Influence of Social Media on the Social Behavior of Students as Viewed by Primary School Teachers in Kwara State, Nigeria

Nowadays, lectures and teachings have been conducted through social media. However, social media has its downside which when students and youths are not well monitored, they will absorb the negative side from their social media. Hence, this survey focused on the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria. The survey is descriptive with two hundred primary school teachers selected as participants. A research question was raised and answered, and there were three hypotheses formulated and tested using t-test and ANOVA at a p-value of 0.05. The findings revealed that students’ usage of social media had a negative influence on their social behaviour. In addition, there were no statistical differences in the view of participants on the influence of social media on the social behavior of teachers based on gender, age, and educational level. Therefore, primary school teachers need to sensitize students on the appropriate use of social media to improve their social behaviour among others was recommended.

INTRODUCTION~ Social media becomes one of the main sources for people to obtain information. This media is divided into two types, namely print and non-print media. Print media obtain information through printed mails, newspapers, magazines and dailies. Whereas, nonprint media obtain information from radio, television, and social media like Twitter. Media remains a tool, which renders any help to people across the globe to influence their opinion, attitude, and knowledge. According to Angus, Thelwall and Stuart (2008), social media furnishes individuals with information in any sector of life. Through media, there has been a lot of development and growth that occurred due to the availability of platforms that allows them to get linked to the entire universe and contribute to global development. As the use of media increases, many people including youths use it to find out about the historical development of society, concepts, religion, etc.
Social media is a form of effort for people, especially students, to get to move close to each other on the internet or social contacts by making connections through individuals. Social media is the social interaction among people who create, share, and exchange information and ideas in environments, schools, workplaces, homes, communities, etc. Social media, regardless of distance, facilitates people to communicate, and convey information in the form of images, videos, and audio. Social media has been used increasingly in many cultures so that Lateef Omotosho Adegboyega, Influence of Social Media on the Social Behavior… [44] the number of users also has increased geometrically over the years. Today, people use SM daily for its numerous advantages side effects (Dourish, 2001).
Social media is a network of internet facilities that is on the technological and ideological foundation of web 2.0. which provides space for the development of user-changeable content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). According to Lewis (2010), social media is an umbrella term for technologies that provides space for people to create and send content, link up, and connect with others. Howard and Park (2012) stated that social media has three main parts, namely (1) the infrastructure and instrument to create and share content (2) content, such as concepts, ideas, messages, information and news (3) decoders, users and consumers, e.g.
industries, organizations and individuals.
There are many advantages of social media, such as using technologies through the web to adapt and convey information on social platforms, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc., in order to teach others and to learn from others (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). This research sought to investigate the use of social media platforms, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Google. This research focused on students as they are, in their developmental stage, vulnerable to imitating what they see. In addition, based on PEW Internet and American Life Project (2014), children and adolescents become the most social media users with a percentage of 75%. Likewise, NCC (Nigeria Communication, 2015) stated that more than 90 million people in Nigeria use social media with the majority being children and adolescents.
Recently, social media has become a means for people to connect with society and establish a relationship with others (Nicole & Boyd, 2017). As the name implies, social media carries a social undertone in which the users are allowed to interact with others in order to promote interpersonal relationships and give a certain effect on the social behaviors of individuals worldwide (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010;Macnamara & Zerfass, 2012).
Social behavior is a part of human psychology against unacceptable behaviors. It centers on the attitude, perception, reaction, and disposition of an individual to others around him (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). There are positive and negative social behaviors. Positive social behavior is acceptable behavior due to positive and favorable attitudes and dispositions.
Negative social behavior is the opposite of positive social due to negative and unfavorable attitudes and dispositions. Both of them affect youths because the majority of users are them.
Currently, they learn bullying in youth, blackmail, involvement in fraud, impersonation among other negative influences through WhatsApp, Facebook, and google classroom (Abdullah, Ellias & Jegak, 2009). Likewise, Al-Sharqi, Hashim and Kutbi (2015) stated that in addition to having a good side, social media that is well integrated in society, also has a bad side, such as being involved in fraud, cybercrime, cyberbullying, and lack of physical human relations. Rajeev & Jobilal (2015) expressed that youths do not usually use the good side of social media; they are tilted towards the downside. Moreover, Lowisz (2014) stated that instead of using social [45] media for positive communication and the benefits of connectivity, youths use it to the contrary.
There is no doubt that social media enhances societal development and personal growth because they are able to get useful information from the internet. Many lectures and teachings have been held through social media. However, social media has its downside in which when children are not well monitored, it could affect their social media as they will imbibe the negative side. Incidentally, parents are quite busy fending for the family; they do not have enough time to sit and discuss with their children. Many questions that are meant for parents to answer are asked and answered online. Youths do not have the privilege of communicating and learning social behavior from parents, thus, youths mostly learn social behavior through chat on social media, such as Facebook and WhatsApp. Therefore, they respect for elders and peers. Cultural heritage is no more valued by children and adolescents; Many young women have been victims of sexual harassment and young men are victims of fraud due to the use of social media. Social media addiction also influences a poor relationship with parents.
Several previous research was conducted on social media and the social behavior of youth.
Muritala & Theophilus (2014) researched social media usage, self-image, group behavior, and academic performance among senior secondary school students in Ilorin-West Local Government, Kwara State. Muinde (2015) also researched the social media and behavior of secondary school students in Kitui Central Sub-County, Kitui County. Adegboyega (2019) researched the influence of social media on the sexual behavior of youth in Kwara State. Since the previous researches do not focus on the influence of social media on students' social behavior, the researchers cannot lay hands on any research that examined the influence of social media on the social behavior of primary school students. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Based on the problem of the research, this research question was raised: • What is the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria?
The following null hypotheses were postulated and tested in the research:

