THE EXTENT TO WHICH SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS HAVE AWARENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON SOCIAL VALUES

Social media in all its forms has become an important part of young people s lives, which has affected their value system. It is worth mentioning that, there are approximately three billion users of social media around the world, as well as people between the ages of eighteen and twenty nine are considered to be the most people who use these sites. Therefore, this paper aims at exploring the extent to which secondary school students have awareness of social media and its impact on social values in Qatar. The analytical descriptive approach was used through a questionnaire designed for study purposes in order to collect preliminary information from the sample of the study, which consisted of (384) secondary school students in public and private schools in Qatar, as they were randomly selected and distributed. The results showed that the degree of students awareness of social media and its impact on social values was moderate. In addition, the results found that social media sites have positive effects on social values with respect to respecting others’ opinions and cooperation values. However, the results revealed that social media sites have negative effects on social solidarity value in the Qatari society. Finally, this research recommended the importance of introducing secondary students to the social and ethical risks associated with the use of social networks, while setting up mechanisms to enhance social values in the Qatari society