JONAED

The study examined the influence of Social Networking Sites (SNSs) on the reading habits of undergraduate students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The design of the study was descriptive survey. Four research questions guided the study. The population of the study comprised all the 21,221 regular students of the Awka campus of the university. The sample for the study consists of 200 regular students selected through multi-stage sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was a 27 item questionnaire titled “Influence of Social Networking Sites” (ISNS) that was structured on a four point rating scale. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument and the coefficient of 0.87 was obtained. The data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. The findings of the study revealed that most of the students visited social networking sites several times daily and spent an average time of 30 minutes-2 hours per visit. Internet addictions, distraction from academic works and exposure to immoral acts were identified as negative impacts of social networking sites on students. The study further found out that deleting of social networking accounts was among the strategies that will solve social networking problems. The researchers recommended among others that lecturers should organize proper orientation on when and how to use social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp for students in tertiary institutions, and they should also discourage students from bringing their cell phones to classes.