Impact of social media on school student’s academic performance
The advent of the internet in the 1990s led to major developments in the world of
communication hence the introduction of social networking sites. The coming into being of
these sites revolutionized the world of communication and today we celebrate its improvements
ranging from education to entertainment. The evolution of the internet has led to its usage as
the best medium of communication whereby two-third of the internet world‘s population visit
social networking sites thus serving as communication and connection tools. These networking
sites are referred to as social media. Social media exploded as a category of online discourse
which enables people to create contents, share them, bookmark them and network at a
prodigious rate. This has breached the gab that existed in communication where people had to
rely solely on traditional methods such as letters and phone calls as a mode of getting in touch
with friends and relatives.
Social media is fast changing the public discourse in the society and is setting trends and agenda
in topics that ranges from the environment and politics to technology. The driving factors for
adoption of social media are the progressively ubiquitous access, convenience, functionality,
and flexibility of social technologies. These factors have made the adoption of social media
very easy 3 and have tremendously improved mankind’s life by exposing him to different ways
of creating and sharing information. An additional benefit of social technologies provided on
the internet is that they are frequently free or require marginal investment, thereby eliminating
a potential barrier to adoption.
All of us are social beings and like to socialize. Social media are web-based tools that enable
people to create and share information, ideas, interests and many other things by forming online
social communities and networks. Social media has entirely transformed the way we
communicate, bringing us closer than ever before. Owing to its ease of use, speed and reach,
social media use is prevalent in all age groups form children to old people. However, it has
been observed that the use of social media is highest amongst students including children,
teenagers and adults.
Social media can also be used as an educational tool for learning amongst students. Students
can connect with their professors or classmates online, if they face any issue related to their
studies. This will help them to connect with their teachers and classmates in a new way
providing flexibility in learning.
However, there is also a darker side associated with the social media use amongst students.
Many students start losing concentration in studies due to their addiction to social media use
and this results in a fall in their overall academic performance. Academics is a very important
aspect of a student’s life. A good academic performance helps to build a successful and secure
future. However, social media has affected students’ focus towards learning in such a way that
it has started interfering with their educational performance and thus indirectly their future.
This report shall include a brief explanation of social media impact amongst students.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The aim of this work is to find out the positive and negative impact of social media on students’
academic performance. Specifically it sought to answer the following:
1. What is social media and why students use it?
2. How much time do students spend using social media?
3. What is the impact of social media on students’ academic performance?
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Social networks are becoming more popular among university students and are a new way of
spending free time and serve as a separate channel for finding the necessary information, both
educational and entertaining. Therefore, it is urgent to examine the question of what effect
social networks have on their users, in particular, how the use of social networks affects the
academic success of students. This study will discover this information, giving the researchers
an opportunity to explore and gain new knowledge. Furthermore, it can be used for future
studies.
METHODOLOGY
This part presents the methodology used. The study was conducted to assess the impact of
social media on students’ academic performance. Forty Eight students who are actively using
social media are the respondents of the study. The instrument for data collection was the survey,
observation and review of previous studies. To gather data for the three questions, survey,
review of literatures and analysis were used. The survey conducted among students contained
clear and simple questions that enable the respondents to provide accurate information.
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
This section presents the data gathered, the analysis and their interpretation relative to the questions raised in the study. The student’s responses are evaluated against the following parameters:
THE SOCIAL MEDIA AND WHY STUDENTS USE IT
Social media is the collective of online communications channels dedicated to communitybased input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. Websites and applications
dedicated to forums, microblogging, social networking, social bookmarking, and wikis are
among the different types of social media. Some prominent examples of social media are
Facebook, twitter, Google+, Wikipedia, whatsapp. The use of social media in education
provides students with the ability to get more useful information, to connect with learning
groups and other educational systems that make education convenient. Social network tools
afford students and institutions with multiple opportunities to improve learning method. In
school, the use of online platforms such as school website will give students the right access to
quality information about the school environment, departments, faculties, rules, and
regulations. It has been observed that social media has a wider and faster means of circulating
information not only to the students of an institution but also to the generality of the public.
Thirty eight (80%) of the respondents has free access to the internet, only four (10%) don’t
have free access to the internet. Almost everyone can freely access the internet with their
parent’s smartphone anytime with their permission.
When it comes to usage of social media, majority of the respondents said that they are using it
for communication and to find information for educational purposes; and a few for online
games. It turned-out that respondents’ main purpose is for communication. Aside from
communication, study revealed that respondents are using internet and social media for
learning. It was found that students do their assignments using the internet.