1.
There is no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis based on gender.

2.
There is no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis based on age.

3.
There is no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin metropolis based on religious affiliation.

METHODS
This research is quantitative research employing a descriptive survey method. Sharma (2008) defined a descriptive method as a step taken by researchers to gather information from respondents using suitable methods. This method was selected because it allows the use of questionnaires to collect data on the influence of social media on the social behavior of students Percentage, means, t-test, and ANOVA was used to answer the research questions raised and test the formulated hypotheses at p-value = 0.05.

RESULTS
The percentage was used to analyze the demographic information of the participants:  Table 2 shows that Item 11 which stated that playing games at the expense of their academics were ranked 1st with the mean score of 3.53, item 3 which stated that alleviating boredom in school activities was ranked 2nd with a mean score of 3.44, while item 12 which stated that involvement in stealing was ranked 3rd with a mean score of 3.41. Meanwhile, item 14 which stated that involvement in immoral behavior was ranked 14th with a mean score of 2.44, and item 13 which stated move with bad peers was ranked 15th with a mean score of 2.15. It was revealed that most of the items have a mean score above the midpoint of 2.50, therefore, it can be concluded that all the items on the instrument posited the influence of social media on the social behavior of students was negative as viewed by primary school teachers in Kwara State, Nigeria.

Testing of Hypotheses
One: There is no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by the primary school teachers in Kwara State, Nigeria based on gender.  Table 3 shows that the critical t-value of 1.96 was greater than the calculated t-value of 1.36.
Since the critical t-value of 1.96 was greater than the calculated t-value of 1.36 at p = 0.05 level of significance, the hypothesis was not rejected. This implies that there was no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Kwara State, Nigeria based on gender.

Two:
There is no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Kwara State, Nigeria based on age.  Table 4 shows that the critical F-ratio of 3.00 was greater than the calculated F-ratio of 1.377 with a p-value of .377 at p = 0.05 level of significance, the hypothesis was not rejected. This implied that there was no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school students in Kwara State, Nigeria based on age.

Three:
There is no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of pupils as viewed by elementary school tutors in Kwara State, Nigeria based on religious affiliation.  Table 5 shows that the critical F-ratio of 2.60 was greater than the calculated F-ratio of 1.57 with a p-value of .833 at p = 0.05 level of significance, the hypothesis was not rejected. This implied that there was no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Kwara State based on religion.

