SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The world is today celebrating the improvements in communication technology

which has broadened the scope of communication through Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs). Modern Technology in communication no
doubt has turned the entire world into a “Global village”. But as it is, technology
like two sides of a coin, bring with it both negative and positive sides. It helps
people to be better informed, enlightened, and keeping abreast with world
developments. Technology exposes mankind to a better way of doing things.
Social networking sites include: Twitter, Yahoo Messenger, Facebook Messenger,
Blackberry Messenger (BBM), WhatsApp messenger, 2go messenger, Skype,
Google talk, Google Messenger, iPhone and Androids. These networking sites are
used by most people to interact with old and new friends, physical or internet
friends ( Asemah and Edegoh, 2012). The world has been changed rapidly by the
evolution of technology; this has resulted into the use of technology as the best
medium to explore the wide area of knowledge. The evolution of internet
technology has led to its use as the best medium for communication. Whereby,
two-third of the world’s internet population visits social networking or blogging
sites, thus serving as a communication and connection tool. Social networking sites
(SNSs) are online Communities of Internet users who want to communicate with
other users about areas of mutual interest, whether from a personal, 2 business or
academic perspective‖ (William ,Boyd, Densten, Chin, Diamond & Morgenthaler
2019).

The millions of social networking sites have transformed the thought of global
village into a reality whereby billions of people communicate through social
networking sites. Numerous benefits have been obtained through distant
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communication through the use of social networking sites. Academic excellence or
achievement plays an important role in an individual placement, be it in the
academic institutions or job placement. Due to this, many people are concerned
with the ways they can enhance their academic achievement. The emphasis on
academic excellence which is also prevalent worldwide has encouraged many
studies about the conditions promoting it. The role of academic achievement as one
of the predictors of one’s life success and also in the aspect of academic placement
in schools to higher institutions as well as the level of employability in one’s career
is inevitable (Kyoshaba, 2019). Academic performance, which is measured by the
examination results, is one of the major goals of a school. Hoyle (1986) argued that
schools are established with the aim of imparting knowledge and skills to those
who go through them and behind all this is the idea of enhancing good academic
performance. Academic performance or achievement is the outcome of education,
the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational
goals. Academic performance is commonly measured by examinations or
continuous assessment but there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or
which aspects are most important, procedural knowledge such as skills or
declarative knowledge such as facts (Annie, Howard & Mildred, 1996). 3 A direct
relationship exists between Social media usage and the academic performance of
students in universities. However the darker side within technological evolution
has resulted in dilemmas such as the setback of real values of life especially among
students who form the majority of users interacting through the use of social
networking sites.

Statement of Problem

The world today is a global market in which the internet is the most important sort
of information. Since the advent of social media sites in the 1990s, it is assumed in

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some quarters that the academic performance of students is facing a lot of neglect
and challenges. The educational system in Nigeria is faced with so many
challenges which have certainly brought about a rapidly decline in the quality of
education.

In recent times social media have been a major stay in the minds of students and
the world at large thereby causing a lot of drastic measure by students, teacher and
even educational administrators at large. It is therefore of great importance to
explore some of the trending issues facing students’ academic performance as a
result of social media. Students at all levels of learning now have divided attention
to studies, as a result of available 7 opportunities to be harnessed from social
media. Whether these opportunities promote studies is a question that needs to be
answered. Thus, the problem this study investigates is the influence of social media
networks on the academic performance of the students in higher institution.

SECTION 2: PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study generally is to examine the influence of Social Media on
the Academic Performance of students in higher institution.

Specifically, the study seeks;

1. To examine the level of student addictiveness to social media and the

influence on their academic performance.
2. To determine the social media network that the students are more exposed to
and the influence on their academic performance.
3. To ascertain how the use of social media has influence the academic
performance of the students in higher institution.
4. To ascertain the difference in students’ usage of social media network by
gender.

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 5. To ascertain how age has influence on students’ usage of social media
network.

