Social Networking Effect on the Emirati Youth’s Behavior

This paper examines the effects of social networking platforms on the behavior of Emirati youth either in a positive or negative manner. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of social media on individuals aged between 13 years and 30 years. The investigation will analysis how social interaction via popular online networking platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube influence the behavior, characters, and overall social bearing of youths.

Running head: SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S
BEHAVIOR
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Social Networking Effect on the Emirati Youth’s Behavior Paper
Student’s Name
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SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
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Social Networking Effect on the Emirati Youth’s Behavior
Abstract
This paper examines the effects of social networking platforms on the behavior of
Emirati youth either in a positive or negative manner. The aim of this paper is to investigate
the impact of social media on individuals aged between 13 years and 30 years. The
investigation will analysis how social interaction via popular online networking platforms
like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube influence the behavior, characters, and overall social
bearing of youths (Suren, 2017). The research methodology evaluated the popularity of social
media amongst youths and its overall pull on the behavior of an entire generation. In order to
achieve this, the methodology employed the use of quantitative statistical techniques to
analysis data relating to social media use, and misuse amongst Emirati youths. The results of
the analysis showed that there were both positive and negatives implications. In conclusion,
social media critically influences the willingness of young people to engage in productive
activities (Suren, 2017).
Key Words
Impact
Social networking
Different Types
Advantages
Disadvantages
Youth
UAE
Behavioral changes
Rumors

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Cyber-bullying
Fake identities
Terrorist organizations
Favorite type
Introduction
Social networking programs such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter,
became the overused Social Media in the whole world. It allows users to create blogs, chat,
send messages, share photos, videos and files, make it easier for users to post files, write
about specific topics that can be shared with others, and comment on them. Consider the
effects of social networking on the youth’s behavior, it is important because as the years
progress, the popularity of social networking sites among people is increasing (Hendricks,
2013). Social networks contain pros and cons depending on how they are used and the
awareness of these sites. Al-Sayegh (2013) states that “The social networking sites can be
influenced by national, social and religious events” (para 2). So, it can affect the behavior of
youth in several ways.
Of course, the social networking captured the minds and influenced the ideas and
concepts of the new generation, and it impacts all people of all ages. However, our research
type is analytical, we will focus especially on young Emirati segment because, we as young
Emiratis, we like to spend most of our time on computer screens or smartphones and surfing
between social networking sites. Furthermore, this category is an oversensitive group and is
easily affected by these sites, which lead to addiction and violation of privacy by the transfer
of personal information to other users, followed by instilling negative ideas in the minds of
those people. Al Bernard (2012) states, “Studying social media is central to increasing and
understanding global communication”. In other words, it is necessary to study the impact of
social communication so as not to turn into a complex crisis that cannot be solved easily.

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This research contains several sides from the positive and negative impacts of social
networking on the Emirati youth. In addition, how to avoid the rumors, cyber-bullying and
fake beauty.
Research Questions
This research will attempt to answer the following questions:
Research Question # 1: How does the social media affect youth behavior in UAE?
Research Question # 2: Could social media affect the UAE youth positively? How?
Does it help them to be innovative and have better perspective?
Research Question # 3: Could social media affect UAE youth negatively? How?
Does it lack their self-confidence and disconnect them from the real life?
Research Question # 4: Inside the Emirate youth community, the main factors that
influenced their viewpoints and self-expression?
How doe’s social media provide the clients the chance to express themselves in the network?
Research Question # 5: Does social media has the power to affect on youth and their way of
thinking? How?
Literature Review
The social network is an online community of people with a common interest who use
a website or other technologies to communicate with each other and share information,
resources, etc (Dictionary.com, 2018). Those collections of applications and websites help

