Use of social networks and its impact on student’s life

Prepared For
Ma’am Noor-e-Matin
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology

Prepared By
Aimen Saeed (FA15-BES-002)
Dua Amjad (FA15-BES-005)
Seera Sabir (FA15-BES-020)
Faiqa Azhar (FA15-BES-031)

December 26, 2017

Executive Summary:

1
Social media is a popular method for communication among university students. However,
sometime social media usage can raise many questions about whether it affects student’s academic
performance. We investigate this by conducting surveys on university students. We find out that
students use social media, which provides better ways for connecting with friends, classmates, and
other people. Many students rely on social media for accessibility of information. This survey also
explains the negative impacts of social media on student’s academic performance. Students spend
more time on social media for chatting and many other purposes, which reduce their focus on
studies. Many students highlighted that except social media usage, time management is another
factor, which affects their academic performance.

The findings of this research are used for making effective plans for improving student’s academic
performance. Social media should be used for communication, and sharing their views not for
wasting time. We designed questions to determine various factors of social media that have
impacts on student’s performance or education.

Table of contents
SECTION I
Introduction….......................................................................................04
2
Background Information…………………………………………………04-05
Statement of the Problem/Purpose………………………………………05
Significance of the Study…………………………………………………05
Review of Related Literature……………………………………………….05
Scope of the Study…………………………………………………………05
Limitations of the Study……………………………………………………06
Methods of the Study………………………………………………………06

SECTION II
Findings……………………………………………………………………06-08
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………08
Recommendations………………………………………………………….08
References………………………………………………………………….08
Appendix…………………………………………………………………..09-10

3
Topic:
“Use of social networks and its impact on student’s life?”
SECTION I
Introduction:
Since the last centuries internet has lead to many global changes in our lives. Internet has lessened the
communication barrier and makes it easy and fast to get any information about anything. It enables us to
communicate globally. Due to these technologies, social sites become more popular among people and it has a
great effect on their lives. Internet has many advantages as well as many disadvantages it effect the life both
positively and negatively depend upon the way of use that we use it positively or use it negatively .

Background information:
Every technology is made for the betterment of the society but unfortunately, “the blessing turns into curse” after
few years. Everything has positive and negative sides depending on how we use that thing. As social media has
many positive effects but it has some negative aspects as well.

 First, when students spend our energies in social sites playing online games on Facebook etc. They have
no energy to study or to do their home assignments. A direct relationship exists between Social media
usage and the academic performance of students.
 There is also some health concern related to these technologies as students use mobiles, laptops all day it
badly affects their eyes, skin, and brain when their health is no fit how they can study properly eventually
it affects their studies.
 Directly affect the future of any students when they waste their time, energies on social media playing games,
viewing video clips, online chatting, and his impact of social media sites on student’s academic
performance. Posting, commenting, they did not pay any attention towards their studies, which leads to
failure in examination, or any other educational activity and then when they have no proper educational
degree how can they get good jobs and participate in competitions.

4
 Statement of the problem:
Today internet is the most important way of getting information. Since the influence of social media sites academic
performance of students are facing negligence and many challenges. General purpose of the study was to find out the
impact of social media sites on student’s academic performance.
 Impact on student’s academic performance.
 Benefits of social media.
 Why students use social media?
Significance of the study:
This study explains the importance of usage of social media sites and their effects on student’s academic
performance and their lives. Also, provide awareness to the people about the negative impacts of SNS on their
health.
Review of related literature:
Increased use of social networking sites has become an international phenomenon in the past few years. Teenagers
and adults use SNS to connect with people, and to share information. It causes gradual decrease in student’s grades
and adversely affects their studies. Many researchers are working to explore the correlation between social
networking sites and academic performance. Those students, who use Facebook and Twitter, have a shorter span of
attention in classrooms. Such sites create many problems for teachers because abbreviations commonly used on
sites such as Twitter and Facebook are making it into coursework, essays, and experiment write-ups. The sites and
articles through which we collected the literature are-
 (http://ezinearticles.com/?Facebook-Has-a-Negative-Impact-on-the-Concentration-of-Students&id=5692798)
 (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article6078321.ece)
 (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8142721/Social-networking-teachers-blame-Facebook-and-
Twitter-for-pupils-poor-grades.html)
 ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2254235/.)
 (Journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/comphumbeh)
 ( http://mashable.com/2011/04/27/facebook-effect-students/)
 (http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0, 8599, 1891111, 00.html#ixzz1umHlCJ1e)
 (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00387.x/full)
 (http://www.dailytargum.com/news/facebook-slightly-affects-student-grades-study-says/article_75cdde4a-4584-
11e1-84aa-001a4)
Scope of the study:
The scope of the study is that we included the students of CIIT VEHARI CAMPUS to conduct surveys in the
university, to know the influence of social networking sites on the student’s studies and their life.

5
Limitations of the study:
The limitations of the study are that we want to go to other campuses and other institutes for surveys but due to the
lack of time and transport facilities we cannot go there for surveys and we are only able to conduct a survey and
collect data from our campus.
Methods of study:
The methods through which we collect data to make this formal report are both usage of primary data and
secondary data.
 Primary data: The data, which we collected through surveys, and by asking different questions from
students and the person’s related to an educational profession that are using social networking sites.
 Secondary data: The data, which we collected from the internet source.
Data and Sample:
The survey research study method was working and a structured feedback form was used to collect data from the
desired sample. After secondary data collection through the internet, a primary research was carried out using a
feedback form. The feedback form was well structured and the responses were required from the respondents. The
nature of the questions was such that it avoided unclear responses from the respondents and it helped in the quick
analysis of the data collected.
Survey:
Individual questioning collected the responses. The responses were taken from the students in the Institute area
from departments like MANAGEMENT SCIENCES, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, MA-ENGLISH, and
COMPUTER SCIENCE. The responses are gathered in a standardized way.

