SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL FOR POLITICAL AWARENESS AND ITS PERCEIVED IMPORTANCE AMONG GRADE-12 HUMSS STUDENTS

Various literatures indicate that social media is an effective tool for political awareness among people, especially the youth. However, some ideas and studies argued that the youth were politically disinterested, disengaged, and detached. For these reasons, it is interesting to explore the perceived importance of the youth about being aware of the issues faced by their country and how social media can be used as a tool for political awareness. The purpose of this study was to explore how social media can be used as a tool for political awareness, including its importance as perceived by five grade-12 HUMSS students that were interviewed online via Google Meet through a focused group discussion. The study utilized the descriptive phenomenology in this qualitative study using thematic analysis to interpret the data. It was found that social media can be used to raise awareness of political issues, fight false news, and engage in political discourse. The study also found that grade-12 HUMSS students believe that political awareness is important for the following reasons – it benefits the people in a democratic society; it is an act of love for the country; it is the role of future leaders to be aware of the issues affecting the country; and it makes the youth instruments of reform by curbing fake news. The study concludes that social media can be used to raise awareness of political issues, fight false news, and engage in political discourse. The researcher hoped that this study that examines how social media can be used as a tool for political awareness including its importance as perceived among the grade-12 HUMSS students contributes to the body of knowledge. The researcher also hopes that the findings of this study will help somehow on how to dispel the political apathy and detachment among the youth.