Online Social Networking and its Influence on Student Academic Performance

Farrukh Naeem^*
*Correspondence: Farrukh Naeem, Department of Communication and Media Studies, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan, Email:

Keywords

Online Social Networking Sites (OSNS) • Social networks/social media • Academic performance • University students

Introduction

Online Social Networking Sites (OSNS) such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linked-in are used by millions of people on regular basis. According to statistics of 2023, a total of 191.8 million cellular mobile connections are active, 87.3 million are active Internet users, out of which 71.7 million are regular social media users. Majority of these internet users are the students of Colleges and universities [1].

Students' academic performance is determined by their scores on examinations and assignments at any given time. Hence, academic performance can be defined as the observed behavior or the attainment of a predetermined educational objective or intention. Academic performance, or academic success, is the more accurate term nowadays. It covers a wide variety of educational outcomes, from degree completion to moral development [2].

Social learning through Online Social Networking Sites (OSNS) have been identified as the primary predictors of student academic success based on a study of the body of literature. Social learning is the process of learning from other people, typically through online resources like blogs, forums and social media. You can connect with people who share your interests and learn from each other through social networking. Embedded learning is another name for learning from online social networking. A type of embedded learning from social media makes use of real-world experience to acquire and apply knowledge. Rather than through instruction or reading, it involves the acquisition of new skills and knowledge through social experience. As a hands-on method of instruction, embedded learning fosters critical thinking and problem-solving abilities in students. Additionally, social learning has the potential to foster healthy competition, which in turn can boost performance and motivation.

Students' attention spans, time management skills, personality traits, academic competency and OSN time are among the factors that influence their academic performance, whereas students’ academic behavior and personality is also affected by their age, gender, marital and family status, job requirements [3].

Problem statement

Social networking sites allegedly draw students' attention before diverting it to inappropriate and non-educational activities, like useless chit-chatting [4]. Tinto looked at how socially linked the students are to one another. He asserts that academic and extracurricular activities by themselves are insufficient to comfort some students who feel socially isolated [5]. Other researchers also illustrates how social networks are beneficial for students since they enable them to learn and achieve academic success [6].

The discussions of early scholars gave the impression that these effects of Online Social Networking Sites are different in nature on students, based on their geographical status, time management and degree program etc. Hence, this study focuses to find out the impacts of OSNS on academic performance of graduates of university of Sargodha.

Research questions

The following questions will be answered in the course of this study

i. What significant impact does time management skills have on academic performance?

ii. What relationship does attention span have with students’ academic performance?

iii. What impact do the predictors of student behavior skills have on students’ academic performance?

Expanded web use and person to person communication has become extremely well known in the recent years. Nowadays, everyone has a personal online profile and is a member of at least one social networking site where they can interact. Boyd claims that teenagers in particular are adopting these websites as a way to interact with their peers, exchange knowledge, reimagining who they are and showcase their social lives. Teenagers spend most of their spare time online and on social networks [7]. Teenagers now rely more on the Internet than previous generations did, who relied on media like the newspaper or television for the majority of their daily activities and information gathering [8].

Additionally, Abbas looked into how university students' attitudes towards studying and the effects of social media on education in Pakistan. They used cluster sampling to gather data from 831 people in four chosen regions for their cross-sectional study. They used 18 social media characteristics from the earlier studies that were both negative and positive. They discovered that the study sample was more negatively impacted by social media use in Pakistan [9].

The researchers concluded that social networking addiction among students was moderate, with male students more addicted than female students [10].

Students who use social networking websites spend less time studying than non-users do, according to Kirschner and Karpinski, which lowers their performance in academic courses [11]. Out of a range of different distractions, Social Networking Sites have also been shown to be the main generational distraction.

Paul, Baker and Cochran found that there is a statistically significant inverse association between the amount of time students spend on online social networks and their academic achievement in their investigation of the effects of online social networking on student performance [12].

Boogart and Robert also stated that students' academic performance suffers as a result of their use of SNSs and Facebook [13]. Grabmeier discovered that students with lower GPAs tended to use any social networking site. Abuse of the internet is on the rise at an alarming rate, highlighting the urgent need to promote usage regulations among students [14].