SECTION II
Findings and Discussion:
To investigate the relationship between social networks and impact on students’ academic performance, we chose a
sample of students who were in the age bracket of 18 to 25 years. The students were chosen from the
undergraduate program.
Gender Percentage
Male 40
Female 60

Students have internet access in the university and their hostels/house. The conventional model of studying for
these students is classroom instruction. While the institution facilitates education through educational networks
within the college like Blackboard, the students are well exposed to online social networks.

6
Table 1: Favorite social media sites
Sites Frequency Percentage
Facebook 1002 66.4
Whatsapp 301 19.9
Twitter 94 6.2
Skype 51 3.3
My Space 40 2.6
Yahoo Messenger 20 1.3
Total 1508 100
Table 2: Time spent on social media site per day
Response Frequency Percentage
30 minutes-1 hour 1001 66.3
2-3 hours 485 32.2
4-5 hours 22 1.5
Total 1508 100
Table 3: Why Students Use Social Media
Response Frequency Percentage
Chatting 1308 86.8
Downloading Music and 104 6.8
Video
Academic work 96 6.4
Total 1508 100
Table 4: Social Media Affect Student’s Academic Work
Response Frequency Percentage
Yes 1208 80.1
No 164 18.6
Not Certain 36 2.3
Total 1508 100
Table 5: Improvement in Academic Work by Social Media
Response Frequency Percentage
No 1120 74.2
Yes 301 19.9
Not Sure 87 5.7
Total 1508 100
7
There is a strong positive relationship between the dependent variable (academic performance) and the independent
variable (time spent) at a significant level of 0.01. This indicates that more time spent on social media affects
excellent academic performance. Therefore spending much time on social media contributes to low academic
performance.
Conclusion:
The study was conducted to inspect the impact of students’ use of social media sites on their academic
performance. The study revealed that majority of the respondents had mobile phones with internet facility and had
knowledge of the existence of social media sites. As a result, they visit their social media sites and spend between
thirty minutes to three hours every day. In addition, the study revealed that the use of social media had affected the
academic performance of the respondents negatively and further confirmed that there was a strong positive
relationship between the use of social media and academic performance. The study further revealed that most
respondents use the social media sites to chat rather than for academic purpose.
Recommendations:
Based on the findings, the researchers made some recommendations as follows:
 Students with phones having internet facility should be encouraged to either use it to increase their research
in the library rather than the usual chatting with friends all the time.
 Students should be advised to limit the time they spend on social media sites per day and encourage them to
rather substitute those hours to read novels and relevant academic books to improve their knowledge.
 Since the study confirmed that the use of social media sites had affected the academic performance of
students negatively, there is the urgent need for the introduction of students to the availability of novels and
other materials in the library that can help them better their academic performance.
 It is further recommended that students be advised during orientation of the dangers of addiction to social
networking sites. They should be introduced to sites that can add values to their academic work and
research.
References:-
http://www.academia.edu/11325295/SOCIAL_MEDIA_AND_ACADEMIC_PERFORMANCE_OF_STUDE
NTS_IN_UNIVERSITY_OF_LAGOS
http://rmc.kuis.edu.my/irmic/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/IMPACT-OF-SOCIAL-MEDIA-USAGE-ON-
ACADEMIC-PERFORMANCE-OF-UNIVERSITY-STUDENTS.pdf
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1083595.pdf
https://bohatala.com/impact-of-social-networking-sites-on-academic-performance-of-students/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283723637_The_Impact_of_Social_Media_use_on_Academic_Performa
nce_among_university_students_A_Pilot_Study

Appendix:

8
Questionnaire:
(The survey is being conducted for the research regarding “Effect of Social Networking Sites on the Academic
performance of Students.” Your participation will greatly help to obtain the results…)
Name: -----------------------------------------------------------------
Gender: Age:
Male Female

1. What Social media sites do you use?

a) YouTube
b) Twitter
c) Facebook
d) Whatsapp
e) Any other: ___________________________
2. How many social networking sites do you use?
a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) More than 3
3. How much time do you spend on social media sites?
a) 30min
b) 1 hour
c) 2 hours
d) 3 hours
e) More than 3 hours
f) 0 hours

4. Do you use social networking sites through your mobile phone?

a) Yes
b) No
5. You use social media primarily for?
9
a) Downloading music/video
b) Uploading music/video
c) Posting photos
d) Blogging
e) Creating polls/quizzes or surveys
f) Chatting
g) Submitting articles to website
h) Communication with teachers/class fellows
i) Any other: __________________________________
6. Do you have more friends on social networking sites as compared to real life?
a) Yes
b) No
7. Do you prefer to express your ideas and feelings on social networking sites?
a) Yes
b) No
8. Do you think social networking sites affect your study timings?
a) Yes
b) No
9. Do you think social networking sites can be an effective tool for e-learning?
a) Yes
b) No
10. What kind of communities to do you subscribe to on social networking sites?
a) Educational
b) Entertainment
c) Informational
d) Any other

10