Abstract

The study examined impact of social media on academic performance of selected secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State. Two research questions were raised with two corresponding hypotheses formulated to guide the study. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study consisted of 685 SS2 and SS3 students from selected public secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State. The entire population was used for the study since the population was small and manageable. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire which was validated by two experts from Benson Idahosa University, Benin City. Spearman rank order was used to determine the reliability of the instrument which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.87. Out of the 685 questionnaires administered to the respondents, 672 copies were retrieved and used for analysis. Mean and standard deviation were descriptive statistical tools that were used to analyze the two research questions while t-test was the inferential statistics used to test the two null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. For the research questions, the decision was based on the criterion mean of 2.50. For the hypotheses, if the calculated value of t (t-cal) is less than the table value of t (t-crit), the null hypotheses will be accepted. The findings of the study revealed that the use of social media among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State is to a high extent and social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State to a high extent. The null hypothesis 1 was retained while the null hypothesis 2 was rejected. The study recommended among other things that students should be shown the value of reinvesting the time and effort saved by technology into higher-order tasks that matter to their learning, such as writing a complex argument, reading difficult texts, and debating ideas with others as this will enhance their academic performance.

1. Introduction

Education is the bedrock for meaningful development of any country. Education plays crucial and cardinal role in the development of human resources of a country. A country cannot develop beyond the level of education of its citizenry who form the country’s human resources ¹. Secondary School education is the bridge between the primary and tertiary levels. The importance of secondary education made the Federal Government of Nigeria to state the broad aims of secondary education as “preparation for useful living within the society and for higher education” ². Today, education is significantly shifting from traditional classroom setting to a more advanced technology based settings which is one of the most rapid developments anyone can imagine. The world has 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. Technology has helped both teachers and students alike to be better informed, enlightened, as well as keep up-to-date with the ever dynamic and changing world. Today’s emerging technology such as the social media is taking a firm place in education as well as in many people's lives to the point that it has become difficult to imagine an individual who at least once a day did not check for updates in the social media.

Nwoburuoke and Eremie ³ referred to social media as the means of interactions among people in which they create, share and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual or online communities and network. Social media creates the opportunity to network with other people who share similar or common interest, dreams and goals. Kim and Kim ⁴ stated that social media are the emerging digital communication channels which create a user oriented information sharing ground where any individual can generate or subscribe information content as both information provider and consumer. Buettner ⁵ sees social media as computer mediated tools that allow people or companies to create, share or exchange information, career interest, ideas, pictures/ virtual communities and networks. Social media are referred to as social, simply because they allow communication with friends whether physical or internet friends, class mates, teachers, and principals, among others so easily and effectively. Social media networking sites include: Twitter, Yahoo Messenger, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp messenger, Blogger, Instagram, Youtube, Telegram, Skype, Google talk, Google Messenger, iPhone and Androids ⁶.

Social media has emerged to be one of the most important communication tools. It exist so as to ease communication among people regardless of the expanse, making it open for people to easily share information, files such as pictures and videos, create blogs, send messages, and conduct real-time conversations. For example, with WhatsApp messenger, communication through mobile phones has become easier, faster and cheaper. It is cheaper when compared to the other phone messaging. A teacher can chat as well as exchange files such as voice messages, audio, videos and documents with his/her students from anywhere through WhatsApp ⁶. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, among others have brought tremendous improvement in the communication system which enhances learning. With the aid of the internet, students can form their own page, have access to news and current affairs, and receive class notes via email sent to them by their class teachers. An additional benefit of social media is that they are frequently free to use or merely require marginal investment, therefore eliminating a potential barrier to its adoption ⁷. Wheeler, Yeomans and Wheeler ⁸ stated that there has been various overview and opinions which recognized four major advantages of social media use in secondary school education. These include, enhancing relationship among students, improving learning motivation, offering personalized subject materials, and developing collaborative abilities. This means that social media activities have the potential of enhancing student contact and is used to improve their participation in class, particularly where introverted students are involved.