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
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people to communicate with each other from anywhere in the word and in the real-time and it
becomes a part of each single person life.
The social network has become the most common part, especially of youth’s life.
They prefer to use this tool to interact with their friends, family, and people with shared
interests in the world. Nowadays it’s easier and cheaper to connect with people due to social
networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and others. There are many kinds of social
networks sites and it depends on the choice and preference and interest.
Facebook is a site where the users have to create an account and each user will
have a separate profile, which the user to post pictures, send messages or write comments to
other’s post. NCBI Lib (2009) states that; “Facebook has evolved into the most visited social
networking site in the world with over 90 million active users”.
Instagram is all about sharing your daily moments and posting videos from your
smartphone. With this social network, people interact with others in different ways than they
do on Facebook. Actually, Facebook and Instagram are the trendy used and the favorite for
every age.
Twitter is a social network where people communicate with other in short words
that called tweet. Paul Gil (2018) notes, “Some people also use Twitter to discover interesting
people and companies online and to follow their tweets for as long as they are interesting”
(p.1).
In addition, Snapchat comes up with a new way to share photos or videos, which are
users, can send a message that disappears and something called story to upload videos in real
time or even from phone gallery. “Snapchat is unique in that it erases messages several
seconds after they have been sent, affording its users a higher level of privacy” (Nicole and
Cameran, 2015).

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Figure 1: Top social networks in UAE
The figure shows the recent report by comScore in 2016. The report finds that
Facebook has the highest percentage of 46% in UAE, followed by Twitter with 29%. The
least popular form of social network in UAE is Instagram with 27%.
Figure 2: Teen’s Daily Use of Social Media

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Nowadays we see that teenagers are the most affected age group by social media or
you could say social networking. They are among the heaviest users of social networking
(Suren, 2017). Teenagers are mostly who are affected by social media because Teens are
masters at keeping themselves occupied in the hours after school until way past bedtime
(Rachel.E, 2015). When they’re not doing their homework (and when they are) they’re
online and on their phones, texting, sharing, trolling, scrolling, you name it (Rachel.E, 2018).
Rachel had a good point saying that youth are smart at keeping themselves busy until the
bedtime, but in the other hand I don’t think that it’s a better way to waste their time because
there are a lot of side effects and influences.
Some of the influences on the youth are cyberbullying that could lead to depression.
Secondly, youths don’t have anything to waste their time on such as a job and the easiest way
to waste their time is using social media. (Susie.E, 2016) States that adolescence is a period
that is very important for social learning, which could explain why teens are often more tuned
in to what's going on in their respective cultures. Moreover, youth use social networking
rather than using emotional and facial expressions, so they express their feeling in texting or
video calling, etc. because most of the youths are afraid and shy to express face to face.
Teenagers who use social media at night are the most affected group because it affects
the quality of sleep. Those who log on at night to respond to alerts are particularly affected. It
remains unclear, however, whether it is social media that is damaging sleep, or whether
teenagers turn to social media because they can’t sleep for some other reason (Weale, 2015 ).
Thirdly, youth girls like to use social media rather than interacting and sitting with their
family or relatives. But some of the youth girls like to interact and socialize with their family
rather than social networking, youth boys are likely to interact with people by face to face
because they have more freedom than teen girls, overall social media added new complexities
on youth’s life and changed their life from extroverts to introverts. It has been affirmed that

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social isolation can cause many psychological and physical in addition to mental illness such
as depuration, anxiety and pain or fatigue (Danielle, 2018).
Many young people are using their tablets computers and smartphones to check
Tweets and status updates from their friends and family. As technology advances, youth are
pressured to adopt different lifestyles. Social networking sites can help young people to
become more socially talented. However, they may also make them clumsy and unskilled, as
well. Therefore, it is bossy to exercise caution and restraint when dealing with such issues
(AskWriter.com, 2011-2018).
Overall social media affected our teen’s brains. Teens are constantly using the virtual
world to communicate with one another over social networking (Raychelle, 2016). The most
favorite social networking among the youth is snap-chat and Twitter, Instagram, watt pad &
WhatsApp, etc. Snapshot’s disappearing messages makes the site a hit with teens, Facebook
provides a place to virtual hangout and connect with friends (Raychelle, 2016). Also, she
states that Facebook’s popularity with teens is beginning to fade, surveys show that it’s still
the most popular site. As I’m a part of the category, I believe that Snapchat is the most
recommend application because it’s an easier way to communicate with other friends and it's
not complicated as Facebook. But Facebook is mostly used by adults and commonly used by
youths. Furthermore, social media stole the brain of our youths that get affected day by day.
Many research has been conducted to clarify how social networking changes our
behavior and the way of thinking, especially on youth segment. Although the literature covers
a variety of different aspects of social networking impact on UAE youth, this review will
focus only on the behavioral changes. Moreover, human behavior refers to all the exhibited
behavior by humans, like anger, happiness or sadness. Also, adolescence is the easiest target
if we start to talk about behavioral changes.

