SDCA Journal of Communication and Media Studies

Abstract

This study was conducted at Montessori Professional College in Imus, Cavite, to determine the implications of social media communication exposure of teenagers on family relationship. Specifically, the study determined the exposure of the respondents to social media communication technologies as to preferred technology used; frequency of use; and place where social media communication is accessed, as well as determined the perceived implications of social media communication exposure of teenagers on the family relationship in terms of family interaction patterns; benefits of social media communication; and problems encountered on the use of social media communication. A descriptive research design was adopted in this study to describe the data gathered through a survey, while a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from two hundred ninety-five (295) student respondents at Montessori Professional College in Imus, Cavite, selected through stratified random technique. Percentage and frequency distribution were used to measure the social media communication exposure of the respondents, while weighted mean was used as a statistical tool to determine the implications of social media communication exposure on family relationships. Results showed that the majority (70.92%) of the respondents used Facebook in their social media communication activity. in terms of frequency of use, 67.80 percent of the respondents used social media communication technologies every day, while on location access, 42.46 percent of the respondents indicated accessing social media communication at home. On relationship building, family members were found to use social network sites to talk to their loved ones instead of sitting down to have a conversation (M = 3.51). The result also revealed that family members cannot effectively solve problems using social media communication (M =3.36). The study concludes that almost all the respondents prefer to use Facebook aside from Instagram and Twitter as their means of social media communication. Hence, it is recommended that the family members should maintain and use appropriate family interaction patterns in social media communication to sustain effective family communication.

Keywords: Social media, information technology, Montessori Professional College, Cavite, communication, teenagers, family relationship, social media communication.