Although social media has been recognized as an important resource for education today, one can however argue that the reason most students in secondary schools tend to perform poorly in their academic pursuit might be as a result of their over indulgence in social media. While many minds might be quick to blame the poor quality of teachers, they might have to re-think and consider why they are yet to hear of the Facebook frenzy ⁹. Ellison ¹⁰ stated that students use social media such as Youtube, Facebook and Instagram for fun, to kill time, to meet existing friends or to make new ones. Olubiyi ¹¹ noted that, students are now engrossed in social media that even during class hours, some students are busy pinging, whatsapping or facebooking. Obi, Bulus, Adamu and Sala’at ¹² had observed that the use of these social media networking sites also affects students’ use of English and grammar. The students are used to short forms of writing words in their chat rooms to the point that they tend to forget, and use the same in their classrooms and even during examinations. Students use things like ‘4’ in place of ‘for’, ‘U’ in place of ‘You’, ‘D’ in place of ‘The’, and this could impact on their academic performance.

Academic performance is the outcome of the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has achieved their educational goals. This is commonly measured by examinations or continuous assessment; however there is no general agreement on how it is best tested or which aspects are most important, either procedural knowledge such as skills nor declarative knowledge such as facts (Annie, Howard & Mildred in Osharive ¹³). The role of academic performance as one of the predictors of students’ success, academic placement in schools and the level of employability in an individual’s career cannot be overstated. Therefore, stakeholders such as parents or guardians, teachers, students, and well-wishers are concerned with the ways students can enhance their academic performance. In today’s world where technology is increasingly invading all economic sectors education inclusive, secondary school students are seen to be exposed to smart phones and computers. They spend time on the internet making use of social media applications accompanying these smart phones and computers. Precious times that ought to have been channeled towards learning and academic pursuit have been diverted by the passion for meeting new friends online, and in most cases, they are busy engaging in unimportant discussions at the expense of their academic work. Thus, there might be an influence between the use of social media and students’ academic performance, bearing in mind that social media tend to bridge the gap between two or more persons. It is against this background that the study sought to determine the impact of social media on academic performance of selected secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State.

The educational system in Nigeria is faced with so many challenges which have certainly brought about rapid decline in the quality of education. Students' academic performance has particularly experienced drastic decline, as a result of poor classroom participation, low grades in internal and external examinations. It appears that students are addicted to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram, Tiktok, MySpace, LinkedIn, Mebo, Email, Youtube, Zoom, Blogs, among many others. Students use most of their time in chatting on issues unrelated to their studies. Some students apparently fail to pay attention to their class teachers, as they chat and observe other social media activities. Student’s attention has been shifted from visible to invisible friends, while important matters such as academic work might be affected in the process. Asemah and Edegoh, ⁶ described this situation affirming that it is a common sight to see students chatting in sensitive and highly organized places such as churches, mosques and classrooms, even on the highway. This has become a major challenge which has negatively influenced their academic performance and has become a source of worry to many who believe in knowledge and skill acquisition. This study therefore examined the impact of social media on academic performance of selected secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State.

The main purpose of this study was to examine impact of social media on academic performance of selected secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State. More specifically, the study sought to; examine the extent which social media is used among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District of Edo State, determine the extent which social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District of Edo State.

The following research questions were raised to guide the study.

To what extent is social media used among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State?

To what extent do social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State?

The following hypotheses were stated for this study.

Ho₁: There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of respondents on the extent which social media is used among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State based on gender.

Ho₂: There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of respondents on the extent which social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State based on location.

2. Literature Review

Azizi, Soroush, Khatony ¹⁴ stated that social media sites are commonly utilized by secondary school students, as they spend a lot of their precious time on these sites as a part of their daily live activities. Studies revealed that among the various age groups of students, university students are among the most using social media platforms followed by secondary school students ¹⁵; Sheldon, ¹⁶; Raymond & Afua ¹⁷. However, exposure and use of social media tend to have both positive and negative implications on the student. The use of Social media platforms has raised dust among researchers. Some see it as distraction to learning for the student as it involves multitasking, while others attest to the potentials of social media platforms for learning. There are also those who argue that young adult learners such as those in secondary schools view and use Social media platforms as a platform for socializing more than learning. No doubt, social media affords students with multiple opportunities to improve their learning as well as easy access to recent information merely by connecting with learning groups on Facebook, Whatsapp, Telegram and other educational systems ¹⁸. Students can also exchange information by connecting with different individuals on the go. This can have a positive impact on student academic performance ¹⁹.