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Some studies have shown that the most dangerous forms of online behaviors is
bulling. Both Hinduaj S and Patchin JW (2010) agrees that cyber-bullying is quite common,
can occur to any young person online, and it can cause profound psychosocial outcomes such
as depression, anxiety, severe isolation, and the more extreme effects included self-harm in
addition to tragically suicide. Cyber-bullying comes when people misuse social networking
sites to harm, embarrass, target, or threaten others. Bullies and mean people are around all of
us forever, teenagers been facing them in schools only but now they are online 24 hours.
Online bullying can be particularly damaging because it's usually anonymous or hard to trace
and it’s also hard to control. It leads to a lot of serious problems for those young people who
are affected by these harmful behaviors. For example, when some girl posts a picture
nowadays, she may receive tons of messages almost most of them contain bullying words,
she may be depressed and cannot fight the strength of these bad words.
Furthermore, social networking is available 24 hours, and people might isolate
themselves to live in such digital world. Also, young people use it almost all the time
forgetting that they have a real life worth living. However, they maybe already socially
isolated and with the use of social network all the time they will become isolated. Rachel
Hosie (2017) said, “It's possible that young adults who initially felt socially isolated turned to
social media. Or it could be that their increased use of social media somehow leads to feeling
isolated from the real world.” And of course, if they replace their real life with the digital one,
it will be harming their wellbeing. Also, the more they use the social media, the less they will
be participating in real life. People lock themselves into social media to false standards.
As we all know, through the social networking young people are participating in a lot
of activities online. Some posts online can make the teenagers think that others have a perfect
life. In addition, they may become jealous by comparing their lives with others.

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People who engaged themselves in this kind of behavior had lower self-esteem.
According to Stapleton, Luiz, and Chatwin Hannah “Browsing social media isn’t inevitably
damaging to people’s self-esteem – but when people start to compare themselves to others on
platforms like Facebook and Instagram, that’s when social media usage could become
harmful to mental health.” Moreover, some of the young people try to copy others, which
may lead them to different problems.
In social networking sites, there is nothing to ensure that this profile is real or fake,
and this is one of the disadvantages of these sites. Facebook defined in their legal terms that
users are not allowed to put fake information in their profiles, and they should keep their
information up to date (Legal Terms, 2012). However, this was not enough to prevent people
from creating fake accounts, which used for many wrong purposes. According to Facebook,
5% to 6% of Facebook accounts are fake (Weimann, 2014). The owners of these fake
accounts attract people, especially young people, then gain their friendship and trust, and end
up with fraud on them, which affects the psyche of young people. Also, some people resorted
to forging their identities in social networking sites to attract youth job seekers. These young
people are asked to transfer a certain amount of money to complete visa processing
procedures and other documents. For example, in 2014, the Dubai Cybercrime Task Force
arrested a gang that specialized in forging fake employment contracts and jobs through social
networks (Farouk, 2014). So, communication through social networking is not always
constructive, especially when the other side is unknown.
In addition, social networking makes teenagers live under the shadow of others, in
other words, they may talk with fake accounts without knowing that they are harming
themselves. Social networks made it easy, almost all young people now have a lot of social
media accounts, which allow them to have a lot of friends from the world around.
Furthermore, they may think that most of them are real friends and having real accounts, but

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in fact, almost half of the social media is fake accounts with fake identities. They are
targeting young people for their special purposes. However, it is easy to be a child, model or
anybody else with a click. And when a victim knows that they are fooled, they will ultimately
end up being mentally and emotionally destroyed. In addition, Melissa McDonough (2014)
mentions that victims of fake accounts then become aggressive, which opens another door of
behavioral changes.
However, along with UAE religions, most young people deter themselves from most
of these behaviors. In UAE, generations are raised with Islamic basis and religion, which
teaches them that they have a choice over their actions and that they should protect their
health, and preserve their lives. Also, the ethics that they are raised with could deter them
from committing suicide or bullying someone for the sake of joy. In addition, the good family
environment that they live in may also deter them from changing their behavior online.
Social networking sites have captured the interest of people, young and old, until it
became something almost fundamental in their day. So, it is necessary to clarify the
advantages and disadvantages of social media to determine the right attitude and the proper
behavior towards it.
Furthermore, social networking has been exploited by terrorist organizations targeting
youth category around which pursue to pollute their ideas and thinking with extremist and
destructive ideas. These organizations are managed professionally, this is more what led to
disruption the behavior of youth, which makes them aggressive, and terrorism also affects
their future, education, and so on. So, there is a relationship between terrorism and social
networking sites, because they are opened systems for their organizations through the social
networking apps and their target to sending message and videos which effect on people
especially young people. The user might believe this news or fabricated videos (Abdulazim,
2016). ” As cyberterrorism expert, Evan Kohlmann argues: Today, 90 percent of terrorist

