impact of social media on christian faith

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON CHRISTIAN FAITHABSTRACT Information technology makes the world a global village and connectsthe people from all over the world. Usage of information technology insocial media, increase its popularity in the youth – including christians. The aim of the study was to analyze the Impact of Social media on Christian Youth’s Faith [A case study of the Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG)]. To achieve this survey research method was used. Subjects were drawn from the Redeem Church of God, using the simple random sampling technique and purposive sampling.Five research hypotheses guided the study. The research work is divided into five chapters. The first chapter examines the background of the study while chapter two deals with the concept of mass media, social media, social networking site, faith, lifestyle and the historical origin of Christianity in Nigeria. A set of questionnaire on the impact of social media on Christian Youth’s Faith was design and administered. The data was collected and therefore analyzed. Research finding showed that many of Christian youths (i.e. Redeem Christian Church of God youths had been influenced by social media both positively and negatively. To this, the researcher recommends that social media site should be created for building and motivation of faith and their way of life (lifestyle). This is to create a balance between social networking and their faith to avoid revert in their Christianity journey. TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page i Certificate ii Dedicated iii Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents CHAPTER ONE 1.1 Background of the study 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Purpose of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Research Hypotheses 1.6 Significant of study 1.7 Scope of the study 1.8 Limitation of the study 1.9 Definition of terms CHAPTER TWO 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Review of Concept 2.2.1 The concept of Mass media 2.2.2 The concept of Internet 2.2.3 The concept of Social media 2.2.4 The concept of Social networking or services 2.2.5 The concept of Christian 2.2.6 The concept of Faith 2.2.7 Social media and the Christian youth 2.2.8 Roles of Social media on Christian 2.3 Review of Related studies 2.31 Effect of social media on students 2.3.2 Social media and Nigeria youth burden 2.4 Theoretical framework 2.5 Summary CHAPTER THREE 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Research design 3.3 Population of the study 3.4 Sample and sampling procedure 3.4 Research instrument 3.6 Validity of the instrument 3.7 Reliability of the instrument 3.8 Administration of the instrument 3.9 Method of the data Analysis CHAPTER FOUR 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Presentation of data analysis 4.3 Test of Hypotheses 4.4 Discussion of the finding CHAPTER FIVE 5.1 Summary 5.2 Conclusion 5.3 Recommendation References Questionnaire Appendix CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Social media refers to all applications and websites or blogs that enable people around the globe to interconnect via the internet, chat, and share content, video call among many other functionalities it offers to its users. For a person to be a member of any social media, he or she has to first signup and then sign in to access content and be able to share and chat with other users of that social media platform. Some of the common and widely used social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat many among others. The invention of the internet brought a new dimension to the media landscape. It marked the beginning of technology transformation and socialization with a higher desire for information about everything. This slowly developed into social media, which essentially is information about people. Social media is most recent form of media and having many features and characteristics. It is a computer-mediated tool that allow people to create, share, or exchange information, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and network. The world of Information and Technology is yet to experience something more phenomenal than the phenomenon of social media. According to Nche (2012) “without doubt, social media currently seem to take the centre stage in the field of information and communication technology (ICT). Also Adaja and Ayodele (2013) observed that “one of the breakthroughs in information and communication technology in the 21st century was the discovery and emergence of the new media which have facilitated the creation of different platforms for social interaction”. Social media have many facilities on same channel such as communicating, texting, images sharing, audio and video sharing, fast publishing, linking with all over world, and direct connecting. According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) Social media is a group of interest – based application that build on the ideological and technological foundations of web which allow the creation and exchange of user generated content. Kaplan and Haenlein refer social media to internet-based social website like the Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter and so on, which allow users to interactively communicate with one another. Social media can also refer to those web-based and mobile-based technologies which are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue between organization, communities and individuals (Wikipedia, 2014). The media allow users to meet friends, exchange ideas, images, audios, videos and most importantly stay connected. Since their invention, they have become increasingly popular in different countries across the globe. It is a cheapest fast access to the world so it is very important for all age of peoples. Its use is increasing day by day with high rate in all over the world. Majority of youth is shifting speedily