Social Networking among Mauritian Students
The State of Art of Social Networking
The real situation concerning Social Networking among Mauritian students.
Due to the difficulties we encountered while collecting data from the primary level, we decided to analyse the primary sector separately. The tool use to obtain data was different as the primary students had problem filling the questionaire by themselves and it was more by interview that the data was collected.
Secondary and Tertiary Level
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According to the survey of students of secondary schools and tertiary institutions conducted by members of Team B, 91% of a sample of 56 students have their profile on face book and use it for social networking almost every day. Almost half of respondents make use of Utube for looking at videos or downloading music. When asked informally whether they reveal their true identity some of them pretend to be someone other than themselves.
Results of the survey show an alarming trend among young people. Social network use is becoming increasingly part of the lives of these young adults and they are gradually extending their friends, with 70% of them having more than 40 friends.
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The reasons why Mauritian Students are on SN sites
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Out of 46 students 50% would find it quite relevant to visit their social sites because their friends are there and it is a custom to greet them. They can stay as long as time would allow them there rather than when face to face. 18 (39.1%) would be among the curious ones for seeking information of various nature.
Surprisingly 50% would seek entertainment as a good leisure from their computer compared with 6.5% who find it irrelevant to use computers to provide young people with entertainment.
There is a great need among young people to get the opinion of others on some subjects and to compare with theirs. 23 students(50%) would prefer this method rather than having a face to face with people on that matter. 10% would disagree to seek help from other friends.
Concerning socialization, 63% find networking a good means of socialization with friends. 5% would prefer doing something else.
41% would readily comment on others while 24% would refrain from doing so
39% would visit social sites to stay up to date and 44% would share experiences, videos and pictures.
41.3% would spend their time making new friends.
19% of the students would actually use the social sites for studying and learning. Will this tendency change if teachers start providing materials on these sites?
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The Frequency at which Mauritian Students use SN sites
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When asked about the average time they spent on internet, 25% would spend one hour; 29% , 2 hours; 14.3 , 2 hours; and 19.6 , more than 5 hours.
35.7% are often logged occasionally and 30% would be online once a day.
When asked informally in an interview with a group, 95% send regularly instant messages and texting, 60% multiple times a day. Yet just 18% do so for schoolwork, tuition , and 27% never do. Just a few percent never use social networks.
Students said that Social networks are unique in the degree of trust we place in them. Nowhere else on the web have we ever shared our true identity, our email, name, age, occupation, friends, family pictures, what makes us laugh etc. in one place. Where Google has made the web more simple and searchable, Facebook has made it more personal. A social network is only useful if we can expect to find most of our friends. Facebook has done this and it is here to stay for a very long time. It’s part of our life.
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The Benefits Mauritian Students gain from using SN sites
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In the last question where we asked students to comment on the benefits gained from being part of social network, here are some views expressed:
Common opinions shared were:
- The Students learn about others opinion, to get contact with people from other countries.
- find friends from previous schools, networking has become a common activity as it fills up our time.
- Students like to avoid getting bored by talking to people in real time or being listened by others or just trying from the unknown.
- Having fun and entertainment in their leisure time.
- Comparison of skills so as to enhance oneself.
- socialize, communicate with friends, share parts of life.
- Real time games, sharing videos and pictures, open discussions on topics and getting opinions of others are very common.
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Primary
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As far as social networking among primary students is concerned, results show that it is still at a budding stage, especially in rural regions. Even if about six of them (STD V pupils) possess a computer, they are not aware of such sites. Only 3 out of 10 pupils are subscribed to facebook or skype. It's thanks to a computer literate background that they have shown interest for social networking. At school, they have learned the basics and use this notion to explore their computing skills with the help of parents.
Thus, primary students meet on skype to discuss class activities or just share personal experience with friends. They are also fascinated by facebook where they share photos with friends and relatives as well as chat with near and dear ones who are abroad.
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Teachers Observation
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For the primary school studnts, social networking is a new and thrilling experience and if it were possible, they would devote most of their time learning about it.
However, at this stage, their social networking activities should be closely monitored by parents as they can easily fall prey to cyber - predators. Nevertheless, on the other hand, social networking could be efficientlly used to promote and enhance teaching and learning. It has been observed that veryy often communication between teachers and parents hinders educational success at primary level. today both parties are busy in their work and hardly have enough time to devote to personal needs of the child. So, social networking can remove barrier to communication and facilitate involvement in their children's education. So, emails can be exchanged between parents and teachers to work towards a holistic development of primary school students who in that way will benefit from a child-centered education
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