Exploring Digital Media as a Technology Tool for Leisure Among Nigerian University Students

Digital media have become the preferred media of information and entertainment among mass audiences the world over as they avail people the opportunity to access media products without stress. The main focus of this study is the exploration of digital media as a technology tool for leisure. The population of the study is the students of Obafemi Awolowo University in the South Western part of Nigeria. The survey method is selected for the study, which is founded on the uses and gratification theory. The questionnaire is chosen as the research instrument. The sample size of 200 respondents was selected using stratified random sampling method. It was discovered that 89.3% of the respondents are regular users of the Internet, while 48.1% rely on the Internet for their leisure activities. 19.1% spend their leisure time by either watching videos or listening to music either on or offline; 65% of the respondents consider the Internet as an important medium of leisure-related activity. WhatsApp is the most preferred social media platform of leisure activity for 38.8% of the respondents, 26.8% preferred Facebook, 13.1 and 10.9% preferred Instagram and YouTube respectively. Digital media have become so popular among the sampled population as 47.5% of them preferred it over television, radio and print media, only 8.7% of the sampled showed preference for print media. Digital media are no doubt a big technology tool of leisure among students. It is therefore important to improve Internet infrastructure in all academic institutions across the nation to facilitate students’ access to the Internet for leisure purposes as leisure happens to be an essential aspect of social life.