The impact of the increased use of technology and social media

According to Khan (2012), social networks are web based platforms which enables users to create profile identities which enable them to form associations and connections with other individuals on the sites, thus facilitating communication. Today, social media plays a very important role in our lives when it comes to activities like shopping, conducting business transactions, sending electronic emails and also education. Social media sites have become a daily routine for majority of its users (Khan, 2012).

According to research by Siddiqui and Singh (2016), technology has shown great advancement through the introduction of small communication gadgets like mobile phones, iPads and laptops which can be used to gain access to social media sites. The research also shows that up to 90 percent of university students use social media sites like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, being the most accessed.

Over the years, the increased use of social media sites has turned into an international phenomenon. According to a survey conducted in the United States of America by Haque (2014), results revealed that in the year 2014, 15. 4 million people were using Facebook and this represented 8. 5 percent of the country’s population. Due to the numerous advancements taking place when it comes to technological development of social media sites, the main concern arises due to the popularity of these sites among students.

For this research, academic performance is the dependent variable. Academic performance was defined as the student’s success in meeting certain long-term or short-term goals when it comes to education. As the years go by, various studies have been conducted on social media usage, and findings show that it has both a negative and positive effect on academic performance. There are numerous factors which have an influence on the relationship between social media use and academic performance which include what time of the day do students mostly use social media sites? How much time do they spend on social media sites? How do students use social media sites?

According to research done by Akhtar (2013) shows that social media use, can have both positive and negative effects on the academic performance of university students. The same research showed that there was a no relationship between time spent on social media and poor academic performance. On the other hand, the study’s recommendations included the use of social media for academic purposes.

According to Kuppuswamy and Narayan (2010), when it comes to attention, social media sites tend to easily grab the attention of students, hence diverting it towards other non-educational actions like chatting instead of focusing in class. Studies show that time spent on social media sites affects one’s attention span. According to Shan (2012), students with high attention spans spent less time on social media sites compared to those with low attention spans.

According to studies done by Brydolf (2007), shows that the excessive use of the internet causes internet addiction among students. This in turn interferes with the time allocated for students to study hence resulting to low interest in class attendance and participation, which leads to a major drop in academic performance. In addition to chatting during class, most students also view each other’s profiles, listen to music, watch online videos, update their profiles, search for people and also track their friend’s online activities (Ramesh and Nisha, 2017).

Internet addiction can also contribute to mental and psychological problems like depression, loneliness and anxiety which factors that negatively influence academic performance (Brydolf, 2007). The physiological well-being of students is also a very important factor when it comes to academic performance. Excessive usage of the internet has proven to be damaging to the health of students and other frequent users. According to O’keeffe and Pearson, (2011), excessive use of the internet is damaging to health in that it contributes to sleep deprivation, insomnia and chronic illnesses.

According to research done by Paul et al. (2012), it was observed there is a positive association between the use of social media sites and academic performance. Studies revealed that students who frequently used the internet and social media sites scored highly in reading tests and thus performed well academically. According to Roblyer et al. (2010), the use of social media sites like Skype and YouTube can be useful when it comes to learning in that, they can be used to connect students with educational experts thus enriching education.

Studies conducted by Mason and Rennie (2007), revealed that many universities maintain groups and profiles on social media sites which provide a platform in which both students and faculty members, can voice their ideas and also share resources. This means that social media created an inter-group community which excites young people and can contribute to a student’s motivation to learn.