Social media invariably has an impact on student mental health; which refers to their emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Since secondary school students spend a lot of their time on social media either during the day or at night, it can be contended that such technologies can lead to depression and anxiety among students. Woods and Scott ²⁰ stated that social media has more adverse effects than positive ones. This is because, students tend to spend much of their time on social media other than focusing more on their academic work; and this most likely causes distractions from the learning environment, and thereby affecting their academic performance ²¹. Moreso, spending a lot of time on social media platforms leads to an inactive lifestyle and a decrease in daily physical activity levels, which in turn renders students vulnerable to non-communicable diseases such as obesity.

The theory that guided this study was Uses and Gratification theory developed by Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch in 1974 as cited by Wimmer and Dominick ²². The theory generally lays more emphasis on “what people do with media” rather than “what media do to people” (Katz, cited in Idakwo ²³). Uses and gratifications theory is the study of the gratifications or benefits that attract and hold audiences to various types of media and the types of content that satisfy their social and psychological needs. Social media platforms as new media of communication also lends itself to uses and gratifications approach, in part due to its interactive nature ²⁴. Uses and gratifications research has typically focused on how media are used to satisfy cognitive and affective needs involving personal needs and entertainment needs ²⁵. In other words instead of expecting that media messages have immediate, uniform impacts on the individuals who gobble them, the uses and gratifications theory suggests that beneficiaries make planned, purposeful choices about the media messages they are exposed to and at what significant time taking into cognizance that individual needs and cravings are independent and can impact on them positiverightly or wrongly. Relating this theory to this current study, it shows that secondary school students use social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Twitter among others just to satisfy their needs which may either be physical or psychological irrespective of the direction of its influence on their academic performance. Besides, it offers explanations to suggest that students use these platforms for varying reasons. In other words, users select social media based on how well each one helps them meet specific needs or goals. As a result, this study sought to examine impact on academic performances of the uses and gratification derived from social media by students in selected secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State.

3. Methodology

This study made use of the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consists of 685 students from selected secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State. The entire population was used for the study since the population was small and manageable. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire on a four (4) point rating scale. The instrument was validated by two experts from Benson Idahosa University, Benin City. Spearman rank order was used to determine the reliability of the instrument which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.87. Six hundred and eighty five (685) copies of the questionnaire were administered to the respondents by the researcher with the help of two research assistants. However, out of the 685 copies administered, only 672 copies were retrieved representing 98% retrieval rate. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while t-test was used to test the two null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. For the research questions, the decision was based on the criterion mean of 2.50. Thus, any item whose mean value was 2.50 or above were accepted while any item having a mean value lower than 2.50 was rejected. For the hypotheses, if the calculated value of t (t-cal) is greater than the table value of t (t-crit), the hypothesis will be rejected; whereas, if the calculated value of t (t-cal) is less than the table or critical value of t (t-crit), the hypothesis will be accepted.

4. Presentation of Results

Research Question 1: To what extent is the use of social media among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State?

Analysis in Table 1 reveals that the mean scores range from 3.61– 3.98. The respondents rated high extent to all the statements in items 1 - 5. Data on Table 1 further shows the grand mean score of 3.77, which falls above the cutoff point of 2.50 which is high extent. This reveals that the use of social media among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State is to a high extent. The grand standard deviation of 0.49 which is less than 1 indicates that the opinion of the respondents do not differ much.

Research Question 2: To what extent do social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State?

Analysis in Table 2 reveals that the mean scores range from 2.14 – 4.00. The respondents rated high extent to the statements in items 6, 7, 8, and 10. However, the respondents rated low extent on item 9. Data on Table 2 shows the grand mean score of 3.44, which falls above the cutoff point of 2.50 which is high extent. This reveals that social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State to a high extent. The grand standard deviation of 0.52 which is less than 1 indicates that the opinion of the respondents do not differ much.

