IMPACT OF SMART PHONES ON

ACADEMIC PERFORMAMCE OF
STUDENTS
BZU MULTAN

Department of mass communication

Asim khan khattak

Abstract:
Smartphone is an important innovation of the present period. Smartphone is commonly used in Pakistan in new millennium.
Moreover, it has reduced the distance among individuals and made social interaction often fast. It is one of the greatest
technologies of the 21st century. Smartphone has become a phenomenon and an addiction, to own at least one smartphone. It has
now become a part of daily life. The Present study was designed to investigate the impacts of smartphone on the performance of
students. The overall objective of the study is to explore the impacts of smartphone on the academic performance of students. The
universe of the present study consisted to Bahauddin Zakriya University Multan. Simple survey questionnaire technique was
used to select 50 respondents i.e. 30 male students and 20 female students consisting of different departments. Therefore the aim
of the current study is to determine the impact of smartphone usage on the academic performance of students; significant
differences were found in uses of Smartphones depending on academic program. Further, it was found that the more students
utilized their smartphone for university learning activities, so they can easily getting their course related material by using
smartphones. The respondents said that the usage of smartphone was satisfactory technology because smartphone gave more
information regarding their studies. Majority of the respondents said that the usage of smartphone did not affect much on the
academic performance.

Keywords:
Smartphone use, smartphone addiction, academic performance and literature review.