Research Questions

The following research questions were raised;

1. To what extent would student addictiveness to social network influence their

academic performance?
2. Does the social media network that the students are more exposed to
influence their academic performance?
3. How has the use of social media influence the academic performance of the
students in University of Lagos?
4. Is there gender difference in the student’s usage of social media network?
5. In what way do younger and older students influence the use of social
media?

Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses are generated by the researcher and was tested in this
study:

1. Students’ addictiveness to social network has no significant influence on

their academic performance. 2. Student’s exposure to social media network
has no significant influence on students’ academic performance.
2. Use of social media do no significantly influence on the academic
performance of the students in University of Lagos.
3. There is no significant difference between male and female student usage of
social media network.
4. Age does not have significant influence on the use of social media.

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Significance of the Study

This study is significant to the teachers, parents and students. This study will help
the teachers of the school to know the influence that social media has on their
students, so as to assist them to enlighten and create awareness to the students on
the possible influence it has on them. The study is of significant to parents in the
sense that they will know the possible effects these social media usage has on their
children, so as to serve as watch-dog to their children on the usage of the social
networking site. The study will enable the students of the senior level so that they
will be aware that, apart from the social benefits of this social networking site,
using the sites more than necessary will pose possible dangers to their health. It
will be relevant in assisting students in understanding the diversity of social media.
It will provide relevance material for students and other researchers undertaking
similar research. The study will help researchers with more information on the
Influence of social media on student’s academic performance.

Scope of the Study

The focus of this research work is to primarily study the impact of social media on
the academic performance of students in higher institution. The study will
comprise students in Federal Polytechnic Bauchi.

Operational Definition of Terms

As words may mean differently in different contexts, the following definitions are
given as the words used as intended to be understood for the purpose of this study.

 Social Media: They are forms of electronic communication which facilitate

interactive base on certain interests. Social media include web and mobile
technology.

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  Social Networking Sites: A website where people put information about
them and can send to others. Social Networking: The use of internet to
make information about yourself available to other people especially people
you share an interest with to send messages to them.
 Media: Are all those media technologies that are intended to reach a large
audience by mass communication. “They are messages communicated
through a mass medium to a number of people.
 Academic: It is concerned with Studying from books as opposed by a
practical work.
 Students: Someone who is Studying at a University or School. Someone
who is very interested in a particular subject.
 Computer: A computer is a machine that receives or stores or process data
quickly according to a stored program.
 Tweets: A short message posted on Twitter (a micro blog).

ICT: Information and Communication Technology.

SECTION 3: CONCEPT OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is that means that employs mobile and web based technology to
create highly interactive platforms via which individuals and community share, co-
create, discuss and modifies user-generated content. Social media is a phrase being
tossed around a lot. It is a website that does not just give you information but
interact with you while giving you information. It is a group of internet based
application that allows the creation and exchange of users generated content. It is
easy to confuse social media with social news because we often refer to members
of the news as the media. Adding to it, that social news site is also social media
site. Some media website includes:

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  Social Bookmarking: interact by tagging website and searching through
website book marked by others (Blink list, simple).
 Social News: interact by voting for articles and commenting on them (Digg,
propello).
 Social Networking: interact by adding friends, commenting on photo and
profiles, sharing groups for discussions (Facebook, 2go, BB chat)
 Social Photo and Video Sharing: interact by sharing photos or videos and
commenting on the user submission. (Youtube and Fliki).
 Wikis: interact by adding articles and editing existing articles. (Wikipedia,
wikia).

Social media refers to the means of interaction among people in which they create,
share, exchange and comment among themselves in different networks. Andreas
and Michael (2021) are of the opinion that social media is a group of internet based
application that builds on the ideological foundation and allows the creation and
exchange of users – generated content. Social media has become one of the major
channel of chatting through platforms such as 2go, BB chat, blogger and wiki a.
There has been an increase in the mobile social media which has created new
opportunity for browsing. 13 The internet usage effect of social media, in views of
Nielsen (2012) is that, students continue to spend more time on the social media
than any site. The total time spent on social media across mobile devices increased
by 37%, 121 billion minutes in July 2012 compared to 88 billion minutes in July
2011.

