The Impact of Social Media on Global Citizenship According to Social Studies Teachers

Abstract

Many events that occur in the world affect not only the place where they occur, but also many regions in the world. This situation necessitates the evaluation of the developments and changes in the world with a universal perspective rather than taking into account the national interests of each country. The universal evaluation of the problems experienced has led to the emergence of global citizenship. With global citizenship, individuals interact with other people and become sensitive to different events. The individual's interaction with other people and forming public opinion about the events that occur can be realized more quickly and more easily with social media, which is preferred by all societies globally. For this reason, the aim of the research is to determine 'the effect of social media on global citizenship' in line with the views of social studies teachers. Phenomenology, one of the qualitative research methods, was preferred in this study. The participants of the study were 22 social studies teachers working in secondary schools in Diyarbakır city center. In order to obtain the data, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher by consulting expert opinions was used. As a result of the research, it was concluded that the use of social media affects global citizenship awareness in terms of reaching the whole world, being aware of differences, combating social inequalities, interacting with different cultures, producing solutions to social problems, creating awareness, being sensitive, facilitating information sharing, critical thinkingand creating a sense of trust.