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Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students

Technical Report · March 2019

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.21427.27687

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Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 1

Final Project - Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students

MSIS 674: Social Media As A Tool

Manasi Gorhe

University Of San Francisco

03/31/2019
Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 2

Table of Contents

Problem Statement………………………………………………………………………………………………………3

Positive Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students………………………5-6

Negative Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students…………………….7-9

Recommendations…………………………………………………………………………………………………10-11

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………12

References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….13
Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 3

Problem Statement

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. As per study conducted by Smith and Anderson

(2018), social media use was highest amongst younger population of the U.S. in the age group

of 18 to 24. This information is depicted in the bar graph below.

100

75

50

25

0
YouTube Facebook Snapchat Instagram

FIGURE 1: Bar chart showing percentage of social media use amongst young

Americans in the age range 18-24

Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 4

Social media use is very popular amongst students as it provides them the freedom to

do whatever they want to do using social media. They can create and share the content,

comment on anything they wish to, connect and chat with their friends as well as make new

friends. 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.

Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 5

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 professors 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 professors on these groups. This will help

students to actively participate in such group discussions and this in turn will help to

improve their knowledge. Professors 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.

Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 6

There are many students who do not actively take part in class or group project

discussions. Some of them do not prefer even face-to-face communication with their

classmates. Such students find it easy and comfortable to take part in online study

discussions on social media.

Presently, there are many academic counsellors 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. Students can

use social media platform like LinkedIn to search for internships related to their field of

study. This can help them gain practical knowledge, which in turn may help in improving

their academic performance. Students can also read various educational blogs which can

help to improve their knowledge and thus help their studies.

As per Deng and Tavares (2013), social media help students to think clearly and this

helps them to make make wise decisions in their day-to-day lives. As per the study

conducted by Apeanti And Danso (2014), students felt that their grades would be better if

they can contact professors openly through social media to get their doubts clarified. Yunus

and Salehi (2012) pointed out that, social media use enhanced students’ vocabulary and

writing ability.

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.

Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 7

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.

It has been observed that social media use is prevalent even during lectures amongst

students. They do not pay attention to what is being taught and told in the class and instead

chat with their friends on social networks or waste time reading some unnecessary stuff on

social media. As a result, they might miss some important information being shared in the

class related to study, assignments or even exams. This can affect their grades negatively.

Social media has hampered students writing skills in such a way that they tend to use short

forms of words or phrases everywhere. For example: ‘k’ instead of ‘okay’, ‘coz’ or ‘cuz’

instead of because and so on. Use of such short forms in exams or assignments may not be

appropriate and can affect their grades negatively.

Also, there are many students who only take part in online class or group discussions

on social media and do not prefer to have face-to-face communication with their classmates

or even professors. As a result, they may not develop good communication skills and might

even lack confidence to interact with their peers or lecturers in the class or in person. As
Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 8

they will not be able to share their viewpoints with others in class or group discussions, they

might end up getting lower grades.

Social media addiction poses many health issues. These issues include back pain

owing to the use of social media for a very long time in improper or wrong posture, irregular

sleep patterns, mood swings, continuous strain for eyes, mental stress and many more. These

health issues affect their effectiveness in studying and thus can cause a fall in grades. Also,

excessive social media use can lead to various mental health issues amongst students such as

anxiety, depression, isolation from real world as well as psychological problems. These issues

can lead to loss of focus towards studies and seriously affect their future.

As per Paul, Baker and Cochran (2012), the time spent on social media was

dependent on the attention span of the students. Attention span is the amount of time for

which students can concentrate on their study without getting distracted. They found out

that, higher the attention span, lower is the time spent by students on social media. As per

Junco (2011), time spent on Facebook was very strongly negatively related to the overall

GPA of the students. Kirschner and Karpinski (2010) found out that, over indulgence with

social media can affect students’ academic performance negatively.

As per Mingle and Adams(2015), Likert scale was used to survey the social media

effect on grade performance amongst 526 students. A Likert scale is a scale used for research

that involves questionnaire. Out of these 526 students, majority confirmed that the use of

social media affected their grades negatively. 62 (11.8%) students strongly agreed, while a

majority of students of strength 255 (48.5%) agreed that their grades dropped owing to the

use of social media. In addition, 60 (11.4%) students neither agreed nor disagreed. Finally,
Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 9

(8.2%) and 106 (20.2%) students disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively that their

grades dropped, due to the use of social media. This is depicted in bar chart below.

50

37.5

25

12.5

0
Strongly Agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly Disagree

FIGURE 2: Bar chart showing percentage of agreement and disagreement for grade

drop amongst students

Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 10

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. They can make students aware of the

future implications of social media over engagement such as unemployment, lack of

development of social skills, inability to develop adequate critical and logical thinking skills,

psychological disorders, loss of confidence and so on.

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. Social media platforms can also be used by professors to

gather feedback from students in realtime. Professors can incorporate this feedback from

students to make their lectures more interesting and engaging.

As students use their mobile phones, laptops or tablets openly for using social media

even during lectures, schools and universities should think about limiting the use of social

media during lectures. Schools and universities can also have good academic counselors or
Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 11

mentors, to provide proper help and guidance to assist students get out of their social media

addiction and concentrate on their studies.

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.

Students can spend some time on daily or weekly basis for their passion which will

help them to feel refreshed from the monotonous daily routine. Students should always try

to learn new things. They can develop some good hobbies such as reading, painting,

gardening, swimming and so on. Also exercising and meditating on regular basis will help

them feel positive and energetic, improving their overall focus. All of these will keep their

mind occupied and keep them away from social media addiction.
Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 12

Conclusion

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.

 Impact Of Social Media On Academic Performance Of Students 13

References

Smith, A., & Anderson, M. (2018, September 19). Social Media Use 2018: Demographics and

Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-

in-2018/

Junco, R. (2011). Too much face and not enough books: The relationship between multiple

indices of Facebook use and academic performance. Retrieved from https://

reyjunco.com/wordpress/pdf/JuncoCHBFacebookGrades.pdf

Kirschner, P., & Karpinski, A. (2010). Facebook and academic performance. Computers In

Human Behavior, 26, 1237–1245. Retrieved from http://personal.denison.edu/

~matthewsn/facebook%20and%20academic%20performance.pdf

Mingle, J., & Adams, A. (2015). Social Media Network Participation and Academic

Performance In Senior High Schools in Ghana. Retrieved from https://

digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3446&context=libphilprac

Paul, J., Baker, H., & Cochran, J. (2012). Effect of online social networking on student

academic performance. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/

facpubs/3149/

Scott, C. (2015, September 24). The Effects of Social Media on Education. Retrieved from

https://sites.psu.edu/alleghenynews/2015/09/24/the-effects-of-social-media-on-

education/

Karadkar, A. (2015, September 13). The impact of social media on student life. Retrieved

from http://www.technicianonline.com/opinion/article_d1142b70-5a92-11e5-86b4-

cb7c98a6e45f.html

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