Kaplan and Haenlein (2020) classified social media into six different classes as
follows:

1. Collaborative Project (Wikipedia).

2. Blogs and Micro blogs (Twitter).
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 3. Content Communities (Youtube).
4. Social Networking Site (Facebook; 2go; BB chat).
5. Virtual Game World (World of war craft).
6. Virtual Second World (Second life).

Technology includes the blogs, picture sharing, music sharing, crowd sourcing, e-
mail, instant messaging and voice over. These services could be integrated via
social network aggregation platforms.

Mobile Social Media

When social media is used in combination with mobile devices, it is called mobile
social media. Social media is a group of mobile marketing application that allows
the creation and exchange of users generated content. Due to the fact that mobile
social media runs on mobile devices, it differs from traditional social media as it
incorporates new factors such as the current location of the user, time delay
between sending and receiving

Social Networking Sites

It is used to describe any website that enables users to create public profiles within
that website and form relationship with other users of the same website who access
their profile. It is used to describe community base website, online discussion
forum, chat rooms and other social space online. Commonly, the phrase “social
networking sites” is used as an umbrella term for all social media and computer-
mediated communication, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, and Myspace, as well as the inaugural social networking sites of
Cyworld, Bebo and Friendster.

Ellison and Boyd (2019) define social network sites as web-based services that
allow individuals to construct profiles, display user connections, and search and
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traverse within that list of connections. A social media is an online service or
platforms that focus on facilitating the building of social network among people
who share interest, activities and background on real life connections. It is a
website that allows users to share information within a selected group. It is a great
way to stay connected and a convenient way to share 15 photos from trips. It
consists of a representation of each user (profiles), social links and a variety of
additional services. For detailed analysis of social networking, the following terms
will be discussed:

 Impact of Social Networking Site.

 Social Networking and Education.
 Constraints in Education.

Impacts of Social Networking Sites.

Through email and instant messaging, online communities are created where a gift
economy and reciprocal altruism are encouraged through co-operation. 2go and
other social networking tools are increasingly the objective of scholarly research.
Scholars in many fields have begun to investigate the impact of social networking
site, investigating how such site may play into issues of identity, privacy, social,
youth culture and education. Several website are beginning to tap into the power of
the social networking model for philanthropy. In 2011 HCL technologies
conducted research that showed that 50% of British workers are banned from the
use of social media during office hours. In this view, when one is chit-chatting, the
content of the message reveal a lot about an individual. In chatting, comments,
photos, and status should speak less of an individual. Kim in summary says: “if
you are mindful of what you are doing, you can maintain a measure of privacy on a
social network” and, in reference to this, Proverbs 10:19, states that “In the
abundance of words, there does not fail to be transgression, but the one keeping his
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in check is acting discreetly”. “It’s a vortex that sucks one in and one has no idea
you’ve been trapped. One of the ironies of the internet is that it keeps you apart
from the most important things’. It is a great way to stay connected with people but
you just have to know when to shut it down. Raquel concluded that it seems that
when people go on a social network they lose their mind” (Awake, 2012).

Social Network and Education

The advent of social network platforms may also be impacting the way in which
learners engage with technology in general. For a number of years, Prensky (2001)
dichotomy 17 between digital natives and digital immigrants has been considered a
relatively accurate representative of the ease with which people of a certain age
rate, in particular, those born before and after 1980, use technology. Social
networking and their educational uses are of interest to many researchers. Living
Stone and Brake (2010) in their opinion said ‘social networking site, like much
else on the internet representing a moving target for researchers and policy
makers’. Recent trends indicate that 47% of American adults use social network. A
national survey in 2009 found that 37% of online teenagers use social networking
site which increased to 555% three years later (Len Hart, Purcell, Smith and
Zickuhr, 2010). It has also, shown that it provides opportunity within professional
education but however, there are constraints in such areas.

Parental Involvement and Social Media

Parent- child conflicts have also become more of an issue since the sudden
escalation of online social networking (Greenfield & Subrahmanyam, 2020).
Research has shown that students who have a strong sense of communication and
closeness with one (or more) parent or guardian have a better chance at academic
success (Greenfield & Subrahmanyam, 2020). With adolescents hooked on the

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Internet and other forms of technology and their language changing with new
acronyms and code words that can only be learned through this technology, the gap
between parents and children has gotten larger (Greenfield & Subrahmanyam,
2020). Many parents do not understand their children, and cannot find a way to
relate to their virtual worlds. This, in turn, causes distress in the household and
may ultimately lead to a barrier between parent, child, and communication about
school work and grades (Greenfield & Subrahmanyam, 2020).

Student’s addictiveness to social media

On the internet, students engage in a variety of activities some of which may be

potentially addictive. The mass appeal of social media on the internet could be a
cause for concern, particularly when attending to the gradually increasing amount
of time students spend online. Undergraduates spend more time on Facebook,
Twitter and other social media through smartphones that are now in abundance
among these youths. Many student cannot go for two-three hours without checking
and updating their profiles on these social networks even at the detriment of other
activities such as educational and career pursuit. (Morahan- Martin and
Schumacher, 2020) explain social media addiction as the excessive use of the
internet and the failure to control this usage which seriously harms a person’s life.

In an article on the Daily Trust newspaper, Itodo (2020) posits that there seem to
be an alarming rate of social networking obsession among students today; a trend
that could affect their academic, social and spiritual lives negatively if not properly
controlled.

26 Many concerned parents have expressed grave concern that they could hardly
get the attention of their children and wards, as they seem to have been carried
away by the fascinating world of social networks. Some youths are such social

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freaks that they have now carved out for themselves a world of fantasy and illusion
for detached from reality. Bello (2012) of the Sunday Observer observes that if the
dangerous trend of social media network “obsession” if left unchecked could
further affect an already collapsing education system in Nigeria. The reason
students are performing poorly in school these days might not be farfetched. While
poor quality of lecturers can quickly take the blame, one might think harder if the
phrase “Facebook frenzy” has not been heard of. It is a common sight to see a
youth chatting in sensitive and highly organized places like church, mosque and
lecture venues. Some are so carried away that even as they are walking along the
high way, they keep chatting. Attention has been shifted from visible to invisible
friends, while important ventures like study and writing are affected in the process.

Influence of Social Media Network on Student Academic Performance

Though there have been many social, economic, and environmental factors that
have added to the pressure of university students in the past ten years, the drop-out
rate for students is still a major national problem. Current statistics show that
university students in Nigeria are under increased pressure due to higher academic
standards in other countries, and it has become more important than ever for
educators to encourage graduation and further education (Bowen, 2008). However,
with more and more students being preoccupied with social media networks and
technological social lives, how will this affect their studies? It is estimated that
even those students who do graduate high school, one out of three does not have
possess the knowledge and skills that would lead him or her to the next level, such
as college or an advanced trade school (Bowen, 2008). The top academic areas that
many school professionals are concerned about are English (ELA) and advanced
literacy (Williams, 2008). The current generations of teens live in a fast-paced
technological world with many different types of communication happening all at

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the same time. For example, he or she may be on the computer on a SNS, while
also talking on the phone, sending instant messages to a friend, and emailing
someone else all 29 at the same time (Williams, 2008).

Social Media in the Classroom

Having social media in the classroom has been a controversial topic for the last
several years. Many parents and educators have been fearful of the repercussions
of having social media in the classroom. As a result, cell phones have been banned
from classroom and schools have blocked many popular social media websites.
However, despite adult’s apprehensions, students are using social media. Schools
have realized that they need to incorporate these tools into the classroom and rules
are changing. The Peel District School Board (PDSB) in Ontario is one of many
school boards that has begun to accept the use of social media in the classroom. In
2019, the PDSB introduced a “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) policy and have
unblocked many social media sites.

