Understanding the role of social media among young adults in Western Province, Sri Lanka; Key Findings from Webinar
University of Bedfordshire Business School, Luton, United Kingdom.
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2021, 12(02), 055–062
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjarr.2021.12.2.0569
Publication history:
Received on 29 September 2021; revised on 01 November 2021; accepted on 03 November 2021
Abstract:
Since the establishment of internet social media usage is widespread among young adults globally. These platforms provide the youth with an opportunity to discuss trending issues without a language barrier. By the time youth reach adolescence majority of them are already immersed into the world of technology and social media. Although social media has become an integral of part of young teens/adults lives it has its own challenges as well. In this article, we look into the challenges and implications of using social media in the 21st century where the study focused on the Western Province of Sri Lanka which is the commercial capital of the country. This study was based on the responses obtained by 81 participants through a webinar where young adults (18-30 years) were the target audience for this study. Using descriptive analysis this study was able to show that majority of the participants on average use 3-4 social media applications on a daily basis with Facebook and WhatsApp being the most popular and LinkedIn being the least popular. One of the main observations we identified in this study was that youth identified that social media has been affecting their physical activities and affects the overall academic performances. On this basis, this study was able to conclude that youth are aware of the risks and challenges imposed by social media platforms, however further studies with a wider geographical representation and sample size is required to prove this.
Keywords:
Socialmedia; Online Behaviour; Mental Health; Addiction; Digital Technol
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Copyright © 2021 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0