الآثار الإيجابية والسلبية لشبكات التواصل الاجتماعي من وجهة نظر المجتمع السعودي (مجتمع حائل نموذجًا)

Abstract

This study aimed to detect the positive and negative impacts of social media networks from the point of view of the Saudi society. It also aimed to identify the most used networks. The study sample consisted of (1,300) respondents, (724) males and (576) females, at all different levels of education in the community. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, a two-part questionnaire was prepared: the first part was for the positive impacts and consisted of (13) items, and the second part was for the negative impacts and consisted of (15) items. The statistical software SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used to extract the results.

The findings of the study revealed the existence of positive and negative impacts of the use of social media networks; they also revealed that the most used social media networks were in the following order: (Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook). Moreover, the study revealed the existence of differences in the positive and negative impacts related to the use of social media networks. Such differences were attributed to the gender variable in favor of males, and to the educational level in favor of Master - Ph.D. The study recommended conducting further researches and developing programs to reduce the negative impacts and to enhance the positive ones.