The Use of Social Media Among Senior High School Students in Ghana: A Study of Armed Forces Senior High/Technical School

Abstract

To find out the various reasons senior high school students in Ghana use social media, a survey was conducted with 120 respondents from Armed Forces Senior High/Technical School. The Uses and Gratifications theory underpinned this study. Findings show that majority of the respondents use social media to communicate with family and friends, for entertainment and for academic work. The study found that social media benefit students by helping them in the area of citizenship engagement, by updating them with global and national news, and by improving their social lives. Another finding is that a high number of students visit social media platforms daily. Facebook is the favourite social media platform for both male and female students as 98 respondents use Facebook. The study further confirmed the phenomenon of high use of social media among the youth. Findings of this study show that the highest social media users fall within the ages of 17-19. Most of the respondents (67.3%) are on only one social media platform. The main device with which respondents access social media is the mobile phone. Some challenges faced by the respondents in using social media are network failure, power fluctuation, and money issues. Pornography is the main issue of concern for the students. In the aspect of gender and social media use, findings show that males use social media more than females. However, gender does not have an influence on the choice of social media as the study found that both genders use and prefer the same platforms.