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activity on the Internet takes place using social networking tools. . . . These forums act as a
virtual firewall to help safeguard the identities of those who participate, and they offer
subscribers a chance to make direct contact with terrorist representatives, to ask questions,
and even to contribute and help out the cyberjihad.” (Weimann, 2014).
Moreover, communication between people in our time has become the easiest,
especially with the increasing use of social media. The speed of communication leads to good
results when it comes to important news that comes from trusted sources and individuals, but
turns negative if considered a means of spreading rumors. Some people make rumors to serve
their interests and agenda, which could cause chaos somewhere or harm people. (Kostka,
2008) States that “Rumors can spread astoundingly fast through social networks.
Traditionally this happens by word of mouth, but with the emergence of the Internet and its
possibilities new ways of rumor propagation are available”. These rumors are used to
promote wrong ideas, which become a concern and fear for young people, and demolition of
their personalities, moreover wasting their time in the news that is not true.
On the other hand, there are also many advantages of social networking sites. More
generally because of these positive impacts we still use them in our lives and it became a
popular daily in the UAE. The first advantage is the news in social media spread faster. This
advantage will give people ability to get the news faster than waiting for the news channel on
the TV or buying a newspaper. People can write the news without restrictions and condition,
which takes less than 1 minute to write the updates, this can make each of one a TV reporter.
In addition, they can write their opinions too, for example, if there is a something interesting
in the news, the users of the social media program have freedom of opinion and expression,
they can react and comment on the bags site rather than TV programs no one can react with
them or give feedback. Its important feature for all people in general, because by watching
the news, people will be political and social awareness about what is around them. Learning

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
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news can give the youth more experience and open their mind. This feature is supported
timeline, Instagram and Facebook users usually.
Another advantage of social media includes that, the social media sites are free for all
people. People can quickly, easily and simply find what they want without any cost
(Kowalenko, 2010), people can also save a lot of time and effort money by using these free
programs. In addition, they can share their issues with the social media users to get help. For
example, if they want to search for new home, clothes, food, device with some specific
features they can check by using a hashtag or search bottom in twitter or Instagram and other
apps also. Moreover, they can contact people to reach their goals. Social media can be used to
search for people too, they can find more personal information quickly, like the age, where
they live, and they shared photos and tweets. On the other hand, the youth can encourage
each other to take a photo as a hobby on Instagram or support people who write the theory on
the Facebook. From this, the youth will be confident view and talking about their hobbies to
get the others opinion and independent in searching for something they want by themselves.
The other motivation that makes people use social media, is to keep in touch with
family and friend, also they have the ability to reach them in everywhere. Therefore, the
social media allow people to exchange ideas, share messages, photos and videos with each
other but they need to connect to the internet on any device first. Furthermore, if they are
living far away or outside the country they can stay connected with each other easily through
snapchat, skype or other social programs. The social technology users also can build a new
friendship with other people easily. For example, a few months ago, Instagram has a new
feature, which allows users to share their story with location and it allowed all accounts to
look at them. By this property, you can get more friends in social media. The youth category
is interesting to have more friends in using social site to expressing feelings and to share
ideas with others. Moreover, they can use Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Flickers and other for