SECTION 4: METHODOLOGY

Research design

In the empirical part of this study, a qualitative approach was employed using a
semi-structured interview among some selected student of Federal Polytechnic
Bauchi. Qualitative research was used rather than quantitative because qualitative
methodology is appropriate to collect data in a natural setting rather than a
contrived situation, in this study, a face-to-face interview between the researchers
and participants was employed to avoid human bias whenever possible. Therefore,
the researchers in this study were able to discover detailed information of how
student are using and benefiting from social media through in-depth interviews.
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Population

The target population of the study is Federal Polytechnic Bauchi. It is out of this
population that the sample was extracted.

Sample and sampling procedure

Ten international students volunteered to participate in the study. The researchers
adopted convenient sampling technique in selecting the participants. The sample
comprises of 5 female and 5 male students with two students each representing
different programs including, Comparative Education, Higher Education, Public
Policy, World Economy and Environmental Science.

Data collection procedure

The whole data collection period lasted for around 1 week. Each interview took
approximately 20 to 30 minutes and all the interviews were conducted in English.
During the interviews, the researchers took notes for better transcription. All the
interviews were audio taped for precision and easier transcription with the
participants’ permissions. The first part of the interview asked for participants
study Program. The second part was consisted of the interview questions
concerning
1. How student use social media.
2. To what extent has social media support and enhance their learning? With
how students use social media, questions such as:
i. Are you conversant with social media?
ii. Which social media are you familiar with and which one do you use
most?
iii. Do you use social media in your academic work, if yes how do you
use social media in your academic work?
The second question which was looking at the extent social media has supported
and enhance student academic performance, had sub questions like
i. Do you believe social media can enhance your learning?
ii. To what extent has social media impacted on your academic life?
iii. Do you have any challenges associated with the use of social media?

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 iv. How would you rate social media good or bad?

Data analysis

The data collected, was then Transcribed and categorized based on the answers of
the participants. Relevant themes were then developed from the transcriptions. The
data of this study was analyzed inductively, starting with the raw data consisting of
multiple sources of information and then broadening to several specific themes.
Also key words were written down on the margin, and then grouped the margin
notes into different subthemes and themes.

Higher national
Higher national
National diploma
National diploma
National diploma
Higher national
Higher national
Higher national
diploma

Results and Findings

This chapter presents the results of the data to answer the research questions and
appropriated themes and subthemes were emerged related to each research
question. Ten individual interviews were conducted and analyzed in this study.
The data collected from this research study is used to answer the following
questions:

 How do students use social media?

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  To what extent has social media supported students learning?
a) Research question 1: How students use social media How students’ use
social media are categorized into three key elements: conversant with social
media, what social media student use, using social media in their academic
life.

As represented in table 2, the entire ten participants indicated that, they are
conversant with social media. Facebook, WhatsApp, Wikipedia, YouTube and
WeChat are almost use by the entire participant. LinkedIn, Line, Skype and twitter
is also used by some of the participants. The entire ten participants admitted that
they have been using social media in their academic work. Yes, I use them, I am
conversant with social media, I mostly use Facebook, WeChat, WhatsApp and
YouTube were what participant mostly used when describing the kind of social
media they use.

Class schedules

Most of the participants claimed they receive class schedule and other work
schedules through various platforms.

