Influence of Social Media on the Reading Culture of Nigerian Students

ABSTRACT
This study is examined the influence of social media on the reading culture of Nigerian students, it focused students of Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State. The objectives of this study were to examine the level of exposure to social media among students of Federal Polytechnic Offa, to investigate the time students of Federal Polytechnic Offa devote to reading books and studying, to examine the level to which using social media affects the frequency of studying amongst students of Federal Polytechnic Offa, and to ascertain the effect of using social media by students of Federal Polytechnic Offa at study period. Quantitative Research Design was adopted for this study with Survey research method as the research method while questionnaire was used to collect data from the selected sample. The findings revealed that the respondents were highly exposed to social media, most of the respondents spent just 1-2hours on reading per day, and some hardly read at all, but always stay on social media for nothing less than 3hours. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that most students are more interested in browsing and watching videos than to have good academic achievement. This study recommended that there is need for undergraduate students to be encouraged to use social media platforms to promote academic excellence and institutions authorities should be actively involved in the control of use of social media of the students within the school premises.