According to the results of a study conducted in Nigeria, the internet's quick methods for delivering and receiving information marked the arrival of the new media in our contemporary culture in the 21^st century. Because it may be used for entertainment, networking and education, new media has grown in popularity. Additionally, it emphasized that young people's ideas gave social networking a boost. According to Junco a, the use of Facebook was linked to extracurricular activities, which suggests that social media has a positive impact [15].

However, a number of researchers have also found a positive correlation between college students' academic performance and their use of social networking sites. Students who used the internet more frequently received higher grades and higher reading skills scores. In addition, it has been discovered that using social networking websites to treat psychological issues like low self-esteem and low life satisfaction [16].

According to research by Barton, social media attention and use substantially influenced academic success [17]. Additionally, they discovered that desire was a greater predictor of academic success than social media usage. According to Munir, genuine social media use has a considerable and advantageous effect on academic achievement [18]. On the other hand, Malak’s study revealed a connection between social media addiction and poor academic performance [19].

Theoratical framework

The theory considered for this study was social Learning theory. The rise of social networking sites has transformed the way people interact, share information and learn from one another. This theoretical review aims to explore the applicability of Social Learning Theory (SLT) within the context of SNS. SLT proposes that individuals learn by observing, imitating and modeling the behaviors of others.

Albert Bandura's social learning theory emphasizes the significance of observing, modeling and imitating other people's behaviors, attitudes and emotional responses. The social learning theory looks at how environmental and cognitive factors affect how people learn and behave [20]. Two crucial concepts are added by McLeod S [20] to the social learning theory: Observational Learning and Mediating Processes.

Observational learning refers to the cycle where people are exposed to a general public or an environment of interest where number of individuals contributes their encounters. Without cognitive processes operating, observational learning could not occur. These mental factors determine whether a new response is acquired by mediating (i.e., intervening) in the learning process.

I. Bandura opens up the extent of learning instruments by presenting perception as a chance. He also includes the ability to model, which is a way for people to "represent actual outcomes symbolically."

II. SLT acts as the "conceptual bridge" between behaviorism, also known as the cognitive method and learning. This is due to the fact that it emphasizes how mental (cognitive) variables affect learning. According to Bandura, people actively absorb information and take into account the relationship between their actions and the results.

Numerous studies have been conducted over the years regarding the variables that affect academic achievement. These researches have concentrated on the impact of variables including academic ability, time management abilities, study techniques and student characteristics, among others [21].

Bandura’s social learning theory talks about learning from exposure to an environment which involves the observational learning. The attitude towards stimuli plays very much important role in the process of learning. Modeling is another important aspect of cognitive process for learning from others behavior-in social learning theory [22].

Depending on above postulates theory provides the variables for learning which are “attention span and behavior towards stimuli”. Whereas the earlier studies describe that “time management” is extraneous factor that affects the academic performance. In conclusion, the study consists of three independent variables “Attention Span, Predictors of behavior, Time Management” and one dependent variable that is “Academic performance”. Researcher aimed at calculating the academic performance of university students - who are exposed to social networking sites – through analysis of independent variables (Figure 1).

Hypotheses: H1. Time Management in using SNS affects the academic performance of university students.

H2. Attention span in using SNS directly affects the academic performance of university students.

H3. Behavior towards usage of SNS has a direct relation with the academic performance of university students.

Methods

This cross-sectional survey research approach used a closed survey questionnaire to collect information on the demographics, social network usage and academic performance of University of Sargodha students. The ability to compare diverse demographic groups—in this case, university students— at a single point in time is what makes a cross-sectional study distinctive. Furthermore, when doing a cross-sectional analysis, researchers gather information on their subjects without changing the research environment. This research method made it possible to get thoughts from participants via a questionnaire.

University of Sargodha was selected for the study, with an estimated total population of 19000 students [23]. The total population for the study is that total number of students at the campus. For this study the sample size was selected as 300 Students of University of Sargodha. So, after acquiring the sample size, the questionnaire was shared using “Google documents link” based on convenience sampling.

