The effect of internet on the reading culture of university students: A case of maasai mara university, narok main campus

Abstract

Reading in the 21st century networked society is no longer confined to the print reading. The scope of the reading has extended to the Internet sources that changed the traditional reading culture of the readers. The study was conducted to identify the impact of the Internet surfing on the reading culture of the Maasai Mara University main campus undergraduate students. The objectives of the study are to determine the level of accessibility of the internet among the students, to investigate the frequency of the time spent in reading books published in paper, to examine reasons why student’s engage in reading and to know the student’s perception about reading books. Questionnaires that were designed purposefully to provide answers to the research questions were administered to students randomly selected in the Maasai Mara University. The study population comprised all the 5500 undergraduate students and a sample of 120 students was used. Data analysis was done by use of descriptive statistics namely; percentages, pie charts, tables and bar graphs. Results reveal that the reading behavior of the online readers is in transition as the Internet surfing has increased non-sequential reading, interactive reading, superficial reading, and extensive reading and at the same rates is responsible for decreasing concentrated and in-depth reading. Uses and Gratification and Media Dependency Theories were used as the theoretical framework to explain the variables used in the research. From the findings recommendations are made that reading should be promoted through partnership collaboration between the public and private sectors such as publishers, booksellers, librarians to encourage readership campaign, proper training of internet use should be provided to the students to accelerate access to different electronic sources of information and support their learning. The readers need to be cautious and focused while Internet surfing so that the Internet can be used as an enhancement reading tool.