AN INVESTIGATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON STUDENT EXPOSURE TO CYBERCRIME IN EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

The study examined social media usage and it's influence on students exposure to cybercrimes in Edo state. Also of interest in this work was to establish the social media platforms which students are exposed to, It investigated the influence of social media on students, determines the factors responsible of exposure of students to cybercrime. Understanding the consequences of cybercrime and possible solutions for reducing cybercrime among students. Five (5) research questions were raised and were directly answered. The study was a descriptive survey research design which sought to describe and established the characteristics of the variables of the study. The population for this study consists of all the fourteen (14) faculties and a total of Thirty nine thousand, two hundred and forty-three (39,243)undergraduate students in the University of Benin. The researcher designed a questionnaire which was used to gather data on the influence of students exposure to cybercrimes in University of Benin. The data collected with the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts. percentage, mean and standard deviation was used to analyze the other research questions. The findings revealed among others that students use social media often, social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat are the most used social media platforms by the students. It was also deducted that social media can be a distraction to university students and can lead to decreased academic performance, It was also observed that greed, peer pressure, easy access to the internet, getting quick money and the terrible state of the Nigerian economy are major factors responsible for the exposure of students to cybercrimes, while cybercrime can affect students academic performance negatively and it could actually lead them to drop out from school. cybersecurity education, creation of more jobs, provision of dedicated resources for cybercrime investigations and prosecutions can help reduce cybercrime among students. It was therefore recommended among others that Schools should provide students with proper education on cyber security and how to properly navigate the social media world.