SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND ITS EFFECTS ON STUDENTS’ BEHAVIOR IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MACHAKOS SUB- COUNTY, MACHAKOS COUNTY, KENYA

Social media is one of the most used interactive communication tools in the current world. Almost every person above the age of ten years is operating an account of any social media platform. The study was guided by two objectives; to examine prevalence of social media use among secondary students and, to determine behavior displayed by the students as a result of social media use. The study was anchored on the social learning theory. A mixed-method research design was adopted. Purposive sampling was used to select 15 teacher counselors, while 392 students were selected using a simple random sampling. The study found that 97.4% of the secondary school students in Machakos Sub- County were regular social media users. The students preferred using WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. The study also found that social media use inculcated both positive (60% ) and negative (40%) behaviors respectively. The study thus concluded a high prevalence of social media use among secondary school students in Machakos Sub-County. Based on these findings, the study recommends that school administrators should come up with stringent strategies to control the use of social media among secondary school students and, the Ministry of Education should develop policies for curbing the use and challenges associated with social media by secondary school students.