CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the Study

Recent development in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has resulted in tremendous progress in the area of communication and information dissemination, which contributed in making the world more interactive. This made transactions to emerge between people who may never meet. Also, the ICT is inexpensive and accessible easily throughout the global. Certainly, this permits instantaneous personal dialogue and communication between people around the world. Education is central in the survival and growth of human being as individual and as society, each with its own ways and means of educating and socialising its members, as dictated by the societal culture. Every culture has a mechanism that adjusts and accommodates new developments happening within and outside the society which ensures continuity and effective transmission of the societal culture from generation to generation and guaranteed and safeguard the survival and development of the society. Mishandling of changes happening within and outside the society may cause significant effect on the culture of the society. The effects may cause retrogression, confusion, acculturation, or even extinction of the society in totality. In this context, each society develops and designs its educational system based on its tradition, culture, norms and values, to suit its environment and generation, and to carter for its immediate and future developmental needs and aspirations. Consequently, as a result of development in ICT, diverse ideas and cultures interact and interwoven, as such, new knowledge, ideas, cultures and values, are transferred from one place to another. The manner, by which secondary schools‟ students in Kaduna state usually glue themselves to ICT, by means of different kinds of devices, and for a considerable proportion of their time, is never unconnected with the availability and affordability of the devices in the country in recent times. Accordingly, the worry here is about what the students are doing on these devices. Findings of some studies revealed a huge patronage of the ICT devices among youths, while other studies revealed some positive as well as negative effects of such inclination on the youths. For instance, youths are becoming more and more overwhelmed by programmes available on the ICT, which in turn facilitate or erode their learning inclination and improve or retard their educational development. Empirical researches have established that, modern technologies such as computers and the Internet have become enmeshed in young people‟s lives, the Kaiser report, of 2004 as cited in Shu-Sha and Subrahmanyam, (2009) confirmed that: 74% of 8-year olds to 18-year olds in the United States had Internet access in their homes, more recently, the 2008 World Internet Project survey of 13 countries revealed that among youth 12-years to 14-years, 88% in the United States used the Internet; the percentage of Internet users in this age group was 100% in the United Kingdom, 98% in Israel, 95% in Canada, and over 70% in Singapore. Among adolescents, the communication applications of the Internet such as instant messaging, blogs, and social networking sites (e.g., MySpace, Face book) are especially popular.

1. 1. This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research work
2. 2. As a source for additional understanding of the subject.
3. 3. As a source for ideas for your own research work (if properly referenced).
4. 4. For PROPER paraphrasing (see your university definition of plagiarism and acceptable paraphrase)
5. 5. Direct citing (if referenced properly)
Thank you so much for your respect to the authors copyright.