from electronic media like as television viewers and radio listeners to the social media among all age of group. And youth rate is very much to shifting into social media so its influences are much on youth. Verster (2010) described that social media are fast becoming the default internet mode of interaction, communication and collaboration. In Nigeria, for instances, social media sites especially Facebook have apparently become common, especially among youths in the country. Social media internet has different impact in various aspects on American’s life. And the different areas of life are elections and policies, education, family, friends and community, health, news and events, internet evaluation, online activities and searches public policy, technology, media and use of media (Turow, 2011). Alison Doyle (2013) an American psychologist saw social media as various online technology tools that enables people to communicate easily and people use social media to share information, text, audios, videos, images, podcasts, and other multimedia communication. Reported, that the science of networked (Watts, 2007) has evolved significantly over the course of the last decade spurred by the popularity of online communication through social media technology. One group to fully embrace this new medium are young people, with some international data suggesting that 83% of these aged 18 – 29 years use social networking sites (Duggan and Brenner, 2013). Data from the ‘Eu Kids Online’ survey estimate that an average 15 – 16 years old spent 118 minutes per day online (O’Neil Livingstone & McLaughlin, 2011). Communications media whether pen and paper, phone calls, Facebook, or Twitter can exacerbate or alleviate the perils of teenage life, or even do both at the same time. But today’s social media have the potential to amplify age-old and rites of passage in ways that yesterday’s communications adding photos and videos to words, allowing an entire community the chance to comment on what is seen or heard or said online, by maintaining a permanent record of all those interaction (Boyd, 2007). Using social media Facebook and Twitter has become part and parcel of modern youths / adolescence. According to the survey on which this report is based, 90% of all American teens have used social media, three quarters of them have social networking site, and nearly one in three teens visits their social networking profile several times a day or more. For society to exist and function there must be a functioning media. This fact has already been established in the different earliest societies that make up the entity Nigeria. The various traditional communication channels like the town crier, the aroko, and the drum beat emphasize the role of communication and information between and among the people. The media are therefore shaping people’s everyday lives, politics and cultural activities to greater extent than ever before. We live in society that depends on the media for information and communication that guides our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships, travelling and anything else that we have to do. Shrestha Lucky (2013) described social media as means of connections among people in which they create share, exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. Social media such as Facebook, Skype, Twitter, YouTube, 2go, Whatsapp, MySpace, etc have become a freshly market as great leveler as gathering in which diverse of race, class and ethnicity meet to exchange information, ideas, text, pictures, videos, audio even their business transaction and stay connected. Now, Facebook has over one million active users who access the site at least once a month. And Twitter has roughly a quarter of that, likewise other social media. Like it or not, participate in it or not, social media is growing. However, many of these has been a tremendous blessing churches and Para-church ministers have been able to quickly, effectively and inexpensively get word out about what they are doing and how God is working. These sites have functioned as excellent communication tools for churches, ministry teams, and church staff. They have been used to raise funds for important worked and helped missionaries keep n touch with people around the world. Social media also has a very dark side, we have all seen Christian get into argument, full of venom and hatred splashed all over public space for all to see. We have seen Christian link to thing or discuss things that were completely inappropriate and you wonder how it is that Christian came to accept these things so easily. Crosbie (2002), in explaining new media, described three different kinds of communication media. He saw interpersonal media as “one to one”, mass media as “one to many” and new media as individuation media or “many to many”. New media is a term meant to encompass the digital, computerized or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century. Most technologies described as new media often have characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, interactive and impartial (Flew, 2008). Neuman, cited in Croteau and Hoynes (2003) add that new media will alter the meaning of geographic distance thereby allowing for a huge increase in the volume and speed of communication and allow forms of communication. It will also provide opportunities for interactive communication and allow form of communication, previously separate, to overlap and interconnect. Flew (2002), social media an offering of new media, typify these features as they eliminated geographical distance in global communication. Information sharing or interaction move at the speed of light thereby making it near impossible to quantify volume of communication that occurs at different locations simultaneously. