Social Media Trends And Drug Experimentation Behaviour Among Teenagers: The Nigerian Perspective

Ifeanyi Martins NWOKEOCHA, PhD; T. Heru Nurgiansah

doi:10.63922/ijebir.v5i04.2771

Ifeanyi Martins NWOKEOCHA, PhD Department of Journalism and Media Studies Federal University Otuoke Bayelsa State, Nigeria
T. Heru Nurgiansah Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta, Indonesia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.63922/ijebir.v5i04.2771

Keywords: Social media, drug experimentation, teenagers, celebrity content, anti-drug campaigns.

Abstract

The paper analyzed the trend of social media use and its impact on the behavior of teenagers experimenting with drugs, specifically within Nigeria, considering the impact of exposure to peer, celebrity, and entertainment content. The objectives of this paper were to: investigate the trend of use of social media among Nigerian teenagers, determine the level to which exposure to drug content raises the rate of experimenting, and establish the trend within social media platforms and content that positively or negatively stimulates any form of experimenting among teenagers. The theoretical framework proposed for this paper includes the Social Learning Theory and the Social Norm Theory. The paper was conducted using a survey method, mainly targeting Senior Secondary Two and Three school-going teens within six secondary schools chosen within the South-South geopolitical region of Nigeria. The paper targeted 367 teens using proportionate stratified random techniques, considering a population of 7,820 school-going teens within the chosen secondary schools. The paper made use of a structured questionnaire technique, analyzing the data using descriptive analysis methods. It was found that adolescents are active on social media sites and that, to a great extent, social interactions and entertainment are the main motivations. It was also found that content generated by peers and celebrities/influencers is a strong motivator to induce curiosity and experimentation with drugs. However, educative and anti-drug content, as well as trends on social media sites moderated by peers and parents, are strong discouraging factors. It was concluded that the impact of social media on the experimentation of adolescents with drugs is conditional not only on the use of social media sites but on the nature of the content. It proposes that adolescents' social media sites should be supervised, evidence-based anti-drug preventive programs should be encouraged, and certain regulations should be enforced to restrict access to deleterious content on social sites.

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