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fun and enjoyment, by posting selfies and funny videos and tweets. There are some people
sharing blogs about them experience about food, travel and new machine and others. For
example, in the UAE there are many interested bloggers from emirates society, and they have
more than million followers that follow their channel on YouTube.
Also, the social network improves education. Teachers are using online social
network sites for different purposes, such as share the lectures, assessments, homework also
the student’s grades. Teachers have abilities to create online discussion while using these
sites. They also can share whatever they want like the chapters. This advantage helps some
teachers who have a meeting and cannot attend the class to teach the student, but because of
social networking the teachers can teach them online or send to them a class blogs. Moreover,
the teachers can use YouTube and Instagram to support their teaching, by showing the
student photos, videos and blogs. Teachers consider that the social media sites give value and
a good impression to the lessons (Moran, M. 2011). However, the students can educate
themselves also by watching the lessons on YouTube videos at home, without needs to go to
the school. This future will help especially a student who study outside the country and the
patient who have a break from the school. For example, Facebook allows student to gather
the friends online and or make a group with all classmates to collaborate and share ideas
about the homework, group projects and exams (O'Keeffe, G. S., & Clarke-Pearson, K.,
2011). Social media offer easy and an effective way in which young people can looking
forward to the education.
Social media become a tool to increase the marketing and business in several ways,
for instance, it allows people to meet and share business ideas between each other through the
social networking sites, to increase the sale and get more customers. (Bolotaeva, V., & Cata,
T. (2010) on another word, the seller can post the pictures of the items on the snapchat and
Instagram, and to attack the customers they can use a hashtag and location feature. Therefore,

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the purchaser can comment on the seller’s items or ask a question if they want. Furthermore,
the staff can answer all the customer questions and give them feedback. In addition, this
comment will help people to get full information about the product instead of calling them.
Some people like to know the other customers feedback about the items before they start to
purchase. For example, if you want to buy a red bag from the account on Instagram you can
see the followers review and feedback about the bag. This youth they can benefit from the
customer and business relationship which is building in social media, this means that, the
youth will know which kind of products people likes, then offer them and start the business to
get the money.
In fact, social networking can support the humanity business also, like if there is any
volunteer work, they can get more volunteers. In UAE the government uses Twitter to share
the Volunteer work with details and there are a lot of people join them. However, it
encourages the community to collect money for charity in easy way, by posting a picture in
social technology programs. This advantage will support the young people by giving a
helping hand for who needed from the society. In addition, social networking is a tool to
support the researchers in many ways, this means that, they can collect, use and share
information quickly via social media sites. As we are conducting a research we believe that
through using social network we can benefit from the experience of another researcher. In
social media the researchers can get a large global audience, which will help them to open
their research out to an almost limitless audience.
 Learn the mews quickly: The news spread faster
 Free: Save the money
 Keep in touch: Communicate with family and friend

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
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Advantages
 Improves education: Share lectures and create online
discussion
 Increase marketing: Meet and share business ideas
 Support humanity: Get more volunteers and collect money
for charity
 Researchers benefit: Get a large global audience
Disadvantages
 Fake identities: Impersonating false identities for negative
purposes
 Terrorist organizations: Pollute youth’s ideas and thinking
 Spreading rumors: Promote wrong ideas and wasting time
in the news that is not true.
 Cyber-bulling: Cause profound psychosocial outcomes
 Disconnection from the real life: live in such digital world
Figure 3: Advantages and disadvantages of using social networking
4.1 Balance of Literature Resources
Method
The investigation data collected was countable in nature; as such I employed a quantitative
approach in the evaluation of the research questions. A random sampling technique was used
in the collection of data from participants (Weale, 2015). The participants in this research

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
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paper were high school and college level students who have lived and studied in the United
Arab Emirates their entire lives. The participants were required to be between 13 years and
30 years of age. The data was primarily collected with the aid of a questionnaire that was
issued to all willing participants. The data collection technique was a random survey of
Emirate youths. In total the participants filled out 20 questions on the close-end questionnaire
that evaluated their overall user-habit when using social media platforms. The aggregate
number of correctly and comprehensively (for reliability and validity purposes) filled
questionnaires that were collected was 56 (Weale, 2015).
Results
The purpose of the result segment is to interpret and represent visual the data analysis
findings with regard to the positive and negative impact of social media on Emirate Youths.
From the 20 question that the participants responded to, it was clear that Facebook was most
popular with 75% of them; while 12% identified with Instagram, 8% with Twitter, and 4%
with LinkedIn. Hence, a majority of social media users identify with large social networking
sites that provide unlimited global connection with their peers and friends. The fact that a
professional hiring and marketing platform has made it into the top most used social media
platforms is a testament to the overall desire by youths to find work and the state of
unemployment in the United Arab Emirates (Abdulazim, 2016).
Research Question # 1
Social media is seen as an innovative way of involving and introducing young people
to critical societal issues. For instance, 40% of respondents indicated in their responses that a
significant portion of their lives was dictated by popular and trending fashion items seen on
social platforms (Abdulazim, 2016). The remaining 60% indicated that only a small or none
of their day-to-day dressing was influenced by social media pictures, videos, and statements.

