Influence of Social Media Network and the Internet on the Study Habits of Student

By
Tawakalit. A. Adegbite-Badmus,
And
Abimbola A. Akinwande
Department of Library and Information Science
The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro,
Ogun State, Nigeria.

Abstract

This investigation sought to assess the use of social media and its influences on the academic
performance of students. It was case study which focused on students of a leading
polytechnic in Nigeria. The study revealed the level of access of students to the Internet has
improved tremendously – a large percentage of the respondents have mobile phones,
laptops/palmtops with constant internet facility and internet sites. While many of these
respondents spend between one and three hours on daily basis chatting, messaging with
families and friends; It was also confirmed from the study that the use of social media sites,
hand phones, laptops and affected the students’ academic performance negatively. The study
suggests that students would need to be encouraged to use social media for research and
academic activities rather than the irrelevant messages and chatting with friends. A majority
of the students use the social media for activities and tasks not related to academics. On the
other hand, library and information science professionals would need to re-invent their
engagement modules for students as many of them shun the conventional library. It could be
realistic to devise ways of making them use the “libraries on their palms and in their
pockets” more meaningfully. Especially for academic purposes.

Keywords: Academic performance, Study Habit, Internet Usage, Students, Social Media,
Websites, Influence.

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Background Study

The incursion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the human
environment has brought about rapid interaction of humans with their environment. The
intervention and use of the Internet came with many “search engines” created to assist man in
searching for information often times this is called “surfing the net”. Many users have easy
interactions with one other in virtually all human endeavour. People exchange ideas and
information through these search engines to update and keep up with events in global world.
The global world have been turned into an information hamlet where interaction and
information spread across the globe.

Social network is or can be described as an avenue to exchange ideas and information within
so many people, it can also be the use of websites designed to build and reflect social
relations among people and organization who share connections, interest and activities.

Adomi and Ajirefe (2012) defined social networking as activities, practices and behavior
among communities of people who share information, knowledge and opinion online using
interactive media. Also, Andersen (2009) described social media networks as the networked
tools that allow people to meet, interact, artifacts and interest with each other. Shirk (2008)
asserts that social media network facilitate the creation of groups and the exploration of new
ways of gathering and getting things done in a proper way.

According to Abdullahi, Samadi and Gharleghi (2014). The emergence of social network has
positive and negative effects on individuals within communities. The network brought
development to some areas and at the same time brought calamities of the highest order,
while some communities, individuals, personalities rejoice over the emergence of the
network some sing and are singing sad songs to erase off the calamities it wrecked in them. It
gives up to date information; faster to send information across; cheap and affordable; saves
the time of the sender of information; guarantees safe and instantaneous delivery of
information to where it is send; it also cut across boundaries, ethnicity and it is globally
accepted.

The advantages of the social network also include; worldwide connectivity, communality of
interest, real-time information sharing, targeted advertising and it also increase news circle
speed. While the following were given as the disadvantages: Backlash, cyber booting and
crime against children, risk of fraud and identify theft, time waster and corporate invasion of
privacy. (Nansoh and Allahde; 2014).

2
Statement of the Problem

The use and misuse of the social media and the Internet have engaged researchers across the
world in recent times. Reed (2015), has documented patterns of these research trends. In
Nigeria, there is need for more studies on influences of social media on students for, among
other reasons, the students are heavy uses of the internet. As Folayan et al (2018) recently
found, students use phone data more than any other social category in Nigeria. The particular
patterns of these users (and perhaps misuses) remain to be sufficiently studied.

Some experts believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages when it concerns the
students. (Owusu Acheaw, & Larson, 2015; Zahim, et al., 2016).

Millions of students have become comfortable using smart phones to share information about
themselves via mobile applications that access social networks such as facebook, Twitter,
Whatsapp, Instagram, Telegram, Skype, 2go etc. In most Nigerian campuses today, it is
common to see all the student with one type of mobile phone/handsets in which instant
information is retrieved and sent. Generally, it is known that they use these communication
tools to exchange ideas, information, pictures and videos; connect family and friends. The
extent to which these are deployed for academic purpose have been on the increase in more
developed societies. (Andrew Reed, 2015). Indeed, studies have shown that social
networking has had impact on students’ academic activities and performance mostly negative
impacts. (Odi, 2007, Oye, 2012, and Zahim, et al. 2016). Iro-Idoro and Jimoh (2017) also
found that, often time uses on face book perform poorly in academics; in the same manner it
was found out that frequent use of mobile phones is correlated with academic difficulty and
failure among universities students. They also found that the use of new media teens and
youths has changed their ways of thinking, working and communicating had become addicted
to technology and it has changed some hitherto extroverts to introverts. (Iro-Idoro and Jimoh,
2017).