Introduction: phases. The very first smart phone was Simon from
IBM. Blackberry is considered as the revolutionary
The whole world is accepting and adopting the device of this era. It introduced many features
ways toward the advancement of technology. The including Email, camera, internet and web
youth is playing a vital role in this rapid pace. The browsing. And then here comes the most advance
smartphone had been in existence for about a smart phone in 2007 the iPhone.
decade before young people really adopted this
technology. Now a day’s smartphone is a status symbol for
young people. The features of the smartphone, the
Overview of smart phone appearance and personalized accessories all attest
to the phone’s status.
Smartphone has been in market since 1994. The
first smartphone was created by IBM and was A smartphone is a phone that includes advanced
invented in 1992 and released for purchase in 1994. functionality beyond making phone calls and
It was called the Simon Personal Communicator sending text messages. Most smartphones have the
SPC. The smart phone era is divided in three main capability to play games, display photos, play
videos, camera, send e-mail, surf the Web and ● To determine how often students use their
equipped with many other functions. Smart phones smartphones in the classroom.
are a wonder of modern technology, and have fast ● To determine how mobile phone usage
become something that pretty much everyone can’t affects their studies.
live without. ● To determine the positives and negative
impact of smartphones on student
In modern classrooms, instructors face many learning.
challenges as they compete for student attention.
Rapid growth of mobile computing, including Significance of the study:
smartphones and tablets presents a double-edged
problem, along with unimaginable access to It is hoped that the findings of this study will
information come with unforeseen distractions. A benefit students and researchers. It would be useful
major concern for many instructors is the to students in determining the many opportunities
potential distraction caused by students using the smartphone devices provides in their academic
their mobile devices to text, play games, check lives. Students would be guided on how integrating
Facebook, tweet, or engage in other activities smart phone technology will create a richer
available to them in a rapidly evolving digital environment for learning. This research would
terrain. That concern has potential merit; recent contribute to the body of educational research in
statistics from the few Foundation show that the that it explores students' academic performance
median number of daily texts for older teens with multiple indicators of learning, which is
rose from 60 in 2009 to 100 in 2011 (Lenhart, satisfaction, learning style, and performance. The
2012). Moreover Higher Education is under the research may provide literature so as to add more
high impact of use of internet and smart phones, information on innovative uses of smartphone
technologies to enhance educational experiences of
Objective: students. The research study that can obtain from
this study may help other researcher in their
● To investigate purpose of smart phone research.
usage among students.
● To study how much time students spend Literature review:
on their smart phone.
● To investigate the influence of mobile Usage of smartphone in class for what
phone on student`s educational purpose:
performance
Now day’s students are taking their smart phones
Problem statement: from school to everywhere. In the study of
Alfawareh and Jusoh (2015) they studied smart
Globally, smartphones use among tertiary level phone usage among students in class rooms. In
students has increased tremendously over the last their research 324 students were taken from various
Years. Higher learning institutions need to develop academic levels for completing survey
sound strategies to leverage students’ smartphone questionnaire. 94.4 % (305/324) owned smart
use in order to create a more autonomous learning phones the result show that nearly every student
environment. To date, numerous studies have been has smartphones. 66.01% students never used
conducted to investigate the use of mobile devices smartphones as a mean for taking notes in
themselves. For most of the research reporting on classroom and 66.89% participants never used
the benefits and limitations of smartphone. smartphones to record class lectures. So their study
Although there is some evidence regarding reveal that student does not fully utilize
students’ use of smartphones in higher education. smartphones for learning motives but they utilize it
This study shows the effect of smartphone usage on to make phone calls, take pictures and browsing
students, at BZU UNIVERSITY MULTAN. In internet.
order to achieve this broad objective, the
following specific objectives will be considered. In another study of : Frimpong, Asare and
Arthur(2016) they study how often students use
their smartphones in the classroom, , and find the
effects of mobile phone usage on the students’ smartphones on students’ academic capabilities and
academic performance. In their research 306 progression.
students was chosen for this study. 93.5% have
ever used a mobile phone during classes hours with Classroom attention and mobile phone
91.8% using mobile phones in class to enhance usage:
their understanding of topics. Also, 80.5% being
distracted by the phone during classes and this was Recent studies showing the effects of using smart
in the form of visiting social media site (31.1%), phones in class rooms on student learning process
text messages (27.6%) and receiving calls (25.6%). theory (Mayer, 1996) as a basis for arguing that
using smart phone during the lectures can cause
Negative impact of smartphones: distractions that hamper student learning.
According to Mayer’s study using smart phones
According to Iring, Tanzania (2015) they stated during the lectures can divide student focus and
that smart phones are becoming more problematic due to the lack of attention the student mind cannot
in Tanzania. The result shows that smartphones properly learn or receive the new information. In
bring negative impact on students’ performance another study of Irefin and Ahmed Mustafi
accordingly 65% agreed that they tend to use smart (2017) they stated that the addiction of smart phone
phones for about 5-7 hours per day on social sites. usage has a great impact on their academic
57% of the respondents were females and most of performance in their research they stated that now
them 75% are below 25. So the results of their days students are spending greater time on their
study show teenagers are likely more addicted to smartphones, reading quality and their participation
smartphones. And the majorities GPAs of the in group activities are reduced. Their study
surveyed respondents were found to below 3. identified that the regular academic performance of
the students are hampered by the extensive use of
Usage of smartphones in classrooms: smart phone. They also stated that the students
know that the extensive use of smart phones is
Tindell and bohlander (2012) survey 269 college
harmful to their body and mind. They sometimes
students from 21 academic major at a small
try to shorten their smartphone usage but are
northeastern university to gain a better
unable to do it due to addiction, so their study
understanding the usage of smart phones in class
found that now day’s students are using their
rooms. Their result show that majority of the
smartphone more then they plan.
students used their phones in class rooms for text
messages. 99% indicated they had cell phones that Whereas In another study of Kuznekoff, Jeff &
could be used for text messaging and almost all Titsworth, Scott. (2013) they examined the impact
respondents (97%) said they had sent massages 95 of mobile phone usage, during class lecture, on
% bring cell phones to class rooms 92 % admitted student learning. Students who were not using their
that they had sent or received messages in class smartphones wrote down 62% more information in
rooms. their notes, took more detailed notes, were able to
recall more detailed information from the lecture,
Ifeanyi and Ebere (2018) this study investigated
and scored a full letter grade and a half higher on a
the impact of using smartphones on the academic
multiple choice test than those students who were
performance of undergraduate students at the
actively using their Smartphones.
North-West University, South Africa. To
determine the impact, this study deployed the However it was also found that these smart devices
quantitative research approach to collect data offered positive aspect too other scholars like
from 375 undergraduate students using kims, mims and holmes(2006) pointed out the
questionnaires. It was found that most benefits of smart phone devices they stated that
undergraduate students are using their smartphones smart phones offers a number of benefits that can
to engage with fellow students and lecturers. It was aid academic learning and ability to access teaching
also found that using smartphones distracts material. Oliver and georke(2007) also smart
students from their studies in certain aspects. The phone devices for making notes, instant messaging
results also showed the impact of using applications on helping and maintain campus
activity like group work and discussion. They also
mentioned that blogs and other educational H5. It is more likely the students spend most of
websites could be very useful for students. In the their time using smartphones.
same manner podcast and other educational sites
can be used to help students to enhance their
listening skills and gain faster knowledge
Research Methodology:
On the other hand these smart phone devices
offered certain negative aspect for instance in the Aim:
research of balfagih (2017) he pointed out that 100
out of 38.6% students carried the smartphones to This describes the methodology that was used to
their classes for accessing social media with 28.8% conduct the study. The chief purpose of the study
citing the reason of entertainment while his was to investigate the impact of smartphone
findings showed that 66.4% respondents believing devices on the academic performance of students
that social media is the biggest interference with
their academic learning. Participants:

