Causal Relationships between Media/Social Media Use and Internet Literacy among College Students: Addressing the Effects of Social Skills and Gender Differences

• YE Shaoyu

  University of Tsukuba

• TOSHIMORI Atushi

  University of Tsukuba

• HORITA Tatsuya

  Tohoku University

Abstract

This study investigates the causal relationships between the electronic media/social media use of college students and their Internet literacy, addressing the effects of social skills and gender differences. We conducted a panel survey targeting Japanese college students and analyzed 107 responses. The following results were produced: (a) The college students in the study reported that they were able to make new friends using Twitter and Facebook and could communicate with strangers in this way; (b) for male students, improving their Internet literacy in relation to Facebook use helped them increase the frequency of their Facebook posts and improved their social skills; and (c) for female students, increasing the frequency of their Facebook posts helped to improve their Internet literacy.

Journal

• Educational technology research

  Educational technology research 40 (1), 61-70, 2018

  Japan Society for Educational Technology

Keywords

• College students
• Media/Social media use
• Internet literacy
• Causal relationships
• Social skills, Gender differences

Details

• CRID: 1390001205220115072
• NII Article ID: 130006565569
• DOI: 10.15077/etr.41091
• ISSN: 21897751
• ISSN: 03877434
• Text Lang: en
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • CiNii Articles
• Abstract License Flag: Disallowed