IMPACT OF INSTAGRAM AND X(TWITTER) SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS ON THE ACADEMIC ATTENTIVENESS OF TRAINEE COUNSELLORS IN ALVAN IKOKU FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION OWERRI, IMO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of Social Media tools, Instagram and Twitter(X) on the Academic attentiveness of trainee Counsellors in Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education Owerri, Imo State Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised of all fifty-three (53) undergraduate students of Guidance and Counselling department. Two research questions were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of Significance. A researcher made and validated instrument name Social Media tools and Academic Attentiveness Scale (SMTAAS) with liability coefficient of 0.82 established through Cronbach Alpha was employed to generate data for the study. The data generated was analysed using mean and standard deviation statistics. The findings show that to a high extent the respondents accepted that social media tools; Instagram and X(Twitter) impact their academic attentiveness negatively. It is recommended that workshops on self- regulation and focus skills training be organised for trainee Counsellors, students should be guided to disable their phone notifications during lectures, social media literacy should be incorporated in the University curriculum among other recommendations.