However, social network has opened avenues of socialization to some of the youth or teens
and gained more at an advantage position than their peers. (Junco, Heibergert and Loken. et
al, (2011). Yet, the specific effects or impacts of technology-mediated socialization remains
to be clearly understood, especially with regards to Nigerian students and their academic
habits.

3
Related Literature

Owusu-Achew and Larson (2015) opined that, academic habits can be thought of as effective
routines for learning and they ultimately lead to academic skills and abilities. The Tree Utility
of Habits are used repeatedly and can be informed as the student grows. Freedom and the
nurture of habits: only the individual can develop his habits. Parents and teachers can help
nurture good habits but they cannot force the development of good habits.

Parents can encourage and nurture their children’s habits by:

- Creating routines at home for development of academic habits

- Speaking with your children about the importance of their habits
- Recognizing weakness and reinforcing effective academic habits,
- Remembering the true goal having your child become personally invested in his own
work.
- Speaking with teachers and mentors about your child in order to gain perspective and
new ideas.
- Telling your child about the importance of his/her habits is not as effective as showing
your son the usefulness of a habit.
- The definition of success is when a student takes ownership of a useful habit and
makes it his/her own.
- Proper monitoring and control of what children engaged with online should also be
one of the parenting roles for our children and wards.

It is therefore necessary to discuss the following factors that promote successful Academic
Habits which are;

 Having a distraction free, well-lit desk for study with a clock nearby.
 Finishing homework before dinner and before the student is tired at the end of the day
whenever possible.
 Creating flash cards for memorization
 Employing the help of parents to proofread essays.
 Working ahead when possible to avoid procrastination.

However, with the above mentioned factors that promote reading habits there are also
hindrances to academic habits which are; Procrastination, not getting enough sleep, wasting

4
of weekend time, not paying attention in the classroom, and the highest of it all is the total
absent at classes and lecture rooms.

According to Helou and Rahim (2014), the influence of social network and websites on the
students’ academic performance has elicited studies in the area of knowledge wrecking, and
studies have shown that the effect of the social network and website is like a pendulum of the
clock. It swings to the right and left creating a necessity to evaluative its importance.

Academic habits were found to be mental attitudes and behavioural practices that facilitates a
students learning and make both learning development possible during years of schooling.
These habits are of the core of how a student learns and the methods through which he/she
assimilates any course material.

All types of habits are particularly influential in one’s life because with time they become
natural to an individual, that is, they are often followed without a mental decision to do so.
The older the individual, generally the more effort it takes to acquire new habits and
necessary self-discipline as they grow into adulthood. Daily habit is that daily constant
routine that a student had deemed to be effective and put into practice. (Owusu Achew, &
Larson, 2015). At first, actions are carried out from a sense of duty but the longer they are
continued, the easier they become. Once the habit has been developed, the activity requires
very little effort and has a tendency to become second nature, though still requiring a choice
of the will. Properly understood, all habits must also be recognized as freely chosen,
repeatedly by the student. (Helou and Rahim, 2014).

Objectives

1. To find out the kinds of social media networks mostly used by students
2. To find how much time student spends on social network and website.
3. To find out the purpose for which students mostly visit social network media
4. To determine the extent do students rely on social network and websites for study
purposes.
5. To investigate the extent to which social media patronage influence the academic habits
of students.

5
6
Research questions

1. What are the social media networks mostly used by students?

2. How much time do students spend on social networks and websites?
3. What are the purposes for which students mostly visit social network media?
4. To what extent do students rely on social networks and websites for study purposes?
5. To investigate the extent to which social media patronage influence the academic habits
of students.

Methodology

The location for this study is the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro. Established about years ago, the
institution currently has about 12,000 students. The research decided to take primary
(representative) sample from amongst students of School of Communication and Information
Technology because they are expected among the highest users of the social media, going by
their professional calling/training (The School comprises of Mass Communication, Library
and Information Science, Office Technology and Music students and has 1,900 registered
students at the time of the study). A sample of One Hundred and ten (110) students was
drawn from this population, using a combination of stratified and systematic random
sampling techniques. Thus: Library and Information Science (30), Office Technology
Management (30) and Mass Communication (40) respectively. The sample size represented
15 per cent of the total students in the school’s population.

The instruments used for data collection for this research work was questionnaire. To
improve the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, it was pre-tested on 20 randomly
selected students of the School. The questionnaire were constructed based on the principal
research questions for the investigation.

7
Findings

Reasons students use the social media and websites.

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Knowledge chatting photos and online dating creations of
update videos 4 groups

Chatting is the major reason student and this is followed by Photos and Videos. Dating and
creation of groups which comes next are forms of chatting. This indicates that more than 70
percent of the time used on social media by the respondents were on social interaction.

As Fig 1 indicates, other purposes indicates from the data from the above table gave 12
(10.9%), 10 (9.1%) and 8 (7.3%) for online dating, group creation and knowledge update on
academic courses respectively.