5. Hypotheses

Ho₁: There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of respondents on the extent which social media is used among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State based on gender.

From the t-test table, since t-cal (-1.071) < t-crit (1.963), we retain Ho. The null hypothesis is hereby retained that there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of respondents on the extent which social media is used among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State based on gender.

Ho₂: There is no significant difference in the mean ratings of respondents on the extent which social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State based on location.

From the t-test table, since t-cal (3.566) > t-crit (1.963), we reject Ho. The null hypothesis is hereby rejected that there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of respondents on the extent which social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State based on location.

6. Discussion of Findings

Research Question 1 sought to find out the extent which social media is used among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State. The findings of the study revealed that students make use of social media to a high extent. Student make use of social media in the following ways; students use social media sites in developing themselves, enhancing their knowledge and creativity, leveraging their knowledge exchange, and increasing their technical skills and abilities; students make use of social media platforms to communicate among themselves, meet new friends, share photos, audios, voice notes as well as videos; students make use of social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram for fun or to kill time and boredom; students make use of the social media platforms in enhancing individual and group relationships; and students’ use of social media reduces the amount of time they spend on their academic activities. This finding collaborates with Wheeler, Yeomans and Wheeler ⁸ who submitted that there has been various overview and opinions which recognized four major advantages of social media use in secondary school education. These include, enhancing relationship among students, improving learning motivation, offering personalized subject materials, and developing collaborative abilities.

Research Question 2 sought to find out the extent which social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State. The findings of the study revealed that social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State to a high extent. This study found that social media influence student’s academic performance in the following ways: through social media, students create their own page, have access to news and current affairs, and receive class notes via email sent to them by their class teachers; social media networks help students in joining educational networks, interact with colleagues and access e-learning resources; the use of WhatsApp and other social media in sharing files such as documents, class notes and other materials help students in their studies as knowledge is being disseminated among them; social media however shifts students attention from visible to invisible friends, while important ventures like study and writing is most likely affected in the process. This findings is in line with Olubiyi ¹¹ who noted that these days, students are so engrossed in social media that they are almost 24 hours online and that even during school hours, some students are always busy pinging, Whatsapping or Facebooking. Asemah and Edegoh ⁶ observed that teachers can chat as well as exchange files such as voice messages, audio, videos and documents with his/her students from anywhere through social media such as WhatsApp.

Hypothesis 1 sought to find out if there was significant difference in the mean ratings of respondents on the extent which social media is used among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State based on gender. The analysis revealed that the null hypothesis was retained that there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of respondents on the extent which social media is used among selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State based on gender. Hypothesis 2 on the other hand sought to examine if there was a significant difference in the mean ratings of respondents on the extent which social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State based on location. The analysis revealed that the null hypothesis was rejected that there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of respondents on the extent which social media influence academic performance of selected secondary school students in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State based on location.

7. Conclusion

This study examined impact of social media on academic performance of selected secondary schools in Edo South Senatorial District, Edo State. From the findings of the study, it could be concluded that secondary school students studied make use of social media for different purposes and at different times. The influence of social media on student’s academic performance cannot be overemphasized. However, if students use social media correctly, it will be useful for their career and academic performance. Social media platforms offer secondary school educators with myriad of tools to motivate, inspire and expand the minds of their students.

8. Recommendations

The study recommends the following;

Whether one likes it or not, social media has come to stay and therefore, teachers should ensure to post student-friendly activities on social media, homework, and assignments, which would prove beneficial. With proper use of social media apps students are likely going to improve their engrossment in educational programmes, develop their technological ability, attain a great sense of collaboration in the classroom, and build good networking skills.

Social media can either influence student’s academic performance positively or negatively. Therefore, students should be shown the value of reinvesting their time and effort saved by technology use into higher-order tasks that matters to their learning, such as writing a complex report, reading difficult texts, and debating ideas with others.

The school authorities should organize workshops and seminars regularly for secondary school teachers and school staff on social media usage and its influence on student’s academic performance so that they can effectively monitor the behaviour and performance of students.

References