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
18
On the other hand, 23 individuals indicated that some of the activities witnessed on social
media caused them to totally reconsider doing given things all together. While, the remaining
23 other individuals felt that social media is only meant to be appreciated for its face value
and not as moral correction avenue. The majority of participants do however felt that
subconsciously social media can easily alter the behavior of an individual either of the better
or worse without the subject even realizing. Five participants indicated that they only started
being rude and disrespectful to their peers of the opposite sex due to anti-male or anti-female
ideologies channeled via social media platforms (Abdulazim, 2016).
Fashion Sense Influenced by Social Media
Changes 60%
Does Not Change 40%
60%
40%
Fashion Sense Influenced By Social
Media
Changes Does Not Change
Moral Role of Social Mediaamongst Youths
None 23
Exists 23

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
19
None Exists
0
5
10
15
20
25
Moral Role of Social Media Amongst
Youths
Series1
Research Question # 2
Five out the twenty questions asked by the interviewer related positive impact of social
media. 70% of social media users believe that these networking platforms have managed to
bring the closer to their peers and individuals from across the world; they would have never
met using conventional means of interactions (Moran, Seaman, & Tinti-Kane, 2011). The
remaining thirty percent believes that social media has create a veil over the young generation
of Emiratis making them crave online interaction with strangers instead of conversing with
close friends and family at a local restaurant or gaming center. A significant number of
participants feel that social media can be used as a good avenue for student to linkup and
discuss academic issues and problems. According to the responses, 39 individuals have learnt
something new helpful on social media that allowed them to better their grade in class. On
the other hand, 17 individuals felt that social media academic debates were unreliable and
highly misleading especially for people looking to learn something new (Moran, Seaman, &
Tinti-Kane, 2011).
Powerful Connection Tool
Agree 70%
Disagree 30%

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
20
70%
30%
Powerful Connection Tool
Agree Disagree
Effective Learning Tool
Confirm 39
Dispute 17
Confirm Dispute
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Effective Learning Tool
Series1

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
21
Research Question # 3
The negative impact of social media use on the behavior of Emirati youths is
considerable. The responses show that one out of every eight respondents has experiences
some form of cyber-bullying on social media. The remaining 7 out of 8 do believe it exists, in
spite of the fact they have never experienced it. Moreover, a small percentage of those who
have never been cyber-bullied have in one way or the other bullied an individual either on
Facebook, Instagram or YouTube (Moran, Seaman, & Tinti-Kane, 2011). Majority of the
female participants agree that social media is normally used by individuals with perverse
intentions to sexually harass and message inappropriate material to users. In addition, some
male users have confessed in their responses to having sent inappropriate pictures and videos
to female Facebook users. All participants agreed that social media is normally used by
individuals to deceit and defraud unsuspecting members. The most common trick used is that
of a renowned individual in distress looking for some help to return home or recover a loss
fortune (Moran, Seaman, & Tinti-Kane, 2011).
Individuals Cyber Bullied
Have been 8
Haven't 48

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
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Have been
14%
Haven't
86%
Individuals Cyber Bullied
Individuals Almost Defrauded
Almost 56
Never 0
Almost Never
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Individuals Almost Defrauded
Series1
Research Question # 4:
The first factor is peer influence, the popularity of social networking platforms like
Facebook and Instagram amongst the youth has motivated more and more young people to
join these social avenues. This factor was supported by 92% of the respondent who only
joined the social platform because their friends had registered. The second factor is that social