TIME STUDENTS SPEND IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Most of the students are not sure how much time they spend on internet for social media.
Overall, the largest part of the respondents use social media 30min-1hour per day.
Positive Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students
There are many positive effects associated with the social media use amongst students related
to their academics. Students can connect with various educational groups related to their field
of study on social media and easily access all the important and authentic information shared
by others. They can also share some good information they found out on such groups, which
in turn will boost their confidence and this will help in the learning process.
Ability to form groups on social media enable teachers to connect with the students to share
important instructions for the class as well as necessary study material for the students. Students
can also share their viewpoints, innovative ideas or even doubts related to studies with their
classmates and teachers on these groups. This will help students to actively participate in such
group discussions and this in turn will help to improve their knowledge. Teachers can also
provide a link for students to upload their homework or assignments on such study groups. All
of this will save a lot of time and effort of students which can be utilized for studying. Social
media helps students to collaborate, if they are working together on some group project. This
helps them to communicate and exchange information for the project easily, thus saving their
energy and commute time that can be utilized for the project work.
Students use social media platform such as YouTube, which have millions of educational
videos, which help students to broaden their scope of knowledge as well as develop various
other good skills and talents. If students find some good and informative videos related to their
studies, they can share it with their friends or classmates who can benefit by watching them.
Presently, there are many academic apps such as Byjus app on social media who can help
students to solve their academic problems. Students also have exposure to contact experts or
refer to their blogs in various fields of study using social media, to gain proper information and
knowledge for their own field of study. This can help them to gain some real-world and actual
knowledge, which will increase their knowledge scope.
Thus, it is clear that if used wisely for educational and constructive purposes, social media can
have positive influence on students’ academic performance. Despite the various positive effects
that social media can have, if not used properly and vigilantly it can also affect students’ academic
performance negatively.
Negative Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance of Students
Many researches have shown that there is a close correlation between the use of social media
and degradation of overall academic performance of students. This means that, when a student
gets too involved with the use of social media, it affects his overall academic performance.
Many students use social media solely for social networking, chatting and just whiling away
their time. This wastes their study time and thus they are not able to complete their homework,
assignments or projects on time. This affects their studies which eventually hampers their GPA.
Also, while studying, students keep checking their social media accounts for new updates and
notifications. This distracts them and results in loss of concentration in studies which can affect
their academic performance negatively.
Recommendations
As we have seen, social media can have both a positive and negative impact on the academic
performance of students. While it may not be possible to completely eliminate the negative
effects of social media, use of certain ways may help mitigate them. Schools and colleges can
educate students about the detrimental effects of neglecting academics owing to the excessive
use of social media. Educational institutions should try to recommend social media use for
positive things such as learning, knowledge sharing or watching informational and educational
videos rather than just for social networking, chatting or entertainment purpose. These
institutions must encourage students and teachers to implement the positive use of social media.
This includes creating online groups on social media to discuss assignments or any study issues
faced by students, students sharing their viewpoints about a curriculum related task with their
peers or professors on such groups, professors trying to make learning a fun experience using
social media and many more.
Students should avoid over indulgence with social media and use it moderately. Parents must
be vigilant about their children’s social media use and try to pay attention to their academic as
well as overall performance. Parents should try to interact with their children on a daily basis
and try to have good family time which will help their children to feel emotionally secure and
safe. This can help to reduce their dependence on social media for seeking emotional support
or bonding.
Thus, it can be concluded that impact of social media on students’ academic performance is
two-way. This means that if used smartly and judiciously social media can have positive effect
on academic performance of students, while if used carelessly and without awareness, it can
affect students’ overall academic performance, thus endangering their future. The use of social
media amongst students must be moderate. They should be made fully aware of the difference
between the real world in which they are living and the virtual world which they have created
using social media. Students should know that the virtual world on social media is not going
to help them build a successful future, but good academic performance will. This will help
them to be more focussed and responsible towards their studies.
Students should try to create a balance between social media use and their studies, so that they
do not get distracted while studying. When using social media, students should try to use it
more often for educational purposes such as acquiring or sharing information, seeking help
from friends, classmates or professors to get their doubts clarified, collaborating with
classmates for group tasks and so on. They must try to limit the social media use for enjoyment
purpose or just to waste their time. Hence, if used effectively for constructive purposes such as
learning or sharing information online, social media can prove to be a helpful tool for students.
On the other hand, excessive social media use for social networking or entertainment can
seriously negatively affect their academic performance.
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