HEALTH AND SAFETY

This study assesses the influence of social media on the health and safety of students in the university of Benin. Three research questions were raised to guide this study. The survey research design was adopted for this study; this is because the data was collected from a sample population with specific characteristics. The population of the study comprised 43,679 undergraduates from the University of Benin. Out of this population, 230 students were selected as the sample, representing those who completed and returned the questionnaire. The instrument used to collect data for the study was a 25-item self-structured questionnaire. The instrument for the data collection was personally administered by the researcher to the respondents. The findings of this study indicates that students at the University of Benin possess a high level of awareness of the influence of social media on their health and safety. However, exposure to social media was found to negatively affect sleep patterns, academic performance, face-to-face interactions, and psychological wellbeing. The strategies implemented by the university to mitigate these effects, including awareness programmes, counselling services, peer support groups, and digital literacy initiatives, were moderately implemented. The study recommends that the university strengthen these programmes, improve accessibility, and expand digital literacy and peer support initiatives to promote safer social media use among students.