SOCIAL NETWORKING AND SELF-ESTEEM: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

The present study was undertaken to investigate the impact of social networking on self-esteem of higher secondary school students. A total sample of 200 social networking users and non users of higher secondary school students were selected from four higher secondary schools by using simple random sampling technique. Information blank was employed for collecting data for social networking and Coopersmith's self-esteem inventory (1981) was used for measuring the self esteem of higher secondary school students. Statistical techniques such as mean, percentage and t-test were used for data analysis. The ﬁndings revealed that there is a positive impact of social networking on self-esteem of higher secondary school students. It was further revealed that the percentage of male social networking users is greater than the female social networking users.


INTRODUCTION
Information and communication technology (ICT) has imbibed and squeezed the world into a global village. Its impact could be seen in each and every facet of life. The life has become easier, quicker, faster, better and comfortable with the assistance of technology . The contemporary world is a digital world which ensures that the core concept of education is internet of things. Due to digital technology, education has come to the doors of learners. The change has shifted from the classroom teaching to home based learning. If students do not learn the way they are taught, they can be taught the way they learn (Mir, 2019a). This pedagogical shift when integrated with educational software and technology has enhanced the learning outcomes in shorter time frames. This is the quite reason that there is a great demand to use ICT in educational institutions for optimal learning of students. The educational curricula and the school facilities are restructured keeping in view the effect of ICT on the workplace and everyday life.
ICT's are basically the information handling tools that ranges from old to new tools. The old tools are considered radio, television and telephone and the new tools are computers, cellular phones, satellite, wireless technology and the internet. The internet is the web of global connections. It provides us a common virtual platform for producing, storing, processing, distributing and exchanging information. There are definite applications, services available on the internet through which we can go for chain and web of communications. There are websites and search engines to knock the heart of world's beat. Social networking websites are specifically meant for the dyadic ties between and among the people. It connects all people for social communication and conservation.
Social networking is a hub where people can meet online for sharing and exchanging the information. Nowadays, it has become an important electronic machine for intimate relationships, weddings and matrimonial. There are a good number of social networking portals but the most popular are Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Whatsapp, Instragam, MySpace, etc. These websites allow us to text and chat, to share photos and videos, to download and play games, to listen about and upload the music in audio and video modes, to organize the events and make the advertisements. Besides these, it serves as an important medium for learning the new experiences. On the basis of usage of social networking, there we need an account to create, a technological device such as cellular phone, laptop or computer and the accessibility of internet connections. In this way, social networking is a virtual platform where a user gets opportunity to show his/her personal, psychological as well as socio-emotional development.
Self-esteem is a socio-psychological construct wherein an individual comes to know about his/her positive and negative feelings and attitudes. It is the global (general) and specific (situational) attitude towards the self. It is the composite term of social self, family self, school self and general self. It is the individual's overall subjective evaluation of his/her own worth and respect. It is the feeling about one's characteristics and qualities. It is found in the research that social networking is a possible medium to gain more recognition of one's self esteem and self-concept than conventional learning medium because there are hundreds of social networking sites that can draw millions of people together with diverse socio-psychological profiles. The maximum number of social networking users at a global level has been found as youngsters to stay in touch not only through online but through offline modes also. The review of research reveals that social networking allow students to express themselves, communicate and collect profiles that highlight their interests, talents and experiences. It is a resource for educational communications between students and teachers. However, the overuse of it is going to meagre the educational benefits of students. The present study is an attempt to explore the impact of social networking on self esteem of higher secondary school students. No such kind of study has been conducted on higher secondary school students in Kashmir valley. Hence, an ample opportunity found reveals the justification of the present study.

OBJECTIVES
1. To identify the social networking user and non-user higher secondary school students with respect to gender. 2. To study the extent of usage of various portals of social networking by higher secondary school students. 3. To identify users & non-users on the basis of extent of usage of social networking. 4. To study the self-esteem of social networking user & non-user higher secondary school students. 5. To compare the self-esteem of social networking user & non-user higher secondary school students.
HYPOTHESIS Ÿ There is no significant difference between social networking user & non-user higher secondary school students on self-esteem.

METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE
The present study is a descriptive study and descriptive survey has been used for data collection.

