New Media and Crime among Adolescents in Anaocha LGA of Anambra Nigeria

Abstract

New media use has been recently understood as an important issue to be looked into among adolescents, parents and others who deal with adolescents. This study sought to examine the new media and crime among adolescents in Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State. The study employed the cross-sectional descriptive design method involving a quantitative approach which included a survey of 224 adolescents between the ages of 13-19 years selected by cluster and simple random sampling techniques from five communities in the LGA. The instrument for data collection was interviewer-administered questionnaire while the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used in analyzing the data.  Findings revealed that phones were the most prevalent new media in use among adolescents particularly the male ones. Also, majority expressed negative view about the influence of the new media on adolescents, with sexting and cyber-bullying as the most common crimes associated with new media. Furthermore, psychological trauma was identified as the major effect of cyber-bullying on adolescent victims. This study recommended enlightenment of adolescents and other stakeholders in order to curtail the level of crimes committed through the new media. Parents and significant others are advised to keep a close watch on their adolescent children and wards while they are browsing the internet, and this will hopefully control criminal activities associated with new media use among adolescents in Anaocha LGA in particular and Nigeria in general.