A Survey of Facebook Addiction Level among Selected Nigerian University Undergraduates

Abstract

The undesirable consequences emanating from excessive internet usage on individual lives has been described as Internet Spectrum Addiction Disorder. Also, the potential clinical relevance of Facebook Addiction has also been conceptualized under Internet Spectrum Addiction Disorder. Observation have shown that many young adults in Nigeria are undiscerning users of Social network sites with many already tending toward excessive usage or are already entrapped in the ‘web’ of addictions. This fact remains hazy and needs empirical investigation. This study therefore surveyed the level of addiction to Facebook among selected Nigerian University undergraduates.  Stratified and purposive sampling techniques were employed in selecting 1000 undergraduates from four universities in South-west, Nigeria. Data were generated with Facebook Addiction Symptoms Scale (FASS). FASS, developed and validated by the researcher yielded reliability co-efficient of 0.73 (Cronbach Alpha). Data were analyzed with simple percentages, cross tabulation and t-test.  Findings show ‘meeting people’ and ‘chatting’ as the most frequent activities of undergraduates on Facebook. ’Facebook chat’, ‘Wall post’, and ‘Picture uploading’ were features used most. Many undergraduates access Facebook account every passing hour, every two hours and every day. The study reveals low level addiction (1.6%) particularly among university undergraduates in private universities. Although the study observed low level of addiction, this result may be due to the low level of internet access generally in Nigeria.  The study therefore suggests that stake holders must do something to prevent rampancy of Facebook addiction in particular and internet addiction in general among Nigerian youths.

Key words: Social media, Facebook addiction, Internet, University undergraduate