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
23
media utility is viewed by youths as a social status influencer in the society. 40% of
respondent agreed that they only use social media as a means of gaining fame and
recognition. As such, individuals are joining these platforms to increase their social notoriety.
The third factor is that social media platforms provide budding entrepreneurs and job-seekers
with an avenue to connect with customers and recruitment companies respectively. Every
respondent agreed that they do without reservations market themselves and their businesses
on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook. Most respondent (81%) believe that
clients are able to use social media to express their satisfaction or displeasure with a given
service or product freely without incurring costs or being forced to fill out unnecessary forms.
Reason for Joining Social Media
Peer Influence 92%
other reason 8%
92%
8%
Reason for Joining Social Media
Peer Influence other reason
Reason for Using Social Media
Popularity and Fame 40%
Other reason 60%

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
24
Popularity and Fame Other reason
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Reason for Using Social Media
Series1
Research Question # 5
Yes, according to the respondents many Emirati youths are influenced by social
media ideologies and notations on what is to be considered morally acceptable in society and
what they should do and not do. For instance, 60% of respondent believe that the influence of
American culture of Emirati youth has been great propagated through social media platforms
like Facebook and Twitter. The moral decay amongst Dubai youths is attributed to the need
by young people to mimic the dressing and behavior of American celebrities. In addition,
80% of respondents feel that Emirati youth have become more narcissistic and self-centered
in recent years because they try to emulate the behavior of people who are considered popular
on social platforms. According to 95% of respondents, majority of the individuals and
celebrity personalities that Emirati youths follow and befriend on social media are not
normally good role models or people they would actually introduce to their families. Social
media programs the thinking of Emirati youths by making it seen accept to do given things
and behavior in a particular manner.
Influence on Behavior
American Culture 60%
Other 40%

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
25
60%
40%
Influence on Behavior
American Culture Other
Social Media has Negative Role Models
Agree 95%
Deny 5%
Agree Deny
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Social Media has Negative Role
Models
Series1
Discussion
The findings/results indicated that social media does have both positive and negative
influence on the behavior of Emirati youths. The significance of the positive attributes greatly

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
26
outweighs the negatives with regard to how well the individuals are able to perform in
society. However, when we compare the mannerism of the current generation of young
people with older generation it is clear that social media has deviated the attention of Emirati
youths from development and work (Rachel, 2018)..
DISCUSSION ON RQ1
According to the findings it is true to conclude that social media has become a new
age tool for involving the behavior and habits of different people. The curious nature of most
young people in the United Arab Emirates makes them likely targets for individuals with
particular agendas. For instance, manufacturers of expensive and luxury items regularly use
social media platforms to engrave the idea that having given cars, dressing in a given
manners, or addressing people in a particular way equates to being successful. Most
marketing campaigns and ideas pedaled on social media tend to influence individuals towards
rogue behavior that is characterized by a strong desire to get easy money, go on expensive
holidays, disregard the less fortunate in society, and create a sense of self-importance before
others. Young people have come to learn that in some instances social media many be used
by greedy corporation to promote social vices and materialism. Ecommerce websites have
confirmed that majority of their “personal effects” marketing campaigns are normally geared
toward individuals aged between 16 and 28 who are likely to use social media on a regular
basis (O'Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011).
DISCUSSION ON RQ2
The findings do support the idea that social media is able to accomplish its number
one objective which is to create connections between different individuals. For instance, A 21
year old whose family has relocated from Tokyo to Dubai can still keep in touch with his
friends in Japan via social media. A significant portion of vital information is normally
transmitted via social media. For instance, an individual can use social media to notify people

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
27
of a lost loved one or to educate people in important social injustices. In Addition, social
media is able to connect eager learners from across the worlds with renowned educators from
across the world. For example, a college-goer from a rural area in Jordan can connect with a
Harvard professor on LinkedIn to discuss advanced trigonometry. Moreover, social media
can be used by young people to gain information of areas that many be considered taboo in a
traditional home setting. As such, social media platforms provide the necessary information
to youngsters by allowing them to discuss physical and sexual developmental issues; and the
social expectations coupled with these changes.
DISCUSSION ON RQ3
The results clearly demonstrate that the danger of child molestation and sexual
harassment has been concealed by social media because it is not always clear which
individual will exploit or take advantage of a young person. Social media have made it easier
for individuals with ill-will to connect with their victims, be it underage girls or desperate
college graduates in Dubai. The free and unrestricted sharing of personal and company
information via social media has greatly contributed to an increment in kidnapping, robbery,
and even murder cases(O'Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011). Health problems like obesity and
poor physical development issues have become common practice amongst young Emiratis;
because majority of their time is spent indoors playing online games on Facebook and other
platforms. Moreover, the time wasted chatting on and on with individuals miles away could
have been directed towards something positive like finding employment or writing a good
resume. Lastly, the use of social media blogs can result in the spreading of radical ideas that
end up corrupting the minds of Emirati youths (O'Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011).
DISCUSSION OF RQ4

