Influence of internet technologies use on socialization among the youth: a case of undergraduate students at University of Nairobi -main campus

Abstract

The youth are becoming more tech-savvy and more internet technologies are being introduced in hand held devices like mobile phones which they use daily. This research project report addressed the influence of internet technologies use on socialization among the youth taking the target population of the undergraduate students in the University of Nairobi Main campus. The objectives of the study were to establish the influence of internet use on purposes, forms and frequency of internet technologies use on socialization among the undergraduate students of University of Nairobi. For the study, there was an accessible population of 15,000. The Data was collected from a sample size of 384 undergraduate students in the Main campus. The data collection tool used was a questionnaire and the technique was stratified sampling. The data collected was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data. Frequency tables and percentages were used to present the data. Interpretation, discussion and recommendations have been drawn from the analyzed data. Results indicated that internet technologies use may have an effect on socialization. The findings uphold that internet technologies users spent more time socializing with friends. The mediums used by University of Nairobi students to access the internet technologies in order of preference were cell phones and smart devices, cyber cafes and university’s computers labs. The internet technologies most frequented by the undergraduate students were WhatsApp, Gmail or Yahoomail, Gtalk, LinkedIn and Twitter. Relevant educational players may adopt the findings of the study. The findings may also be used as a basis for further research with the aim of exploiting use of internet technologies to pass more educational content to the students which could further enhance e-learning. Some of the recommendations are the University of Nairobi should exploit use of internet technologies to pass more educational content to the students which will further enhance e-learning.