TITLE:
Analysing Differences in Social Media Use and Cyberbullying among Male and Female Students of University of Buea in Cameroon
AUTHORS:
Kingsley L. Ngange, Eucharia Nkengafack, Neville N. Mesumbe
KEYWORDS:
Gender Differences, Social Media Use, Cyberbullying, Students, University of Buea
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Journalism and Communication,
Vol.12 No.2,
June
21,
2024
ABSTRACT: Gender differences exist in social media use and cyberbullying among students of higher education in Cameroon. This research examines this disturbing and increasing phenomenon among male and female students at the University of Buea (UB). It uses the Diffusion of Innovations, Uses and Gratifications and Media Dependency theories. The quantitative approach and survey method are used for the research. Krejcie and Morgan’s recommendation formed the basis on which a representative sample of 384 students was obtained from a population size of 33,000 students. The findings reveal that students at the University of Buea use social media to communicate with friends and loved ones (42% males; 41.1% females), for information acquisition (39.2% males; 36.8% females), and business purposes (25.3% males; 23.5% females). In addition, students use social media for academic purposes (42.3% females; 35.6% males) and to build relationships (27.6% females; 26.7% males). The findings further disclose that the precipitators of social media use vary between male and female students at the University. The students adopt social media because of its intriguing features (27.9% males; 23 females), trending nature (23.8% males; 18.4% females), cost-effectiveness (34.2% females; 28.4% males), resourcefulness (32.5% females; 32.5% males), and convenience (27.6% females; 27.3% males). Moreover, the results reveal that there is a significant mean difference in exposure to cyberbullying between male and female students at the University of Buea. Interestingly, male students experience social media harassment, privacy intrusion, uncontrolled arguments, hacking, and uncivil behaviour, more than female students but the effects of cyberbullying are uniform between the genders. This research, therefore, recommends that students should avoid sharing their social media login details and that their passwords should be a complex mixture of words, signs, and figures, to avoid online hacking and bullying. They should also avoid sharing of unverified content on social media sites. Unverified content constitutes a form of social media bullying and tarnishes the reputation of others, which is punishable by Law No 2010-12 of 21 December relating to cybersecurity and cyber criminality in Cameroon.