8
Table 1: Most preferred social network/websites by the respondents

Social Network and Websites Frequency Percentage

Twitter 9 8.2
Skype 4 3.6
Youtube 8 7.3
2go 6 5.5
Face book 11 10
Instagram 5 4.5
Whatsapp 65 59.1
Blogs 2 1.8
Total 110 100

As shown in table 2, 65 (59.1%) of the respondents prefer to use Whatsapp, this is followed
by those who used facebook that constitutes 11(10%), while those who use Twitter and
Youtube has 9(8.2%) and 8(7.3%) respectively.

Other social media sites are also used but the prominent among them are the four mentioned
above.

Table 3: Means of accessing social network and websites

Means Frequency Percentage

Laptops 11 10
Tablets 13 11.8
Mobile phones 75 68.2
Cyber cafes 6 5.5
All of the above 5 4.5
Total 110 100

Table 3 also suggests that mobile phone has the largest usage (75 respondents or 68.2%
accused information on the social network through the mobile phone). Tablets and Laptops
are used by 13 (11.8%) and 11 (10%) respectively. Surprisingly, despite the preponderance of
phone ownership and usage, the habit of visiting cybercafés is still fairly prevalent among the
respondents, (5.5%). Invariably, however, this means a larger percentage of students access
the social network websites through their mobile phones.

9
 80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Laptops Tablets Mobile phones Cyber cafes All of the above

Pattern of social media navigation Figure 2: Frequency of use of social media network and
websites.

The data from Fig 2 indicates that 85 (77.3%) respondents use social media network and
websites daily spending several hours, 11 (10%) also spend an average of an hour on the net,
this is followed by once a week 6 (5.5%), twice a week has 5(4.5%) and 3 (2.7%) use the
social media network and websites occasionally.

Table 4: Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of Students

CGPA Frequency Percentage

2.00 – 2.49 11 10
2.50 – 2.99 68 61.8
3.00 – 3.49 25 22.7
3.50 – 3. 99 6 5.5
Total 110 100

The academic performance of the respondents (using the cumulative grade point) is presented
in Table 4. The Table shows that 61.8% (n=65) of respondents were between (22.7%) were
between 3.00 – 3.49, 11 (10%) respondents were between 2.00 – 2.49 and 6 (5.5%) were
between 3.50 – 4.00. The foregoing data suggest that the respondents’ academic performance
is just above average generally. While the data do not provide sufficient causal relationship
between use of social media and performance, the fact that academic performance is
relatively poor suggest that a relationship might be existing between the two variables. This

10
conjecture is strengthened by the time spend on social networks and websites per visit. Data
from the field study indicate that sweeping majority, 78(70.9%) respondents spend between
2-3 hours per day on the social media network and websites. Given that these students have
only about 5 ‘free’ hours daily besides those spend in the classroom and in sleeping, it can be
safely inferred that social media interrupts the time they would have spent on studying,
especially because they spend less than a tenth of their social media belt on academic matters.

Reliance of social media for academic purpose

Table 5: ownership of an account with any social media network and websites
Owns an account Frequency Percentage
Yes 95 86.4
No 15 13.6
Total 110 100

Table 5 indicates that 95 (86.4%) of the students understudy registered with at least one
social media. A negligible 13.6 percent said they were not networked at the time of the study.
One reliance on social media, 80 (72.7%) of the respondents under the study rely to some
extent on social media network and websites for academic advancement while 22 (20%) rely
greatly and on it and 8 (7.3%) did not use social media and websites for any academic work.

11
 Table 6: Influence of social network and websites on students’ academic habits.

Influence of social media and Agree Strongly Disagree Strongly Undecided

website agree disagree
Reduce time for reading 21 (19.1%) 76 (69.1%) 4 (3.6%) 7 (6.4%) 2 (1.8%)
Makes one sleep late 34 (30.9%) 63 (57.3%) 4 (3.6%) 6 (5.4%) 3 (2.7%)
Make one miss class or become 37 (33.6%) 41 (37.3%) 7 (6.4%) 10 (9.1%) 15 (13.6%)
perpetual late comer to lectures
Distraction during reading 25 (22.7%) 77 (70%) 4 (3.6%) 2 (1.8%) 2 (1.8%)
Increase socialization 52 (47.3%) 28 (25.5%) 10 (9.1%) 9 (8.1%) 11 (10%)
Wasting precious time 12 (11%) 38 (34.5%) 25 (22.7%) 30 (27.3%) 5 (4.5%)
Exposure to illicit behaviours 44 (40%) 55 (50%) 5 (4.5%) 4 (3.6%) 2 (1.8%)

