CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The mass media and internet have gradually become a part of our daily lives, and sources of information, education and entertainment have been described as the primary functions of the media. Lasswell (1948) as cited in Folarin (2014) assigns three functions to the media:
1. Surveillance of the Environment (the news function).
2. Correlation of the different parts of the Environment (the editorial function).
3. Transmission of the cultural heritage from one generation to the other (the cultural transmission function).
The focus of the researcher in this study is not only on the effective use and function of the mass media and internet, but the impact of the mass media and internet facilities plays in shaping social behaviour among teenagers and youths in the 21st century. Stephenson (1967) a British psychologist, as cited in Folarin (2014), divides man’s activities into work and play. The former involving reality and production, while the latter deals with entertainment, relaxation or self satisfaction. He further says that people use mass communication more as play than as work, more for pleasure and entertainment than for information and serious work. Folarin (2014) corroborates this view by saying that one constant criticism of mass media in Nigeria is its focus on entertainment rather than on development purposes. There is no doubt that the impact of the mass media and internet on young people’s lives is broadly considered within what is referred to as “media effects” debate which to a great extent focuses on the potentially negative impact of the media and internet on young people’s lives: video violence, gambling, educational performance, mass consumerism, pornography, online the, etc (Miles, 2011). Steele & Brown (2013) identifies three main reasons why media influence should be given a closer look: