This archive report was first published on 3 November 2019.
Published on November 3, 2019, a study by the Catholic University of Eastern Africa has sounded the alarm on the growing threat of social media addiction among university students in Nairobi.
According to the research, led by Virginia Nyagah, 385 students and their counselors from seven universities in Nairobi County were involved in the study. The team found that excessive use of social networking sites by university students in Kenya is a pressing concern.
“Data shows this has already led to some students developing addiction to online social networking,” said Dr. Stephen Asatsa, a psychology lecturer at the university and study co-author. “This is supported by statistics showing that university students are spending too much time on social networking sites,” he added.
The study revealed that more female students were found to be addicted to online social networking compared to males. The authors suggested that this difference may be due to the fact that some social media sites encourage more female use compared to males.
“Females are found to post more photos compared to males. As a result, they keep checking their accounts for likes. If they find more likes, they post more and as a result they become addicted,” Dr. Asatsa explained.
First-year students were found to be the most addicted, while fourth-year students were the least addicted. The study also found that students who spend more than six hours online were most likely to be addicted to social networking sites.
“The more time one spends on a social networking site per day, the more likely they will be addicted,” Dr. Asatsa warned.
The team is recommending that university students be enlightened on healthier ways of using social networking sites to avoid addiction.
