DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2015.v03i03.030

Pages: 796-802

Media has been tasked with the transmission of social heritage across generations. This role of the media serves to enforce social norms and maintain consensus by exposing deviants confers status by highlighting selected individuals and can operate as a check on the government. It is therefore, important to studymass media needs and consumption culture among the urban youths’ in Kenya, given that the role of media among the youths and the trend of their consumption is an elusive phenomena that comes with the technological advancement. The objectives is to establish the hours spent on a particular media, the reasons behind the youth’s most preferred media, and the content predominant in their preferred media. The study from which this paper was pulled targeted university and college youth, most of whom fall within the age range of 18-24 years. The data obtained from them using questionnaires was analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings show that the youth in Kenya are interacting with radio, television, internet, mp3 and other portable devices, cellphones, ipods CDs and tapes in that order. The choices depend on their preferences which when order in priority are music, news entertainment and information. They have also adopted new media technologies for multiple purposes that gratify their social and psychological needs.