Causal Relationships between Media/Social Media Use and Internet Literacy among College Students: Addressing the Effects of Social Skills and Gender Differences

抄録

This study investigates the causal relationships between the electronic media/social media use of college students and their Internet literacy, addressing the effects of social skills and gender differences. We conducted a panel survey targeting Japanese college students and analyzed 107 responses. The following results were produced: (a) The college students in the study reported that they were able to make new friends using Twitter and Facebook and could communicate with strangers in this way; (b) for male students, improving their Internet literacy in relation to Facebook use helped them increase the frequency of their Facebook posts and improved their social skills; and (c) for female students, increasing the frequency of their Facebook posts helped to improve their Internet literacy.