Abstract

A curiosity and mystique around teens and youths behavior has long been a cultural obsession. The world of social networks has captured the youths’ attention because of their ability to embrace new things quickly as they are digital natives, super communicators and multi-task performers. This study explores how far the Ethiopian youths are addicted to social networks. The objective of this research is to analyze the age and gender dynamics of youths regarding social networks addiction. There are three target population of this study: teen cyber café visitors, cell-phone using older youths and laptop using professional youths. For the first target population, systematic random sampling is used whereas for the second and third snowball sampling is applied. The sample size (n=264) comprises of questionnaire (n=252) supplemented by interview from key respondents (n=12). The data is collected and analyzed keeping in view the age and gender dynamics and the result is presented.

Authors and Affiliations