THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA SHAPING THE NIGERIAN YOUTHS IDENTITY

Introduction

Social media refers to websites and computer applications that help end users create and share things which further enhance social networking. Social media has been a welcome development and has made life easier for man, since from the comfort of one’s home one can meet a wide range of people of different race, religion, and belief system.

Who is a youth?

There seems to be no standard definition for a youth. Youth is a term used to refer to a period in one’s life when one is young and full of energy. It is usually the period in life between childhood and adulthood. It is difficult to pin down youthfulness to a particular age bracket, as many persons for so many reasons have tried to give various age brackets to cover youthfulness. Unini, C. (2020) opine that “Africa and the global South and, of course, many countries of the world have long insisted that youth is not a range of ages but defined by a diversity of culturally defined social processes that mark the transition from child to adult”.

The social media has affected every sphere of man’s existence, from religion and politics, to entertainment and business. Religious beliefs can be sent across the world without physical presence, businesses can be done virtually without physical presence, and musicians can reach a wider range of audience than they would have reached physically.

Nigerian youths seem to indulged every song they hear, every outfits they're exposed to, every webpage they open, every advert they see and every slang they hear. The Nigerian youths follow every year-new topic and new issues trend on different media platforms.

 

 Name: Babatunde Janet 

State Code: OS/22C/1439