SOCIAL MEDIA INTERACTION AND THE PROMOTION OF CHARACTER AND PERSONALTY ETHICS AMONG SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION UNDERGRADUATES

Abstract

It is believed by some that the increasing level of lawlessness and undemocratic practices among youths are majorly caused and influenced by the youths‘ interaction with social media. It is believed that social media has significant impact on the youths‘ behaviour and societal values that guide their character and personalities. Despite the negative impacts of social media on youths, it has been observed that, it also has positive impacts on the character development of youths, especially on students whose discipline is about the promotion of our societal values. It is assumed that such students should be conscious of their roles in the society, and should not allow negative influence from the social media to dominate them. Therefore, this study examined the influence of social media on character and personality ethics of Social Studies students in Tai Solarin University of Education. Descriptive research of the survey type was used for the study. The sample for the study consisted of 200 students who were randomly selected from the four levels of students in the department of Sociological Studies of Tai Solarin University of Education. Social Media, Character and Personality Ethics Scale‖ (SMeCPES) was the instrument used to collect data from the respondents. The validity of the instruments was ascertained by experts in the area of test and measurement. The reliability coefficient of 0.86 was obtained. The study revealed that social media and promotion of character ethics had a positive relationship (0.269). Also, social media had a significant relationship with the promotion of personality ethics of the students. Among others, it was recommended that University management should also enlighten the students on the significance and relevance of character and personality ethics to the development of our society, and students should be encouraged to always use social media to promote them in others and in themselves.