Participant 2: stated Time table, class schedule, venue and time of classes are
mostly disseminated via WhatsApp. There are times the TA will update us on a

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change of venue of a class session In one of my core courses, lessons and topics to
be taught are mostly posted on WhatsApp to keeps us inform ahead of time, also
when there is a class presentation, the order is been posted on our WhatsApp group
and it makes things easier. (Participant 6)

Almost all the participant mentioned Facebook WeChat WhatsApp and YouTube,
however one participant (participant 7) pointed out that she quit using Facebook
when he started school in Bauchi. She stated:

I used to be on Facebook during my undergraduate studies, because we had a

class page as a platform of discussions after every lecture, but I quit when I
arrived in FPTB. Lately I have discovered WhatsApp and LinkedIn and I have
being making good use of them because there they are very popular in Bauchi.
Most of my class schedules and relevant information’s pertaining to classes are
being communicated through WhatsApp.

Discussion and Assignments

Some of the participant affirmed that they use social media as a medium of
discussion and working on their assignments.

Participant 3 a world economy student who mostly uses WhatsApp and Google
class stated:

I used social media a lot, WeChat and WhatsApp has been part of my life on
campus here in FPTB. But I would say Google class is on top because I have a
friend in Gwallameji who is reading economic, I would say he is my study partner
because he assist me in my assignments and final papers, he even assisted me in
coming up with my thesis topic.

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Participant 5 a National diploma student stated: I use them, I usually use
WhatsApp and Facebook but right now I am in Plateau so I use WeChat with my
class mates, especially I communicate a lot with my best friend on WeChat
concerning my assignment. We discuss our assignment together even in late hours
in our various closets. For me WeChat is the medium of communications between
my supervisor and I, I remember when he was out of campus we were still in
contact and he was given me directions as to how to go about with my thesis
proposal. (Participant 4).

Receive and sends information

Entirely all the ten respondent asserted that social media has been a medium of
receiving and sending information in their school life Participant 1 stated that:

Yes but not too much, I receive information from a group chart that has been
created for our class that we usually post and receive information and also share
our ideas and problems with the TA for assistance. Okay some of my classmate
forwards articles on our WhatsApp class page for other to read, some also sends
websites and links concerning academic conferences and other professional
document on our page. (Participant 3).

b) Research question 2: To what extent has social media help enhance student
academic performance?

In order to answer this question also, respondents were asked whether they believe
social can enhance their learning, and to what extent has social help in their
academic performance and finally they were asked to rate social media with
regards to their academic life whether it is “good or bad”. Most of the ten
participants emphatically responded “yes” to the question “do you believe social
media can enhance your learning”? However, on the whole social media was rated

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by all the participants as being good with regards to their academic work. But as to
how social media has enhanced their academic performance, participants 1stated:

Yes I believe that, because sometimes we have discussions on certain matters

concerning certain topics that have been given in class, for e.g. I have joined two
groups that were formed basically for our assignments; because knowledge does
not rest in one person’s head. We have discussion through WeChat. Even since I
started my study in china I have been using social media to get access to
information and assistance form my classmates. On WhatsApp and Facebook
sometimes I get the chance to discuss with my friends some of the topics and some
of the things I don’t understand, we sometimes share our ideas together and help
each other to gain understanding of pertinent issues; I would say I have been
benefiting from social media a lot. (Participant 5) I for my part I believe in group
work because two heads are better that one , so in using social media I get a lot of
ideas and information from the people am dealing with. (Participant 10).

Other respondent gave responses that were not directly accepting the notion that
social media can enhance their academic performance but rather a two edge sword
something, they emphasized on the issue of privacy and personal space. A female
participant stated:

This is a two way something, it could and could not, with it helping my academic I
believe that when I get the chance to discuss issues that I don’t understand with my
friends or with my tutors it gives me the chance to understand the more and then
sometimes too social media can act as a form of distraction and sometimes too
infringes on my private life because everyone else in the class see every post and
every moves that you make especially with Facebook, there are times I will log in
to Facebook and before I realized oh my heaven I have exhausted all my time.
(Participant 3)
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Even though I don’t necessarily see social media directly assisting in my academic
work but to some extent it does, because after a long day of work and studying I
resort to social media like Facebook, WeChat and WhatsApp to refresh my mind,
release some tension and get my senses back on track to carry on with my
academic work. There are times I even pick vocabularies and other statements
from people’s posts to enrich my write ups. (Participant 6).

