Effects of Social Media access on Learning in Secondary Schools, in Kinondoni Municipality, Tanzania

Abstract

Social media is rapidly changing the communication setting of day-to-day activities of young people. The presence of social media has ominously influenced the academic life of students. Social media is used to fulfill perceived social needs, but social media cannot fulfill all needs. Institutions and academicians are continually trying social media technologies hoping to excite critical thinking skills, associations, and knowledge construction. This study intended to explore and examine the effects of social media access on learning in secondary schools in Kinondoni Municipality in the city of Dar es Salaam based on the following specific objectives: i)  to investigate the effects of Facebook on students learning in secondary schools in Kinondoni Municipality ii) to determine the effects of WhatsApp usage to students learning and attitude, in Kinondoni Municipality with relationship to their time management iii) to establish the effects of Instagram on change of student behavior in secondary school, in Kinondoni Municipality and iv) to explore how YouTube contributes to the moral development of secondary school students in Kinondoni Municipality. The study employed a mixed-method design in examining these effects. Five hundred and fifty (550) participants were conveniently sampled and heads of schools were interviewed within a week. After studying the phenomena that were of interest to the study, and transcribing the various responses of the participants the results revealed that social media is widely used by secondary school students for non-beneficial activities and less used for gaining subject knowledge and acquiring learning basis. Surprisingly, however, participants were in support of the idea that social media access to students contributes a significant quota to their academy based on basis of belongingness. It concluded and recommended that, to the leaders, policy regarding social media to students should be amended to support the view that teachers can have the ability to teach students better ways they can use  available social media. To the bloggers, it is recommended that the communication authority, TCRA should restrict those Bloggers who share and publish unwanted, unethical material and morally threatening content to youth. The content among others includes “UtamuRaha”, “Bongo Sex” and such porn content that students have access to. To the practitioners, the study recommends that teachers in schools should make sure that they keep a close eye on students' changes in behavior. Elements of homosexual behaviour and other forms of Internet-learned behaviour in school demonstrates the failure of close supervision of students use of media. We recommend that psychotherapy and guidance should be regularly provided by school teachers to lead students in  achieving school goals and divert them from these behaviors. We also recommend that TCRA should block unsuitable content from school-based internet to keep students out of danger and help them to use the appropriate internet sites for serious learning and character formation.

Keywords: Social media access, students learning.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-24-03

Publication date:August 31^st 2022