immediately, attacking one another based on ethnicity, religion, and tribe. At the same time, such news immediately creates fear, tensions and violence in the society.

Therefore, the insecurity situations in the northern and south-eastern parts of Nigeria are being affected by the presence of SM in the following manners (Nsudu and Onwe, 2017): Terrorist and other criminal groups use the platform to execute attacks, kidnaps, rape, robbery and many more. According to Nsudu and Onwe (2017), the medium is also used to combat terrorism and other forms of crimes in developed countries. Astudy has revealed that SM platforms such as Facebook have been used in Nigeria to fight human trafficking, and many more (Nsudu and Onwe, 2017). At this point, insecurity is regarded as an impediment towards social development in Nigeria.

The Use of Social Media to Prevent, Limit or Remove Threats to National Security Social media networks, if properly used by civil institutions and more specifically, by security agencies can represent suitable opportunities to preserve national security. The social sites can also be used by the government for content creation, external collaboration, community building and other applications that contribute to enhancement of national security. More importantly, social media platforms can be used at the same time both for defence activities such as prevention, early warnings tools, psychological operations, prevision, strategic communication, open source intelligence (OSI), and counter-propaganda.

Social media networks can be used to promote national security when they are used by security agencies to disseminate information and to foster community policing. The use of social media as well as mobile technology by the public makes it easier to disseminate information, send alert messages, during crises, help in evacuations as well as rescue missions. It also assists in publishing event related information, as well as volunteering and collecting of donations. Apart from being an information distribution tool, social media technologies connect people and information, create and build relationship, establish unofficial networks as well as build communities without boundaries.

Social media networking sites also contributes significantly to national security enhancement. For instance, in the present day, social media can assist during military relief operations. Pillay, Van Niekerk, and Maharaj28 suggest that security agencies partaking in such activities include social media networking sites into their communication processes so as not only to improve their communication ability but also their ability to coordinate, and share information with other security stakeholders besides the civilian. Through the use of social media, law enforcement agencies across the world are able to take part in the collation, analysis and prediction of intelligence using data gathered from social media networks.

Pandalai in the analysis of the social media challenge to national security established that the Boston Police Department (BPD) made use of social media to disseminate information and to promote community policing in the investigation of the two bomb explosions in 2013 Boston Marathon. In this case, the BPD successfully utilized Twitter to periodically inform the public on the status of the investigation in order to calm nerves and request public assistance, and to correct misreporting.

Similarly, Pandalai observed that In UK, the Greater Manchester Police utilize online interactive programs that allow the police and the people to interact in an effort to reinforce security. Similarly, the Vancouver police and the Zurich city police, also initiated a programme called tweet-a-thons‟ that lasted 24 hours during which the security agencies published all security alerts and activities on twitter in order to enlighten the citizens the broadness of their operations.

In India, it was established that police officers preferred using social networking sites mostly to push information or pull information rather than for interaction purposes. The use of online social media proved effective in monitoring and tracking problems, detecting rumors, managing traffic, and in understanding public opinions on various issues31. In related findings in the UK, Ghonim established that social media platforms were highly used during the London chaos and protests to fight against rioters and to enhance improve security. In Nigeria, Kimutai established that social networking sites are instrumental in dissemination of information and diplomacy gathering by the military in Nigeria. These networks give Nigerians a platform to gain access to information and provide feedback on current social, economic and political issues.

Social media platforms have emerged as key channels of information dissemination and have also been instrumental in calling for societal change. In a study conducted by Crag in the findings indicated that social media platforms have emerged as key sources of information and increasingly vital in influencing the people's understanding of terrorism activities and their effects. The widespread use of smartphones has enable people to report suspicious terror activities and to closely follow the aftermaths of terror attacks. For instance in the Paris attack during the Bataclan concert, one of the affected people described the occurrences and pleaded for rescue using social media.

In a study analysing the role of social media and internet in international relations with specific focus on Arab revolution of 2011 Cuman35 established that the growth and use of social media in the Arab region played a huge role in mass mobilization of protesters, empowerment, opinion shaping, and influencing change.

Strategies Used To Curb and Minimize The Negative Effects Of Social Media On The National Security

The invention of information technology and its associated communication technologies has proven to be one of the most precious gifts to mankind in the recent past. The epic nature of this technology has had it being rightly termed as the InfoTech revolution. These technologies have fast forwarded the whole human civilization simply by introducing swiftness in information dissemination and communication done via social media36. Specifically, social media has greatly transformed political dynamic forces on a global scale by allowing users to express themselves overtly in a manner prohibited before37. This way, the social media platforms have decentralized the way people share opinions and information in the society. In addition, it has increased freedom of speech and has enabled access to education.

However, while social media platforms have numerous benefits, it has brought with it various challenges. The very shift in communicative power brought about by the new forms of communication technologies has spawned greater efforts to restrict regulate the usage of social media platforms. This effort of regulating and controlling the use of new forms of communications has led to legal and regulatory initiatives to curb and mitigate risks related to these new communication media, extending from confidentiality of users, intellectual property, national security, to rackets, pornography and hacking.

