Empirical Review on Social Media and Academic performance

The rise of social media has resulted in its pervasiveness across cultures and continents. Distance has never been an obstacle to the spread of ideas and opinions thanks to the advent of social media. It’s undeniable that social media has given rise to new venues for communication, organization, and even instruction. Scholars from all around the world have been studying the effects of social media use, particularly its impact on students’ performance in the classroom. The goal of this research is to examine the empirical literature that has been published on the topic of how social media affects students’ ability to succeed in the classroom. Academic Success and Social Media Students’ grades tend to go up and down depending on how much time they spend on social media. Some research has suggested that using social media has a detrimental impact on academic achievement, while other research has suggested the opposite.

According to research by Junco (2012), college students’ grades might suffer if they spend too much time on Facebook. U.S. college students’ responses to surveys regarding their Facebook use, GPAs, and study habits were used in the study. According to the results, Facebook use significantly lowered GPA, with heavy Facebook users having a worse GPA than those who used the platform less frequently. Time spent on studying and attending courses was shown to have little impact on students’ grade point averages. This research shows that students who spend too much time on Facebook have worse test scores.

Al-Rahmi and Othman’s (2013) research found that students’ grades improved after they started using social media. 260 Malaysian college students were surveyed for the study. The results imply that students’ academic performance improves when they utilize social media because it facilitates their access to a plethora of educational materials, promotes collaborative learning among students, and allows them to engage with lecturers and tutors. According to the findings, social media can supplement conventional education by providing additional avenues for knowledge acquisition and educational materials.

However, a recent research by Kirschner and Karpinski (2010) showed contradictory results when looking at the relationship between social media and academic achievement. Using social media was found to have a negative impact on academic achievement. U.S. college students filled out a survey on their social media habits and academic achievement for the research. According to the results, social media users performed worse academically than those who did not use the platforms. More importantly, the study hints that the impact of social media use on academic performance may differ depending on the nature of the work and the user’s capacity for self-regulation. Because of the potential for social media use to lead to time waste and procrastination, the research also stressed the significance of self-regulation.

According to a meta-analysis conducted by Rosen, Lim, Carrier, and Cheever (2011), students’ usage of social media can have both beneficial and bad impacts on their schoolwork. Examining the connection between social media use, academic achievement, and mental health, the study took a meta-analysis technique. The results indicate that social media has a detrimental effect on academic performance because it causes students to lose track of time, become distracted, and have trouble sleeping. The study also suggests that social media has a beneficial effect on academic performance since it facilitates easy access to information, the dissemination of knowledge, and the participation in academic conversation with peers and teachers. The impact of social media on student success has been studied extensively in recent years.

Abilene Christian University conducted a research in 2019 that indicated students who spent less than 30 minutes per day on social media had higher GPAs than those who spent more time on the platforms. The majority of students in the research also claimed a lack of self-control when it came to restricting their social media use and stated that they were distracted by social media when studying. Conclusion In conclusion, there is a nuanced association between social media use and academic success. There is conflicting evidence about the influence of social media use on students’ academic achievement. Academic performance appears to be affected in both positive and bad ways by social media, according to the research examined here.

There is mounting evidence that using social media can have a negative impact on students’ academic performance by encouraging behaviors including procrastination, lack of attention, and insufficient sleep. However, social media may improve the quality of education by facilitating the dissemination of a plethora of educational resources, fostering collaborative learning among students, and facilitating student-instructor communication.

Students must learn to self-regulate their social media use by setting limits on their time spent online, prioritizing schoolwork, and finding a happy medium between the two. Guidelines for student usage of social media and increased understanding of how students’ time online affects their grades are two ways that educational institutions may help their students succeed.

 

References

Junco, R. (2012). The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Computers & Education, 58(1), 162-171.

Al-Rahmi, W. M., & Othman, M. S. (2013). The impact of social media use on academic performance among university students: A pilot study. Journal of Information Systems Research and Innovation, 4, 1-10.

Kirschner, P. A., & Karpinski, A. C. (2010). Facebook® and academic performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(6), 1237-1245.

Rosen, L. D., Lim, A. F., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2011). An empirical examination of the educational impact of social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(3), 1252-1261.

Abilene Christian University. (2019). Social media limits boost students’ GPAs. Retrieved from https://www.acu.edu/news/2019/02/social-media-limits-boost-students-gpas.html.