THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN INCREASING ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AMONG MSU-SULU SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL GRADE 12 STUDENTS

Social media is well documented globally and has become an integral part of modern life as a means of connecting, sharing, and learning. However, there is a lack of research specifically focused on how social media impact student engagement in environmental sustainability. Using checklist survey questionnaire, the study aims to investigate the level of social media usage and environmental awareness among students, identify social media platforms that are most effective for promoting environmental awareness among students, and examine the relationships between the student’s social media usage and their environmental awareness. Employing quantitative correlations. The researchers used convenient sampling method in choosing the respondents and utilized checklist survey questionnaire in gathering the data from 130 respondents, we then analyzed the data using Spearman rho correlational analysis and Descriptive frequency analysis. The results showed that the level of social media usage among students is moderate, with a combined total of 29.2% of students spend 1 to 2 hours on social media, the level of environmental awareness among students is also moderate, with 40% of students rated their environmental awareness as 3/5 and the most effective platform for environmental awareness are Facebook (61.5%), TikTok (30%) and YouTube (23.8%). The findings also showed that there is a weak positive correlation between social media usage and environmental awareness among students (r = .177, p = 0.044, 2-tailed < p 0.05). Social media usage among students can significantly influence their environmental awareness, However, other factors beyond social media are likely to contribute to environmental awareness.