The data was collected, edited and sorted out without altering the data. All of the instrument's items were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 27.0. To ensure the reliability, data collection bias was minimized by administering the questionnaires on their own and standardizing settings, such as showing the same traits about each respondent, including friendliness and support. A pilot test was carried out by the researcher to identify any questionnaire flaws, reduce measurement errors and assess consistency.

The researcher in this study observed the respondents' voluntariness, did not coerce them into providing information, respected their privacy, their anonymity and confidentiality and did not intentionally mislead them. Only statistics were used in the collection of these information. The primary focus of this essay was on numerical and quantitative facts. The information was kept in a setting that required a password.

Results and Discussion

Before analyzing the results obtained from the survey, all the data gathered has been filtered thoroughly. Around 330 people have participated in data collection. Out of these 330 respondents, 15 people were non-social media users, 9 people submitted the questionnaire incomplete, 6 were outliers and 300 responses were eligible to enter the data analysis process for this study (Tables 1 and 2).

The Bivariate Correlation test applies to verify the presentation of “Time Management” as a factor affecting the “Academic performance” of university students. With the values ranging .4** of Pearson Correlation analysis shows a positive and significant correlation between the Time management skill of the student and the academic efficiency of the students of university of Sargodha (Table 3).

The Bivariate Correlation test applies to verify the presentation of “Attention Span” as a factor affecting the “Academic performance” of university students. With the values ranging .5** of Pearson Correlation analysis shows a positive and significant correlation between the Attention Span of the student and the academic efficiency of the students of university of Sargodha (Table 4).

Above chart shows the results of Bivariate Correlation test applies to verify the presentation of “Predictors of Behaviors” affecting the “Academic performance” of university students. The results show the strong positive relation at many of the factors but at some questions weak positive and even negative relation is recorded in statistical test. It means there are some other factors that moderate the effects of Online Social Networking on Academic Performance of University Students (Figure 2).

Conclusion

As by the findings of this research study, time management show strong positive correlation with the academic performance of the university students; which means time management is directly proportional to the rate of academic competency. In conclusion better the time management between unjustified scrolling and academic activities will results in greater rate of academic performance.

The rate of attention of a student toward the learning cannot be denied while discussing the academic achievement of university students. Those who have better concentration ability can build stronger understandings of the academic concepts. But it is endorsed that academic performance can suffer as a result of procrastination and unnecessary distractions brought on by the constant stream of notifications, messages and advertisements. This distraction can result in diverting the attention from educational content to unjustified chitchat. Hence the researcher concludes that on the basis of positive values of pearsons’ correlation attention span is important for grades. SNS can only be used as educational tool in an education intended environment, strict regulation and a relevant conduct. In either case the distraction trough entertainment based SNS will results in decline of academic performance.

Behavioral intentions towards the social networking show positive correlation with the academic performance of university students. At PB6 “OSNS provides an effective mechanism to communicate about course topics with my Professors” the correlation statistics were weak positive which is concluded as “learning from OSNS provides a virtual classroom, which reduces the need for communicating professor for academic interests”. PB4 “I consider ‘Online Social Networking Sites’ (OSNS) to be a good study tool” and PB7 “I feel I will miss out useful courses if I don’t communicate with my classmate and/or professors on OSNS” were recorded with negative correlation values. This could be concluded as “SNS are not majorly used for the intention of academic learning as primary source of education; but social networking provide better understanding of the practical concepts, updated and upcoming advancements in the field of one’s study through unintended imbedded learning”.

On basis of findings and conclusion; the researcher proposed the model explaining the effects of social networking on academic performance of university students. “Social Networking” means the activity of consuming the others’ “User generated Content”, sharing own piece of information, providing feedback and generating discussions. Whereas, the “Channel” is the social settings; where the social networking takes place? Findings claim that social networking takes place in two orders. Firstly, an individual or a group of friends with self-controlled conducted can easily divert to meaningless entertainment. However, the unintended imbedded learning might take place but this social networking could not assume the “Learning” as primary goal of activity. Secondly, a self-determinate student with stronger academic commitments can learn through social networking without distraction because of a self-regulated conduct. This could also take place in an education intended environments such as, class rooms, conference halls etc. with a strictly regulated environment. In conclusion, two of these conducts “formal” and “Informal” determines the “Improvement” or “Decline” of “Academic Performance”.

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