Research questions: The data for the present study was drawn through
purposive sampling method. Data was collected
To address the research objectives and tackling the from a sample of 30 boys and 20 girls
problem statement the following research question
were explored:
BOYS 30
GIRLS 20
TOTAL 50
RQ1. What are the positive impacts of
smartphone usage on the academic performance of
students? Procedure:
RQ2. What are the negative impacts of The present research was conducted in BZU
smartphone usage on the academic performance of Multan. The study was conducted using survey
students? design because the study intended to investigate the
impact of smart phone usage on academic
RQ3. What are the effects of smartphones on
performance of students. The survey was
students’ academic capabilities?
conducted by handing out the questionnaire to fill
out.
RQ4. What are the purposes of smartphone usage?
Result:
RQ5. How much time student spend on
smartphone usage? The following table illustrates the impact of
smartphone:
Hypothesis:
Table 1.Do you use smart phone?
H1.It is more likely that students use smartphone
for entertainment. Respondents Frequency no yes
girls 20 0 20
Boys 30 0 30
H2.It is more likely that student hardily use
Percentage 50 0 50
smartphone for education. /Total

H3.It is more likely that excessive use of

smartphone effects student grade. 50 out of 50 respondents are having and using
smartphone
H4. It is more likely the students have lower grade
then those who use less smart phone.
Table2. How much time you spend using smart
phone?
From table no 5 majority of respondents said about
Respondents frequency % 70% that they are using their smartphones for both
6-8hrs. 26 52% entertainment and also for educational purpose.
2-4 hrs. 15 30%
< 2hrs. 2 4%
>10hrs. 7 14% Respondents frequency %
Total 50 100%
Entertainment 12 24%
Education 03 6%
Both 35 70%
From the above table we can see that 52%
Total 50 100%
respondents are using smartphone more than 6
hours a day whereas there are a very small
percentage of students who are using their The impact of smartphones on students learning
smartphone less than 2 hours which is 4 % on the can be examined from table no 6:
other hand 14% are using more than 10 hours a
day. Variables frequency % Total
Help studies 42 84 50
The impact of smart phone on students learning can
be examined from table no 3. Majority (74%) of Help 23 46 50
respondents says that the frequently check their getting course
smartphone while studying or in class room. material
Visiting 17 34 50
educational
site
Table 3.Do you keep checking you smart phone About 46% respondents said that their smartphones
while studying or in class room? help them getting their course material by visiting
educational sites while 34% are weekly visiting
Respondents frequency % educational sites for getting their educational
Yes 37 74% material
No 5 10%
Sometimes 8 16% Grade table
Total 50 100%
Respondents >3.5 >3.0 <3.5
CGPA
The impact of smart phone on students learning can % 36% 48% 16%
be examined from table no 3. Majority (74%) of Total F 50 50 50
respondents says that the frequently check their Total % 100 100 100
smartphone while studying or in class room.
From the above grade table we can see that there is
Table 4. Do you think smart phone is wastage of
greater %age of students about 48 % who are
time?
having CGPA above then 3.0/4.0 while on the
Respondents Frequency % second there is about 36% students are having
Yes 25 50% 3.5/4.0 CGPA. On the third there is only a little
No 25 50% percentage of students who are having CGPA
Total 50 100% below then 3.0

