1.1  Background to the study

This study is focused on the influence of social media site on the reading culture of students in Babcock University as a case study. It is mutual to find students socializing with friends through social media site than reading books that has valuable information and capable of increasing one’s state of knowledge. Students of this generation don’t bother to read books that can increase their knowledge expect when they feel it necessary to read books. Student find the social media sites much interesting than reading books with valuable information’s that will positively add to their academic pursuit.

Reading habits helps to determine students’ academic achievement to a given extent. Both reading habit and academic pursuit are interrelated to each other and they also depend on one another. Students come from various environment and different location with different mindset of their academic pursuits. Therefore there is differ in the manner of reading habit. Some students due to bad environment and location it has really affected the way they focus on their academic pursuit some still cope while some students have good reading habit due to the good environment they come from. The environment can be a positive and also be a negative effect to the way students focus on their academic activities.  Reading make students have better understanding of one’s own experience. Reading habit is formed at a young impressionable age in school, but once formed it can last one’s life time (Green, 2001).

According to Palani (2012), reading is an essential and significant aspect for creating a literate society in the world. Reading helps individuals to develop a good thinking ability that can make them make good decision for people, organizations and it also helps in developing great ideas and suggestions to solve problem in an organization, institution and other environment.

On the other hand, the increment in the mass media, had constantly influence the interest in reading books, magazines, newspapers journals and other information valuable materials among others. Palani (2012) further added that, nowadays, reading habit has lost it importance as both young and old are now glued to the television and the internet. The television and the social media site has really affected student in so many ways  that students don’t want to  devote time to study and gain knowledge anymore they just want to watch films, play games online, chat and make new friends on the media rather than reading. Students find reading books one of the boring activities they carry out on daily basis and find social media site the most interesting activity they carry out on a daily basis. So therefore, the social has affected students both positively and negatively in terms of academic activities. So student make use of the social media site to get significant information for educational activities or to share ideas on a particular topic taught in class and to share decision and also solve difficult problems among themselves using the social media while some student just waste their time on the social media site without getting any valuable information that will improve them academically.

Research has proven the heavy presence of social media usage among students. Wiley and Sisson (2006), for instance argue that previous studies has found that more than 90% percent of tertiary school students use social media site. These indicate the rate as which students are patronizing the social media site and this might either bring along a positive and negative effect on students as far as their academic performance is concerned. Therefore, the study will take a look at the activities students engage with during their leisure hours and what extent the use of these media sites affect their reading. And also the study will investigate the major effect of the social media on students’ ability and their overall performance in academic activities.

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1.2 Statement of the problem

The internet has become the most significant source of information and the growing extent of the use of the social media site by students cannot be underestimated. It has been observed that majority of students make use of their leisure time on social media chatting and do all kinds of irrelevant things rather than reading books or other articles that has valuable content that will add significantly to their academic pursuit and due to lack of constant reading, it has led to so many failures in examination because students don’t read books they only devote their time to the internet. The social media has also contributed to low academic performance of student, low self- perceptions and less interest in academic activities Maya (2015). The problem majority of the students have that has contributed to their poor performance in academic activities is because student lack proper reading and studying habit. For students to have an excellence performance, there is the need for students to form a good reading and studying habit. Student don’t show much interest in anything concerning reading books, journals and articles, magazines and other information valuable materials because of the influence of the social media site. Today, many students prefer to watch movies and other shows on television, listening to music download games, play games online with their leisure time Isaac (2012). The social media has done a lot of damage to students’ academic life than it has impacted on students because most student are addicted to the social media site and  students cannot do without going on their social media site on daily basis. These research therefore seek to investigate the level of engagement of students in Babcock University into social media sites and also determine the effect of their use on their reading habit.

1.3   Objective of the study

The general objective of this research is to evaluate the reading habit of students and how it affect them in terms of academic pursuit. The specific objective are as follows

i. To analyze the reading habit among student

ii. To examine the materials student read when they visit the library.

iii.  To know what student do with their leisure hours.

iv. To know what significant information student receive from the social media sites.

1.4 Research questions

i.  What kind of materials do students read when they visit the library?

ii. Why do students engage in reading?

iii. Does reading habit has effect on academic pursuit?

1.5 Research hypothesis

H0: Reading habit has a significant effect on academic pursuit of students

1.6 Scope of the study

This study will look at the influence of the social media sites on the reading habit of students of Babcock University. The study is to examine how the social media has influenced or affected students in reading their books and the number of hours students devote to the social media sites.

1.7 Significance of the study

This research is carried out in order to cover some areas not earlier investigated by previous works. Most of the literature reviewed on this subject matter tends to concentrate more on the negative aspect of the social media as it relates to students. Also, previous studies have failed to look at the ways in which these social media outlets can be harnessed and used as an effective tool that can enhance the reading culture of students. Furthermore, new social media applications have been developed and therefore the need to incorporate these new trends like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others in a research work because of their influence on youths.