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
28
The results indicate that there are numerous factors that motivate Emirati youths to
join social media platforms. Some of these factors are inspired by the desire to connect with
loved ones or improve one’s business interactions. The need to linkup with family and friends
over social media has allowed Emirati youths to adapt to inexpensive means of
communication provided by social media. In addition, the desire by Emirati youths to expand
or grow their business via social media has motivated young business owners in the UAE to
use social media connections to reach a broader market of consumers. On the other hands,
some people join social media platforms for all the wrong reasons. For instance, a young lady
who joins social media in order to gain popularity and fame across the world due to her
beauty will be using platforms like Facebook and Instagram for all the wrong reasons.
Moreover, individuals who are motivated by peer pressure to join social media end up using
the various platforms negatively in order to impress their friends and follows (O'Keeffe &
Clarke-Pearson, 2011).
DISCUSSION OF RQ5
Interactions with given individuals via social media are capable of influencing Emirati
youths as indicated by the response of majority of the interviewees. According to the
respondent there exists a correlation between social media utility and the behavior of Emirati
youths. The decay of morals observed in young people across the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) can be linked in one way or the other to the popularity of western culture. The vices
and virtue observed in America are different from those recognized in the UAE. The demand
of western technology, lifestyle, and freedoms has caused given behaviors to become
acceptable within Emirati youth social gathering. For instance, excessive partying and
disregard for law enforcement has been borrowed from western culture. Famous people and
music celebrities are known for having radical views and inappropriate behavior that can be
viewed as offense and socially demining. Therefore, Emirati youths need to be monitored on

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
29
what they expose themselves to when browsing different social media platforms(O'Keeffe &
Clarke-Pearson, 2011).
Conclusion
As more technological technologies in the realm of communication and global
connectivity are realized, the need by young people to join popular social media platforms
becomes more apparent. The number of young Emirati who join the social networking
community is increasing with each day. According to Bloomberg, It is estimated that 99% of
all young people in the United Arab Emirates will be an active social media by the year 2022.
Some people feel the need for social media to be governed by given constitutional laws that
would prevent the frequency of online bullying, fraud, and sexual harassment. A significant
number of young Emirati women feel that social media allows men to take advantage of the
lawlessness of social media and no-real consequences to treat women online as they please.
Moreover, governments feel that social media has created unrealistic goals for young
individuals looking for work making them idolize laziness and corrupt individuals with loss
morals (O'Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011).

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30
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Appendix A
Signed Form for Academic Honesty
Academic Honesty
Academic Honesty is a serious issue at the
Higher Colleges of Technology. Any
student who attempts to gain marks
dishonestly during an assessed task is
considered to be cheating. Any student
who helps another student to gain marks
dishonestly during an assessed task is
considered to be cheating.
I understand that the penalty for cheating
is permanent dismissal from the Higher
Colleges of Technology.
األمانة األكاديمية
إن األمانة األكاديمية مسألة مهمة في
.ولهذا تعتبر كليات التقنية العليا
محاولة أي طالب الحصول على
درجات أكاديمية أثناء االمتحان بشكل
.ًوأي طالب يساعد غير أمين غشا
طالب آخر على الحصول على درجات
أكاديمية أثناء االمتحان بشكل غير
.أمين، يعتبر غشا ًأيضا
إن عقوبة الغش هي فصل
الطالب نهائيا ًمنكليات التقنية
.العليا
Team members ID Number Student Signature
Anfal Alhammadi H00307459 Anfal
Fatima Alnaqbi H00300113 Fatima
Maithah Alhmoudi H00295854 Maithah
Salma Almurshidi H00295941 Salma
Shaikha Alhammadi H00295524 Shaikha

SOCIAL NETWORKING EFFECT ON THE EMIRATI YOUTH’S BEHAVIOR
35
Appendix B
Membership Responsibility Matrix
We have set the duration and devide the responsibilities using Microsoft Project 2013
to regulate the requirements and terminate the research w