A Female of higher national diploma student also pointed out that she cannot rely
on social media in term of her academic performance. She stated:

For me this WhatsApp and Facebook thing is doing me more harm than good,
because I see myself to misuse social media a lot, I spend a lot of time charting
with my friends and family member on either WhatsApp, Facebook or even
WeChat, much of my time spent on these platform are never related to my
academic work. I even recommended WhatsApp to some of my friends back home
so you can draw the line. I sometimes too don’t get along with social media
because I don’t have a personal space in terms of social media everything about
me is been watched. (Participant 2).

SECTION 5; SUMMARY OF THE STUDY

This study focused on the impact of social media on student academic performance
in higher education. After studying the phenomena that are of interest to the study,
and transcribing the various responses of the participants, even though some of the
responses were not transcribed because they were all communicating same idea,
the results reveals that social media is widely used by students of higher institution.
At least every student makes use of one social media. Moreover, data revealed that,
participant are in support of the idea that social media contribute a significant

quota to the development of their academic performance. This study investigated

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social media and academic performance of the students in higher institution. The
descriptive survey research design was adopted in the study. A sample of some
respondents was selected from undergraduate students in the FPTB using
confidence interval of 5 and confidence level of 95% (0.05).

Conclusion

The result from the findings of this study showed that, though Social media have
negative effects on teenagers such as lack of privacy, distracting students from
their academic work, taking most of their productive time, and such like, they also
have benefits and can be used appropriately. For instance, students can form online
communities in order to plan for a project, have group discussions about class
material, or use the Social networking sites(SNS) as a way to keep in contact when
a student who has been absent needs to be updated on current academic
information. The findings of this study and earlier ones showed some noteworthy
results. The first independent variable influencing the academic performance of
students, that is, social media participation was negatively related with students’
outcome, while the other independent variables were positively related with
students’ outcome. The results of this study suggest that lecturers should come up
with a template on how their students can maximize the benefits of Social media,
that school management should incorporate rules and regulations on the use of the
social media in the school and, that the government should put in place adequate
control measures to regulate their use among students and lecturers.

Recommendations

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In the light of the findings of this study, the following recommendations are made:
Students should be educated on the influence of Social media on their academic
performance.

1. Students should be monitored by teachers and parents on how they use these
sites. Teachers should ensure they use the social media as a tool to improve
the academic performance of students in schools.
2. Students should better manage their study time in and prevent distractions
that can be provided by the social media. There should be a decrease in the
number of time spent by students when surfing the net.
3. Social Networking Sites should be expanded and new pages should be
created to enhance academic activities and avoid setbacks in the students’
academic performance.
4. The students should create a balance between chit-chatting and academic
activities. More attention should be directed to research.
5. The use of Social media network by students should focus on the academic
relevance of those sites instead of using them for negative purposes.

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A.C. Karpinski, 2015. “A description of Facebook use and academic performance

among undergraduate and graduate students,” paper presented at the
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Alexander, J. and Salas, G. 2018. Technology for institutional enrollment,

communication, and student success. New Directions for Student Services,
124, 103-116.

Andreas M., Haenlein Michael (2021). "Users of the world, unite! The challenges
and opportunities of social media". Business Horizons 53 (1). p. 61.
doi:10.1016/j.bushor.2015.09.003.

Amos Alunyo Bello (2020) Effects of Social Networking on Nigerian

youths/Students
Nigeriaobservernews.com/26022012/Sundayobserver/features.html.
(Retrieved 12/072012).

Asemah, E.S and Edegoh, L.O.N. (2019). Social media and insecurity in Nigeria: a
critical appraisal. Being a paper presented at the 15th National
Conference of African Council for Communication Education, which
took place at the conference Hall of Federal University of Technology,
Minna, Nigeria.
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Psychology and Behavior, 12, 209-213.

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