Title: Social media use and its implications on child behaviour: a study of a basic school in Ghana

Authors: Naomi Amofah-Serwaa; Perpetua S. Dadzie

Addresses: Department of Information Studies, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 60, Legon, Ghana ' Department of Information Studies, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 60, Legon, Ghana

Abstract: The study explores the implication of social media use on child behaviour in a basic school in Ghana. A survey was conducted among pupils, teachers and parents of the school. Fifty-six pupils were served with questionnaires while ten teachers and 22 parents were interviewed. The findings reveal that Facebook is the most preferred social media site. About half the pupils indicated that the models they observe on social media sites have not affected their behaviour. Some positive implications reported by parents and teachers include improvement in reading habits, dressing and communication. Negative implications also reported involve distraction of pupils' attention from their studies, frequent use of Pidgin English as well as unnecessary fashion consciousness. The study recommends that parents should visit their children's online friends to see what they post and receive from friends. Furthermore, teachers must explain the advantages and danger of using social media to children and advise them of beneficial sites to visit.

Keywords: social media; child behaviour; pupils; interactive learning environments; Ghana; Facebook; pupil behaviour; parental behaviour; secondary education; reading habits; dressing; communication; distraction; Pidgin English; fashion consciousness; young people.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMILE.2015.068441

International Journal of Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 2015 Vol.3 No.1, pp.49 - 62

Received: 10 Mar 2014
Accepted: 09 Jul 2014
Published online: 03 Apr 2015 *

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