INFLUENCE OF DAILY FACEBOOK USAGE ON THE ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS

Kezia Mari Cabalonga

Chapter 1

Introduction

Background of the Study

In the society we presently live in, people who never had the chance to

get on with computer technology almost barely exist. In the past years, it

dominated the planet real fast and gave way for progress in many countries.

Computer technology makes it easy for us to accomplish many of our daily

activities. It has great and lasting impacts on people both individually and

collectively.

Closely associated with computer technology is, of course, social media

which is an absolute hit for this generation. It gives way for virtual

communication to grow vast ranges worldwide. It is part of many people’s daily

routine. Posting, chatting, sharing and commenting on Twitter, Instagram and

Facebook happen many million times every day. With that being said, many

users are actively attached with these social networking sites. In fact, many of

them can spend numerous hours of being online.

in the Philippines and worldwide. It works for very important purposes like

communication, self-expression, advertising, following people and their interests.

For the past years, Facebook has been and continues to be a trend for the

youth and adults alike. Aside from it being an effective way for communication

with existing acquaintances, it also works as their way for voicing out anger,

depression, joy, surprise and whatnot.

Facebook usage has strong impacts on people. Perhaps, because of the

many things that can be done on this social media application, people get too

driven to spend uncontrollable period of time.

The researcher will look at the effect of the mean number of hours that

students spend on Facebook daily and how it affects their academic

performance.
Research Paradigm

Independent Dependent

 Students’ daily Facebook  Academic Performance

Figure 1. A paradigm showing the dependent and independent variables in the

research.
Statement of the Problem

General

Generally, this study aims to evaluate the influence of students’ daily

Facebook usage on their academic performance.

Specific

Specifically, it aims to answer the following questions:

1. Is there a significant difference between students’ daily Facebook usage

on their academic performance?

2. Is there a significant difference in terms of gender?

Hypothesis

There is no significant effect between the students’ academic performance

and the mean number of hours they spend on Facebook daily.

Significance of the Study

At the present time, many people get strongly engaged with social media.

In some ways, it has both negative and positive effects. This study will find out

how the usage of social media, specifically Facebook, affects students’

performance in school.

This study will benefit the following:

affects their academic performance.

Parents. This will get them informed about the effects of Facebook on their

children.

Teachers. This will help them strategize on how to possibly integrate

Facebook on their daily lessons.

Future researchers. This will give them an idea about their future studies.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study will be limited only in evaluating the relationship between

students’ academic performance and the mean number of hours they spend on

Facebook daily. Also, it will consist of 30 male and female Senior High School

students of the General Academic Strand who at least log on to Facebook every

day.
Definition of Terms

Facebook. It refers to a popular free social networking website that allows

registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and

keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues (whatis.com, 2017).

In this study, students’ usage of Facebook will be under observation.

Academic Performance. It refers to the extent to which a student, teacher

or institution has achieved their short or long-term educational goals (Wikipedia,

2017).

In this study, the academic performance of students will be evaluated as

affected by the mean number of hours they spend on Facebook.

Review of Related Literatures

Conceptual Literature

Social Networking Sites

Social media consists of online technologies, practicing activities or

societies that people use to generate content and share thoughts, visions,

experiences and viewpoints with each other (Television Bureau of Advertising,

Inc., 2009). The word social networking is known as the alliance of individuals

into specific set of potential groups or subdivisions. Social networking allows

individuals to express their thoughts to other users. Social networking is the

leader in promoting digital journalism. Social network used for several purposes

like promoting or distributing the news contents all over the world.

Social networking sites and Facebook socializing via the internet has

become an increasingly important part of young adult life. Most of the high

schools, colleges and universities get connected by internet encompass

individuals who are looking forward to mingle other individuals with same point

of interest, to gather and share knowledge and first-hand information. Social

networking websites act like an online society of users who is familiar with

internet.

According to the stuty of Thuseethan and Kuhanesan (2015), social

networks are developed with more advance features after year 2003. Since
Facebook holds the most number of active users it became referred by the name

social network.

Facebook

The advancement in technology and communication leads to a

considerable improvement in social networking such as Facebook and MySpace,

used to keep in touch or share information with other individuals. By giving

people the control over whole site, we are making the world more transparent

(Zuckerberg, 2007). Making the world get connected is the ultimate goal behind

Facebook. Facebook is an online directory that connects people through social

networks in universities (Zuckerberg, 2005).

Facebook was launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz

and Chris Hughes to help university students in purpose of identifying students

who are residing in other residences. One month later, it was expanded by Mark

and friends to any Harvard university students. Later, Facebook extended to all

high schools local area networks, and then eventually expanded to internet users

all around the world. In 2008 Facebook reached 100 million active users, half of

them are spending more than 20 minutes in Facebook site per day (Facebook,

2008).