From the table no 4 we can examined that 50% of Conclusion:

respondents said that smart phone is wastage of
time while on the other hand 50% said that mobile In conclusion, based on the previous study, the
phone is not wastage of time. authors mentioned about disadvantages in using
smartphone on academic, it was showed the
students had their own problems and could effect
on academic. Apart from that, it was concluded
students addicted more on smartphone could will researcher is able to come out with the followings
harm the students in terms of health and also could findings.
not managed the time wisely. These consequences
can be reduced if the students used the smartphone The first analysis reveals that mobile phone usage
when needed and more important used on has the significant influence on academic
academic. According to our study, it is now easy performance among students in BZU MULTAN.
and convenient to draw a conclusion on the impact This was evident because all the answers from the
in using smartphone on academic in which the items indicate a positive response hence the highest
result has revealed that the smartphone have bring percentage agreed that mobile phone usage affects
the advantage and as well as disadvantage in the students’ academic performance.
progression on the student’s academic
The second finding shows that the daily time
performance. So that, there is a need to evaluate
consumption of 56% students on smartphone was
and also to understand better in using smartphone.
more than 6 to 8 hours. This is so because the
Increasingly students own smartphones will turn
analysis from this research has found that
The impacts in using smartphone on academic
availability of smartphone devices is a double
Advantages in using smartphone Support learning
edged sword and comes with both positives and
.The use of smartphones is actually a great
negatives.
advantage to users to communicate as well as
information-seeking mediums. Mobile phones as It is recommended to continue to explore more
facilitators in learning have benefited both students interactions of students and academic performances
and researchers. The research can also raise to ensure the success of all students, it is important
awareness among the students about the impact of to continue to study how to increase the average
using smartphone on academic performance. They GPA on male students. As well as other factors,
need to realize that an excessive use of the should continue to be explored, to guarantee all
smartphone will give a negative impact to them students have the same opportunities for academic
.The research study that can Obtain from the study performance success.
may help other researcher in their research. The
research that has been done will help to come up The students who were consuming much time on
with the new information that probably the smartphone had lower grades and they hardly use
researcher need to do their research study. smartphone for educational purpose. Students who
visit educational site almost every day have higher
The current research study and its findings showed grades than those who visit educational sites in a
that students give lot of importance to smartphones week, 15 days of a month. So this can be explore
and its use. Literature is abounding with the study further that how wisely should students use
that they spend more of their time in using smartphone to perform good in their studies
smartphone for entertainment and for study
purpose. Study also shows that more than half of According to the results, students who are using
the students agree that smartphone is important. their smartphones more for educational are getting
Study also shows that more than half of the higher grades which is the positive impacts of
students agreed that smartphone is important to smartphone use for learning activities and
greater extent for them and for their educational anticipate improvement in their academic
purposes. The finding also showed that most of the performance. There is previous literature
student taking online course material which is very illuminating the effects of online or virtual learning
beneficial in the academic performance.Grades of systems on students' learning outcome as well as
the most students are satisfactory which tells engagement and satisfaction (Chen et al., 2010;
students are not only using smartphone for Chou & Liu, 2005; Davis & Graff, 2005; Yu & Yu,
entertainment but for educational purposes.. 2010); however, there is very limited literature
examining the effect of smartphone use on students'
Discussion: learning outcome or engagement.

In this study 100% students had smartphones Based

on the data presented, analyzed and interpreted, the
 perspective.Journal ofComputer Assisted
Learning,21(1), 65–76
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