Relationship Between Facebook Use And Desensitization To Ethical Issues: A Study Of University Students In Lahore

Abstract

This study inquires about Facebook’s role in making university students in Lahore least sensitive over ethical issues like exposure to cyberbullying, fake news, hate speech, privacy violations and academic dishonesty. To achieve this end, a quantitative approach was resorted to, to survey 400 students from 3 universities: University of the Punjab, LUMS and UET Lahore, using stratified random sampling. The study involved data collection with 35‐item Likert‐scale questionnaire using descriptive and inferential statistics. It shows that 68 percent students are using Facebook more than one time a day for 2.8 hours daily. This includes 74% encountering a false story, 56% experiencing cyberbullying, and 48% experiencing hate speech. Indeed, there is a strong negative correlation between Facebook usage and ethical sensitivity, indicating that increase use leads to decrease in the moral responsiveness. Fake news emerges the strongest predictor of desensitization followed by hate speech and cyberbullying. Besides, passive scrolling was more desensitizing than active engagement. The study is consistent with the Desensitization Theory where repeated exposure normalizes unethical behavior. This study contributes to fill the gaps in research on Pakistani students and provides recommendations to educators and policymakers to promote responsible digital citizenship and media literacy.