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) see social media as media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. It uses internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogue (many to many). According to Adelabu (2011), three components typify social media: concept (art, information, or meme); media (physical, electronic, or verbal); and social interface (intimate, direct, social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication or print). One of the thing make social media unique is its interactive capabilities. Like never before, social media are transforming the way in which people receive and share information.Ludtke, as cited in Adelabu (2011) notes “one of the major attributes for social networking is its high level of interactively” which adds value through its ability to facilitate meaningful conversation with, and between users. Picard also cited in Adelabu (2011) asserts that social media and blogs provide an opportunity for user to express themselves and connect with like-minded people. These digital tools provide an easy (little to no cost) way for members of the public to take part of in discussion with lager groups of people and draw attention to issues and topics that traditional news media might have overlooked. The high rate of social networking sites, and the impact they have on young people’s, offers striking testimony to the global impact of today’s internet. In Nigeria, for instances, social media sites especially Facebook, have apparently become common, especially among the youths in the country. But some treat this new medium as a danger, and other treat it as the road to utopia. The truth is somewhere in between. Oxford Advanced Dictionary International Student’s Edition defines Christian as based or believing the teachings of Jesus Christ. Christian is who professes belief or belief teaching lifestyle of Jesus Christ. And this definition is a good starting point, like many dictionary definitions, it falls somewhat short of really communicating the biblical truth of what is mean to be a Christian. The word “Christian” occur in the New Testament inside Bible for three times (Act 11:26, 26:28, 1 Peter 4:16). The followers of Jesus Christ were first to called: Christian” in Antioch (Act 11:26) because of their behaviour, activity and speech were like Christ. The word Christian literally means, ‘belonging to the party of Christ or a follower of Christ. Unfortunately overtime, the word ‘Christian’ has lost a great deal of its significances and its often used of someone who is religious or has high moral value but who may or may not be true follower of Jesus Christ. Many people who do not believe and trust in Jesus Christ consider themselves Christian simply because they go to church or they live in a “Christian” nation. But going to church, serving those less fortunate than you, nor being a good person does not make you a Christian. Going to church does not make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile. Being a member of a church does not make you a Christian (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2015). According to Merriam Encyclopedia (2001), described youth as the time of life when someone is young. Youth is the time when young person has not yet become adult. Youths are very important future of any nation and country’s progress and development. Leaner Dictionary defines Lifestyle as a particular way of living; the ways a person live or group of people lives. It can also be the way of thing of individuals, families (households), and societies, which they manifest in coping with their physical, psychological, and economical environment on a day to day basis. Therefore, Christian youths are young disciples or followers of Christ, usually between adolescence and mid-age, gospel-obedient individuals such as teenagers and young singles/couples. However, now a day social media is essential for youth in the field of education to learn new trends in education, to improve writing and communication skills, cultural promoting, religious and political information gathering and sharing blinks, better living style, growth and development of society. The internet has taken the process of information dissemination to a higher platform thereby going beyond being a mere medium of socialization or information seeking and has become something much more. With this development, users are driving content (Dominick, 2013), in ways never seen before. This has led to the transformation in not just one medium; there is more to come as new trend emerge continually. So, the craze of social media has led to a host of question regarding its impact on society, which it is agreed that social media affects people’s living styles, and faith and it is an ongoing process to identify the nature of these influence in every society and country especially on youth. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM It cannot be over emphasized that the social media have taken a center stage in our daily activities especially in the 21st century with the emergence and consolidation of different social media and their service provider. It has observed in cities that social media have been in it high rate whereby people whereon different types of social networking sites with high population. However, this study aim to examine the impact of social media on Christian youths, by paying attention on social networking which plays roles in shaping the faith and lifestyle among the youths. It is evident through previous researchers that the world of social media is indeed a fascinating one for Nigerians especially the youths. This is not surprising as it is generally acknowledged that youths, by their nature are more disposed to social communication technologies. Lenhart et al. (2010) have observed that almost two thirds (67%) of all adolescent use the internet to go online at least once a day. For these youth who go online, social media use is high nearly three-quarters (73%) use of social networking sites such as Facebook, 2go, Whatsapp, or Myspace; 38% share content online such as photos, videos or art works; and 14% blog. Additionally, three quarters (75%) of all teens have a cell phones, with 88% using them to text message, 64% to exchange pictures and 23% to access social networking sites. Furthermore, from previousresearches carried out on the effect of social media on youths, according to the percentage of U.S internet users, who do the following online up to 89% send or read email, 84% go to website about movies, TV shows, music group, or sports, 81% play online games, 76% go online to get news or information about current events, 75% send or receive instant messages, 57% online to get information about college, 43% buy online merchandise, and 22% look for information about a health topic that’s hard to talk about. The impact of these social networking on youths may not be immediate or out rightly effective due to some other variables like family, social group, peer group, and so on. Nevertheless, the influence might be insidious and lead the youths in building false ideas and negative social behaviour. The more they expose themselves to social networking with reference to the amount of time of them put into visiting social networks the greater the chances for them to develop a world analyze. Therefore, this study attempt to examine whether the social media/social networking site have shape to a large extends the faith and lifestyle of the youths particularly the Christian youths. So, the question this study is out to answer is how do social media affect the faith of the Christian youth in Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG), in Ojo Local Government, Lagos State. 1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this study was to assess how social media has impact Christian youth’s faith using Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Ojo Local Government Area, Lagos State. This will help us to highlight the area of social media to be strengthened to enhance the use or consumption and impact of social media on Christian youths. 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. It is likely to say that social media is creating awareness for youths in better leaving style? 2. What are the influences of social media on Christian youths? 3. It is likely to say that social media is swift of information and entrainment for youth’s internet? 4. It is likely to say that Christian youth is utilizing social media in a positive way? 5. To assess social media is great fascinator for youth in field of education. 1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES 1. There is significant difference between the impact of social media and change in Christians youths mode of dressing 2. There is immorality act practice among Christian youths when using social media. 3. There is significant relationship between social media as a source of information and entertainment among Christian youth. 4. There is relationship between the society and Christian youths 5. There is significant relation relationship between social media and Christian youths. 1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The study will help researchers with more information on the influence ofsocial media on the Christian youth faith. It will be relevant in assisting Christian youths in understanding the diversity of social media. It will assess the beneficial and preferred form of social media for youth and evaluate the attitude of youths towards social media. It will recommend some measure for proper use or consumption of social media in right direction to inform and educate the people especially the youths. It will provide relevance material for Christian youths and other researchers undertaking similar research. 1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY The essence of this study is to primarily study the influence of socialmedia on the Christian youth’s faith. The study intends to focus on the Christian youths of the Redeem Christian Church of God of Ojo Local Government in Lagos State for easy analysis of data. 1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY The limitation of this study was due to the population size. The population size of this study was on selected ones (i.e youths), so it may be very difficult in generalizing the result of the study because the study participant is only Christian youths may not really be the same to the general population. 1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS The following are terms used in the research work: 1. Social Media:They are forms of electronic communication which facilitate interactive base on certain interests. Social media include web and mobile technology. Kaplan and Helenein (2010) defined social media as a group of internet based application that allows the creation and exchange of user generation content. Social media is also the future of communication, a countless array of internet based tools and platforms that increase and enhance the sharing of information. This new form of medium makes the transfer of text, photos, audio, video, and information in general increasingly fluid among internet users. 2. Social Networking Site: A website where people put information about them and can send to them. 3. Social Networking: The use of internet to make information about yourself available to other people especially people you share an interest with to send message to them. 4. Media:Are all those media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. “They are messages communicated through a mass medium to a number of people” (Bittner, 1980). 5. Computer: A computer is a machine that receive or store or process data quickly according to a stored program. 6. Christian: This is a person that belief in the teaching, lifestyle of Jesus Christ. 7. Youth: This is the time of life when one is young; but often mean the time between childhood and adulthood (maturity). It is also defined as the appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit, etc characteristics of one who is young. 8. Faith: This is the believing what you what to believe, yrt cannot prove.