Exploring the Impact of Digital Media on Lagos State Youths’ Perception and Attitude towards Political Empowerment

Digital media has transformed peoples approach to communication, interaction and engagement with information. Youths, in particular, have embraced digital media, using it to connect with others, share ideas, and access information. However, despite the proliferation of digital media and its emergence as a potential game-changer, offering youths a platform to access information, engage with politics, and mobilize for change; youths still face challenges in accessing accurate political information, engaging in meaningful online political discussions, and mobilizing effectively for political change. This study investigates the impact of digital media on Lagos state youths’ perception and attitude towards political empowerment. The, determined the awareness level and how digital media is used for youths political empowerment, and how it influence Lagos state youths’ political perception and attitudes. The study is premised on Empowerment theory and Uses and gratification theory which provides a framework for understanding how digital media is used, and the gratification gained by the youths with the potential outcomes produced from the usage of digital media. The study adopts the descriptive research design with survey method using questionnaire as instrument complemented with in-depth interview. The population of the study consist of youths in Lagos state. Multistage sampling technique was adopted in selecting 385 youths from two local governments in Lagos State. The study revealed that majority the youths are aware of digital media platforms used for political empowerment, and have access to information on politics, governance and civic engagement on digital media, but not without the challenges of fake news, misinformation and inadequate infrastructure. Majority of the youths disagreed that the use of digital media provided opportunities for participating in decision making, training and mentorship. The study concludes that usage of digital media platforms for political purposes is important to youths to encourage them to actively engage in political processes to enhance their political empowerment.