Currently, governments across the world and the social media companies are at the center of an intense debate on ways that could be used to regulate the social media platforms. The government has a key role of enacting regulation to ensure that the content shared via social media platforms adheres to standards of public decency. The government takes initiatives to take down any offensive content from social media websites when it finds it against the laws of state. Without such regulations, the public and the social media companies cannot take their responsibilities seriously.

The social media companies on their part have a dominant role in what gets communicated in cyberspace and are therefore taking responsibility for their content by barring the spread of propaganda and false information. For instance, Facebook explicitly discourage and bans hate speech. The mission of Facebook is to present opportunities for people to build a close knit community in addition to bringing the world closer together. In order to achieve, this, Facebook removes hate utterances, which takes account of any content that openly attacks populaces based on their color, tribe, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, or gender identity, as well as serious deformities or diseases.

2.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Agenda Setting Theory of the Media

Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw propounded the Agenda setting theory in 1970s. The theory implies that exposure to news media leads people in assigning certain significance to various public matters. This is because the media plays a key role in influencing people‟s perceptions of what is important, acceptable, or desirable. Through the media, attention is drawn to certain aspects of reality and away from others, thereby influencing people in terms of what to think. According to Folarin39, agenda setting theory is premised on the idea that the mass media predetermines the issues that are considered important in a particular society in a certain time.

Though this theory is popular with the use of traditional media, it is also popular in the current era where modern communication technologies are more and more integrated into the society. Currently, the wide spread use of social media has made the ability to communicate more accessible and convenient. Due to high internet accessibility, people can now communicate their ideas and opinions to a wider audience within a short duration of time. Due to the widespread use of social media, its adverse effects can now be felt, one of the areas affected being the national security. For instance, terrorist organizations utilize the social media to divert people‟s attention to their operations. Through, this, they are able to popularize their ideologies and to garner support. Apart from the terrorist groups, other organized gangs utilize the social media networks to popularize their activities and to coordinate their operations. The rationale for adopting the Agenda Setting Theory in this study was because it explains the function of the social media in molding and shaping people‟s opinions on some topical issues in this case national security.

Social Responsibility Theory

The social responsibility theory was articulated in the United States in the early 20th Century on recommendations by the Hutchins Commission on Freedom of the Press. Its major principle was to allow open access to all, with the media being guided by the societal ethical beliefs that form the main environment for exchange of views and opinions11.The social responsibility theory recognizes the significance of the freedom of speech along with the right to free education, show business and advertisement within a society. The role of the government in this theory is to bring about a favorable environment to the parties involved to reduce the effects of market pressure and trends.

On this theory, Al-Ahmed12 highlights the major roles of the media as not being limited to serving various political entities but also to enlighten and informs the public. He adds that media needs to assists members of the public by reporting on government administration, improving consumers‟ education on goods in the market through advertisements and keeping upthe media‟s independence from external and internal pressures.

The social responsibility theory requires the media to not only offer honest and inclusive description of the day to day events in a clear manner, but also be a forum where the public can discuss and criticize especially the government, give a true picture on the representation of the constituent groups in a society and be on the fore front on the presentation and interpretation of the goals and values of the society13.

It is not only the media reporters and producers who are bound to social responsibility. This extends also to the consumers as they are expected to be media literate and uphold high, yet reasonable expectations of the media. In theory, if both the media and the consumers would becomesocially responsible, therewill be noneed for governmentto intervene through regulations. Failure of them to be socially responsible necessitates for preventive measures and regulations. These regulations constitute the very first step in controlling the extent to which media carry out its responsibility towards the public.

The theory of social responsibility is relevant and applicable in the study on the role of social media on national security such that if all the social media users are socially responsible, they will not misuse the available social media platforms in such ways that would compromise the security of a country. Instead, the social media would be used in a manner that contributes to improvement of national security. On the other hand, lack of responsibility would lead to use of social media platforms to spread propaganda, propagate hatred and other deeds that would compromise the national security.

Technological Determinism Theory

This is a reductionist theory that seeks to give the causative linkage between technology and the nature of the society. This theory tries to explain the extent to which human thoughts and actions have been influenced by advancement in technology. According to the theory, the nature of the society is defined by technological advancement and that the course of history is determined by advancement in technology.

In modern society, the logics of the media have made a key mark on all fields of social interaction. The social media platforms which have resulted from technological innovation and advancement have brought people closer thus fostering information sharing and exchange of ideas. Technological advancement has led to newer and improved methods of production which has ultimately impacted on the political, economic, and cultural aspects of a society. This has inevitably transformed the society itself.

The proponents of technological determinism theory hold that the society is influenced and shaped by technological development and that the society has to adjust and adapt to new and emerging innovations and technologies. However, while there have been numerous benefits linked to modern media, there are various negative consequences associated to this advancement due to poor use. According to Toffler, technological advancement is a key determinant of all the changes that have serious effects on all spheres of human life.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

In this review the researcher has sampled the opinions and views of several authors and scholars on the availability and utilization of school library resources. The works of scholars who conducted empirical studies have been reviewed also. The chapter has made clear the relevant literatures.