According to Walther et al., (2008), as like most of other social networking

sites, Facebook is a single-page application that offers a well-organized webpage

where users can store their personal info and make connections with same type

of users. The disclosure of friends, not only each user view other’s personal
profile but also their whole networks. This functionality allows users’ to traverse

from friends profile to anywhere, so that individual’s social network grows rapidly

across the world. This ability or capability is the backbone of Facebook and

became the only reason of its rapid growth with comparing other social

networking sites. Apart from this the simplicity of Facebook is one significant

reason for attracts millions of users around the world.

Kurdistan regions have been developed in the last few years, and many

internet services provide increased significantly. Therefore Facebook users

increased, especially among university students.

Of all the interpersonal interaction destinations, Facebook is by a wide

margin the most well known and most every now and again utilized among

understudies. Dwyer, Hiltz and Passerini (2007) found out that 55% of their

examination members (n=117, fundamentally undergrads) who were Facebook

individuals got to the site at any rate once every day and 82% of these clients

upgraded their profiles regularly. Dahlstrom et al (2012) found out that Facebook

use among understudies has expanded in the previous couple of years. In 2010,

97% of understudies overviewed reporting utilizing Facebook, up from 89% of

respondents in 2008. Social correspondence (keeping up interpersonal

connections and social improvement), data trade, and amusement esteem all

give off an impression of being huge inspirations for Facebook clients (Madge et

al, 2009). Instructive and learning inspirations are strikingly missing in the
rundown; then again, this does not imply that Facebook cannot be utilized for

instructive purposes.

Students Engagement in Facebook

Facebook is completely a communication tool for users. Facebook is used

by the huge number of undergraduate students and graduate students on a

regular basis. There is huge amount of professional and common interest in the

effects of social networking on undergraduate student development and

achievement (Abramson, 2011). Students use Facebook in various ways to

accomplish a wide range of social responsibilities and just for fun too. In

university students’ perspective the widespread social media website is

Facebook, anywhere between 85 and 99% of university students use Facebook

(Jones & Fox, 2009).

Social Networking Sites allow students to express themselves,

communicate, and collect profiles that highlight their talents and experience.

There are numerous reasons demanding young people to use Facebook and

even few adults also addicted to it and need to use Facebook (Fogg and Iizawa,

2008). The following are the reasons why youths intend to use Facebook: Always

make connection with friends; It is good for time passing; Helps in studies, a sort

of collaborative study; Makes it very easy to distribute information and good

content to batch mates; Easily publish life events, posts any photos and videos;

Reduce the stress; Interface of Facebook is uncluttered and clean; Discovery and

explore the interests in both academic and personal interest.

The students’ performance or academic achievement plays an important

role in producing the best quality graduates who will become great leader and

manpower for the country thus responsible for the country’s economic and social

development (Ali et.al, 2009). The undergraduates who obtain high quality and

good education can contribute the country hugely. The use of internet and World

Wide Web is an important factor imposing the academic performance. Somehow

Facebook affects the academic performance of students. Most of the researchera

around the word used the Grade Point Average (GPA) to measure the student

performance (Galiher, 2006).

Related Studies

Facebook usage and academic achievement of high school students: A

quantitative analysis

According to the study of Alexander (2012), online social networking has

become an integral part of the lives of America's teenagers with 73% of teens

reporting that they use a social networking site such as Facebook daily. Some

recent studies have shown a negative relationship between Facebook use and

academic achievement (Karpinski & Duberstein, 2009), while other studies have

shown no relationship between Facebook use and academic achievement (Pasek,

More, & Hargittaai, 2009). Thus, parents, teachers, and administrators remain

uncertain of the effects, if any, of students using Facebook.

school students at Dollarway High School. 72 students completed two surveys—

the Facebook Intensity Scale (FBI) and ENGAGE for grades 10 to 12. The FBI

measures the amount of time a student spends on Facebook, the extent of a

student's participation on Facebook, a student's emotional connection to

Facebook, and a student's integration of Facebook into his/her daily life. ENGAGE

measures 10 psychosocial behaviors that affect academic achievement of

students including academic discipline, academic self-confidence, commitment to

college, communication skills, general determination, goal striving, social activity,

social connection, steadiness, and study skills. Students' Grade Point Average

(GPA) information was also collected.

Results of the study showed a negative relationship between intensity of

Facebook use and GPA, a negative relationship between intensity of Facebook

use and goal striving, and a negative relationship between intensity of Facebook

use and steadiness. These findings indicate that a negative relationship does

exist among Facebook use and academic achievement for some populations.

More research is needed to determine why these negative relationships exist in

some populations and not in others.

Methodology

Participants of the Study

The participants of this study will be Grade 12 students of the General

Academics (GA) Strand. Thirty (30) male and female students from Leon National

High School – Senior High School who are socially active on Facebook will be

under study because they are most accessible to the researcher who is a student

of the same institution.

Setting of the Study

The setting of the study is strategically located at the southwestern part

of Iloilo Province, 28 kilometers away from the city. It is set in a public school in

a rural town that has a population of more than 2000.

Sampling Technique

This study will use the purposive sampling technique which will require

the researcher to pinpoint participants who are male and female Grade 12

students and are active on Facebook at least daily.