Table 6 shows clearly that social media networks and websites have effects on the reading
and academic habits of the students. Indication shows that, they are always distracted during
reading when their friends communicate with them, because 77(70%) strongly confirmed
this. Next on the line is ‘distraction’ 25(22%) while reading, while 4 (3.6%), 2(1.8%) and
2(1.8%) chose disagree, strongly disagree and undecided respectively. Reduction in time of
reading as supposedly affected by the social media networks was strongly agreed to while
76(69.1%) respondents, followed by 21(19.1%) respondents in affirmative while 7(6.4%)
strongly disagree, 4(6.3%) disagree to it and 2(1.8%) could not decide. Also, 63(57.2%)
respondents strongly agree that usage of social media has always been giving rooms for
sleeping late, 34(30.9%) agree, 6(5.4%) strongly disagree, 4(6.3%) disagree while 3(2.7%)
could not decide. Coming late for lectures because of concentration on the usage of social
media networks and websites was strongly disagree by 41(37.2%) respondents, 37(33.6%)
agree, 10(9.1%) strongly disagree, 7(6.4%) disagree and (13.6%) are undecided.

The data generated from the study also shows that 28(25.5%) strongly agree, 52(47.3%)
agree while 10(9.1%) disagree 9(8.1%) strongly disagree and 11 (10%) is undecided. Close to
half of the respondents (n = 44, 40%) agreed that social media networks and websites expose
them (student) to elicit behaviours and (n = 5, 4.5%) d9sagree, (n = 4, 6.3%) strongly
disagree and (n = 2, 1.8%) are not sure of their stand on this issue. On whether the usage of
social media and websites waster precious time of the students, there seems to be agreement
to that effect. From data generated, n = 38, 34.5% strongly agree to the fact that social media
network waste their time.

Discussion

12
There were indications that the purpose of which most students use the social network is for
chatting with friends and families. This was attested to in Table 1 where respondents
confirmed this. This finding corroborates the finding by Iro-idoro and Jimoh (2017) (who
affirmed that a greater percentage of students use facebook for connecting with friends
though this research agreed more with Whatsapp for connecting with relatives. It is also a
platform for keeping in contact with close associates, though this has greatly hampered
reading habit and academic performance among students.

It was also found out that students spend precious time on the social media networks. This
may have contributed significantly to their average academic performance and poor study
habits of students, if only as an intervening variable. According to Das and Sahoro (2010),
reading habit is rapidly degenerating or diminishing among youths in the recent time.
Findings in the investigation have confirmed this assertion. Even the students admitted that
the social media has been a major “time waster” for them. The power of “book” inherent in
social media however makes it difficult for these youths to resist these for academic purposes
only want to write examination, do assignments, do test, table showed this as the reason for
using it academically. This implies that students only use social media networks and websites
to provide answers not for learning and assimilation. This means they use is as a short cut to
get student sue social media and the Internet for academics, it is not for serious learning.
Often, it is to copy other people’s work, sometimes verbatim, thereby compounding the
already weak attention given to academics.

From the findings, it can be inferred that despite the positive and importance academic
advantages and advancements of social media networks and websites, many students use the
social media in negative ways. Many of them are distracted while in class or reading because
of their usage of the social media network and websites. Thus a positive relationship may ne
existing between electronic and social network usage and lower academic grades of students
in higher institutions. (Oye, 2012). There is a positive thread in the foregoing discussion:
There are lots of benefits, advantages academically that re associated with the use of social
media networks and websites. If students can explore these opportunities for self-study, they
are likely to excel academically.

It is rather surprising that despite the objects of this study are students who should know the
importance of using social media and the Internet for academic purpose they will still
engaged these new media for less important things. Many students, decades ago had to go

13
through learning and research with difficulty. It was difficult to lay hands on recent textbooks
and journals. When they were available, books and journals were very expensive. But today,
for a relatively little amount of money and just several punches on the handset, the student
are open to a huge pool of academic resources. Yet, these students hardly take advantages of
such virtual resources. Social media network and websites have great and many advantages
on academic activities that students can explore for personal, presents and future
development, judicious use of such for more beneficial reasons especially in the academic
setting.

Conclusion

This study confirms that students tend to use the social media network and websites to
enhance relationships with trends, acquaintances, and family members. However, data
generated suggest that the social media network and websites tend to distract students from
lectures and good study habits because it reduces the time they have left for self-study
(reading, carrying out assignments etc.)

Recommendations

1. Students should be enlightened on the disadvantages of excessive use of social network

and website on their academic performance.
2. Institutions of learning should allocate time/hour which a student can make user of the
wireless network provided by the school.
3. Academic Planning Unites of tertiary institutions should encourage lecturers and
technologists to give academic assignments to student via the social media.
4. Government at all levels should work with the National Communications Commission
(NCC) to develop programme and policies that would guide the usage of social media
networks and websites for especially for academic purposes.

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