DISCUSSION
The findings revealed that social media had a negative influence on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Kwara State, Nigeria. The negative behaviors of students were indicated by the use of social media to play games instead of studying, lack of centration in school activities, get involved in stealing of other peoples' phone or money to gain access to social media, cheat others or get involved in one form or the other; engaging in risky sexual behavior, making false statements about self and others just to mention but a few. This is in line with Al-Sharqi, Hashim, and Kutbi (2015) who found that social media that is well integrated into human society has the good and bad side; some of which are promoting fraud, cybercrime, cyberbullying and weakening of human physical relationship. Likewise, Rajeev & Jobilal (2015) stated that youth do not usually use the good side of social media, they are tilted towards the downside. Moreover, the result of this research Lowisz (2014) also stated that Instead of using social media for positive communication and the benefits of connectivity, youths use it to the contrary. In this research, the results indicated that students who are at their growing stage need to be well monitored and guided by parents and guardians, but they are left in the hands of technological development. Youths are in this act, teachers can view their students as having negative social behaviors, which is linked to social media.
This also revealed that there was no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis based on gender. This indicated that both male and female primary school teachers were not different in their view on the influence of social media on students' social behaviors. The finding of this research was in contrast with the finding of Rafferty (2009) who found a significant difference between male and female teachers on social media and social behavior. Even though the researcher expected that statistical difference would occur because males were more critical on issues compared to females who could judge with emotions, the direction of this finding could be that negative social behaviors were displayed among students.
Furthermore, their views would not differ on the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by elementary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis based on gender.
Another result reflected that there was no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis based on age. This implies that the expression of participants of different age groups has not differed in the influence of social media on students' social behavior. The finding in this research is not in line with Giota and Kleftaras (2013) who revealed that expression of teachers differing on the platform of age. Initially, the researcher expected that there would be a statistical [51] difference based on age due to experience which was capable of bringing up different views over issues. However, in this research, the reverse is the case. This could be that negative social behavior is common among students and whether teachers are young or old, they can perceive this in them and their views will not differ on the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis based on age.
In addition, the result also showed that there was no significant difference in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin metropolis based on religion. This means that religion does not influence the expression of respondents on the influence of social media on students' social behavior. The result is not in line with Branas-Garza, Espin, and Neuman (2013) who stated that there was a significant difference in the religious affiliations of the participants with the anti-social behavior of adolescents. In their study, individuals without religious affiliation made decisions clearly compared with those with a standard religious denomination. Even when participants differed in religious beliefs and practices, they also differed in their views of the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis based on religion. This could be that the participants are all teachers, working with the same level of students; they work in the same environment and negative social media stare all the teachers in the face. This will enhance them perceiving the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis in the same way.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In this research, the conclusion is drawn that the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis was negative.
Furthermore, there were no significant differences in the influence of social media on the social behavior of students as viewed by primary school teachers in Ilorin Metropolis based on gender, age, and religious affiliation.
Thus, recommendations are made that: 1. Counselors need to orientate guardians and parents on the importance of monitoring their wards in the use of social media as it affects their social behavior negatively.
2. Primary school teachers need to teach students about the negative influence of the irresponsible use of social media. Teachers must make students aware of their negative influence on social behavior.
3. Primary school teachers, counselors, and parents should work together on how to assist students in making the best use of social media in line with the development of positive social behavior.
4. Counselors should talk on reasons for students' use of social media that results in negative social behavior. This can indicate action early and help students use social media responsibly.
5. The school authorities should organize workshops and seminars regularly for primary school teachers and school staff on social media usage and its influence on social behavior so that they can effectively monitor the behavior of students.
The results of this research have implications for counseling practice. The responsibility of a professional counselor is to inform clients on immediate and specific risks of significant benefits or harm to an identifiable phenomenon in order to accrue the benefits and be able to prevent the harm.
• Counselors can help students through a range of strategies by developing an environment that allows students to make the best and positive use of social media. Specifically, counselors can educate students about characteristics of the social media, and facilitate ways by which social media can be properly used to develop their innate potential.
• Counselors can discourage students from misusing social media, and enhance their selfesteem by teaching them empathy, assertiveness, decision making, mutual consent among other skills to enhance positive social behavior.
• Counselors can educate students on the benefits of social media, and then, educate them on the danger of social media misuse.