Weaponisation of Social Media Communication in Influencing Cultural Decay on Youth of Today Case of Woodlands Park, Gweru, Zimbabwe

Mushaka Charles and Zvandikona Ngoni
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Mushaka Charles: Department of Development Studies, Zimbabwe Open University, Midlands Campus, Zimbabwe
Zvandikona Ngoni: Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Gweru District Midlands Province

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 2025, vol. 9, issue 4, 2056-2067

Abstract: This study aimed at exploring the weaponisation of social media communication in influencing cultural decay on youth of today in Woodlands Park Gweru. Its objectives were to highlight the social media communication sites being used as a weapon to fight against positive cultural norms on the personal and professional life of the youth of today in Woodlands Park. The fulcrum of the study was to determine the assumption that the young generation’s behavior has been negatively affected social media communication channels resulting in the decay of useful cultural practices, norms and values in Woodlands Park. The study was delimited in the Woodlands Park community only focusing on the younger generation aged 10 to 35 alone. This study was informed by three theories on social media namely modernisation theory, functionalism theory and conflict theory. The study adapted a qualitative approach informed by an interpritivism philosophy. The study focused on a sample size of 42 participants consisting of 7 senior citizens, 5 religious leadership and 30 youths to represent all the young generation in Woodlands Park. The study found out that social media has contributed significantly on acts of deviance behaviour among the majority of youth in Woodlands. The most affected being the females who are using social media for live videos streaming doing what they call “Mjolo’(sexual activities). The behaviour of the youth in woodland Park has gone beyond recovery thereby affecting the cultural norms and, values thereby defeating the Ubuntu philosophy. The study confirms that young men are much interested on using social media for dating and chatting with females exchanging some nude images and videos. The study recommends that the government needs to establish an effective system that regulate what is posted on social media. Parents are supposed to be empowered with skills to restrict their children from browsing unsafe sites while the religion fraternity has to take a lead in communicating good use of social media communication channels.

Date: 2025
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