EFFECTS OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY BASED SOCIAL NETWORKING ON SOCIAL LIFE OF YOUTH IN ISLAMABAD

ICT based social networking includes communication and interaction through social networking sites (SNSs) and cellular phones. SNSs and cellular phones have become the most common source of communication among youth. The paper highlights the effects of ICT based social networking on social life of youth. The research was conducted in two colleges of F-7, Islamabad by selecting a sample of one hundred and ten students through purposive sampling technique using both qualitative and quantitative tools. Cross tabulation and percentile analysis revealed that 62.7 percent of the youth were daily users of ICT, addicted to major social sites like Facebook 73 percent, Skype 14 percent and Linkdn or twitter 13 percent. The excessive use of SNSs was found to be directly associated with decreased face-to-face interaction as 72 percent of the respondents agreed that remaining online all the time effected their social, communication interactional skills within and outside family.