SAMPLE
A total sample of 200 social networking users and non users of higher secondary school students were selected from four higher secondary schools belonging to two districts namely Baramulla and Srinagar by using simple random sampling technique.

TOOLS
Information blank was employed for collecting data for social networking and Coopersmith's self-esteem inventory was used for measuring the self esteem of higher secondary school students.

Analysis and Interpretation Table1:Showing the Percentage Distribution of Social Networking User and Non-User Male and Female Higher Secondary School Students (N=200)
The present study was undertaken to investigate the impact of social networking on self-esteem of higher secondary school students. A total sample of 200 social networking users and non users of higher secondary school students were selected from four higher secondary schools by using simple random sampling technique. Information blank was employed for collecting data for social networking and Coopersmith's self-esteem inventory (1981) was used for measuring the self esteem of higher secondary school students. Statistical techniques such as mean, percentage and t-test were used for data analysis. The findings revealed that there is a positive impact of social networking on self-esteem of higher secondary school students. It was further revealed that the percentage of male social networking users is greater than the female social networking users. Publication : 01 November, 2019 networking user and 11% social networking non-user higher secondary school students. 48% male and 41% female constituted the social networking users whereas, 4% male and 7% female are social networking non-users. In this way, majority percentage belongs to social networking users. Hence, our objective no. 1 has been realised. For further understanding, its graphical representation has been done in figure no. 1.

Table2:Showing the Percentage Distribution of extent Usage of various Social Networking Sites by Higher Secondary School Students (N=200)
Table no. 2 illustrates percentage distribution of extent usage of various social networking sites by higher secondary school students. It shows that majority (52.8%) of higher secondary school students use Facebook social networking site followed by Whatsapp (27.5%), Youtube (10.1%), Twitter (5.6%), Instragam (2.9%) and other sites (1.1%). The total number of social networking users is 178 out of 200 higher secondary school students. Thus, our objective no. 2 has been realised. Table 3 depicts the percentage distribution of social networking user and non-user higher secondary school students on various levels of self-esteem. It is revealed in the table that majority of higher secondary school students (76.5%) have medium level of self-esteem followed by high level of self-esteem (17.5%) and low level of self-esteem (6%). 77.5% social networking user higher secondary school students have medium level of self-esteem, 18% social networking user higher secondary school students have high level of self-esteem and 4.5% social networking user higher secondary school students have low level of self-esteem. It is also shown in the table that 68% social networking non-user higher secondary school students have medium level of self-esteem, 18% social networking non-user higher secondary school students have low level of self-esteem and 14% social networking non-user higher secondary school students have high level of self-esteem. In this way, self-esteem of social networking user higher secondary school students is higher than social networking non-user higher secondary school students. Thus, our hypothesis no. 3 has been realised. For further understanding, its graphical representation has been done in figure 2.

Table4:Showing Mean Comparison between Social Networking User and Non-User Higher Secondary School Students on Selfesteem
The above given table 4 represents the mean differences between social networking user and non-user higher secondary school students on self-esteem. The mean value of social networking user higher secondary school students on self-esteem is 67.27 and the mean value of social networking non-user higher secondary school students on self-esteem is 64.54. The t-value is 3.28 which is found significant at 0.01 level. In this way, our hypothesis "There is no significant difference between social networking user & non-user higher secondary school students on self-esteem" has been rejected. The mean difference has favoured social networking user higher secondary school students.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
It has been found that there are 89% social networking users and 11% social networking non-users. There are several portals of social networking. However, facebook and Whatsapp were found to be the most preferred social networking sites by higher secondary school students. On various levels of self-esteem, social networking users were having high self-esteem than social networking non-users. In this way, it is concluded that higher secondary schools students found an ample opportunity to reveal their self-esteem on social networking. These findings are also supported by Mir (2019b), Mir & Paray (2018), Paray & Mir (2018) whose findings revealed that internet is a virtual platform where students can highlight their interests, choices, selfesteem and self-concept, and even can enhance their academic performances. Hence, it is recommended that there should be a congenial school climate so that better performances for students are expected. Only conducive school climate matters the most in broadening the self-esteem and enhancing the scholastic outcomes of students (Mir,