International Journal of Commerce and Management Studies (IJCAMS)

Volume 5, Issue 2
ISSN 2456-3684

The Impact of Social Media on Educational Performance

With Reference To College Students
Dr. Tushar Tale
PDIMTR, DNC, Nagpur
9970284268
[email protected]

Abstract communication tools. Billions of people uses

The social media have penetrate the 21st century
facilities like search engines, web pages, e-
generations of Internet users, building it a very active mails, e-journals, e-books, e- newspapers,
mechanism of communications, especially among students internet banking, internet telephony,
of higher institutions of education. Consequently, academic conferencing, multi-media sharing, online news
activities in institutions and faculties are gradually more
rooms, social networking etc. Today internet is a
carried out through the social networks, such as Facebook,
twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Social media use is very necessary communication medium in
trendy amongst students as it provides them the liberty to professional as well as personal life. This
do whatever they want to do using social media. They can research will detailed the positive as well as
generate and share the content, comment on anything they negative impact of using social networking sites
want to, connect and chat with their friends, associates as
well as make new friends and groups. Social media can
on student’s academic performance. This
also be used as an educational instrument for learning research contribution will analyze the pros and
amongst students. Students can connect with their cons aspects of social networking on college
professors, counselors or classmates online, if they face any education. The widespread use of media among
problem related to their studies. This helps learners to
college students from texting to chatting on cell
connect with their teachers and classmates in a new way
providing elasticity in learning. phones to posting status updates on Face book
and whatsapp may be taking an academic toll.
However, there is also a harmful side associated with the
social media use amongst students. Large number of 2. Literature Review
students starts losing attention in studies due to their habit
to social media use and these results in a drop in their As per learning conducted by Smith and
overall academic performance. Academics is a very Anderson (2018), social media use was
significant aspect of a student’s life. A good academic
performance helps to build a winning and secure future. maximum amongst younger population of the
However, social media has affected learners’ focus towards U.S. in the age group of 18 year to 24 year.
learning in such a way that it has initiated interfering with
their educational performance and thus indirectly their Social networking is an expression of the 21st
future. This report shall include a concise explanation of century used broadly to define a number of
social media impact amongst students. technological tools that pressure the social facets
in form of a funnel for communication,
1. Introduction
collaborative learning, and inventive expression;
As we are living in a networking age, the this is also to increase education in higher
marvelous growth of the internet has a huge institution of learning (Dabbagh & Reo, 2011;
impact on the development of the students in Al-rahmi & Othman, 2013b ).
which they interact and socialize. During this
Social networking is playing a huge role in
era, communication is the most attractive term.
boosting academic like in social sciences and in
Today, communication revolution brought us
education systems as a whole. Several studies
together regardless of geographical boundaries.
have addressed various aspects of using social
The internet provides a different variety of
networking at various academic and social
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 International Journal of Commerce and Management Studies (IJCAMS)
Volume 5, Issue 2
ISSN 2456-3684

levels. The accessible literature on social media Students can also share their viewpoints,
gives needful suggestions of its application in innovative ideas or even doubts related to
higher institutions of education (Hamid et al., studies with their classmates and professors on
2011). these groups. This will assist students to actively
participate in such group discussions and this in
UG students of IT attest that social networking
turn will assist to improve their knowledge.
has constantly enhanced their academic
Counselors can also provide a link for students
achievement from 2007 to 2010 (Smith &
to upload their homework or assignments on
Caruso, 2010) . Many students in higher
such study groups. All of this will save a lot of
institutions of learning wish their institutions
time and effort of students which can be utilized
alter their means of communication to social for studying. Social media assists students to
networks for strengthening class instruction as it collaborate, if they are functioning together on
is where they spend maximum of the time. some group project. This assists them to
As per (Madge et al., 2009) social media usage communicate and exchange informational data
enhance educational entrée and interaction and it for the project simply, thus saving their energy
fulfills the learning gap informally between and commute time that can be utilized for the
learners and the counselors (Bull et al., 2008). project work.

Integrating social media for both entertainment Students use social media platform such as
and learning is general among students in higher YouTube, which have millions of educational
level of education system. College leraners use videos, which help students to broaden their
different social media applications to extent that scope of knowledge as well as develop various
it is now an indispensable part of their everyday other good skills and talents. If students find
life for personal and learning purposes (Cao & some good and informative videos related to
Hong, 2011; Dahlstrom, 2012) . Mobile their studies, they can share it with their friends
technologies and smart android phones or classmates who can benefit by watching
interweave social media in their palms and at them.
their simple and customized command
There are many students who do not actively
(Dahlstrom, 2012). take part in class or group project discussions.
Positive Impact of Social Media on Some of them do not favor even face-to-face
Educational Performance of Students communication with their colleagues. Such
students find it simple and comfortable to take
There are many positive effects associated with part in online study discussions on social media.
the social media use amongst students related to
their academics. Students can connect with Presently, there are many academic counselors
different educational groups related to their field on social media who can help students to solve
of study on social media and simply access all their academic problems. Learners also have
the main and authentic information shared by exposure to contact experts or refer to their
others. They can also share some good blogs in various fields of study using social
information they found out on such groups, media, to gain proper informational data and
which in turn will boost their confidence and knowledge for their own field of study. This can
this will help in the learning process. facilitate them to gain some real-world and real
knowledge, which will increase their knowledge
Ability to form groups on social media enable scope. Students can use social media platform
professors to connect with the students to share like LinkedIn to search for internships related to
important instructions for the class as well as their field of study. This can assist them gain
necessary study material for the students.
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 International Journal of Commerce and Management Studies (IJCAMS)
Volume 5, Issue 2
ISSN 2456-3684

practical knowledge, which in turn may help in They do not pay attention to what is being taught
improving their educational performance. and told in the class and instead chat with their
Students can also examine various educational friends on social networks or waste time reading
blogs which can help to advance their some unnecessary stuff on social media. As a
knowledge and thus help their studies. result, they might ignore some important
information being shared in the class related to
As per Deng and Tavares (2013), social media
study, assignments or even exams. This can
help students to think clearly and this helps them
affect their grades negatively. Social media has
to make make wise decisions in their day-to-day
hampered learners writing skills in such a way
lives. As per the research conducted by Apeanti
that they tend to use short forms of words or
And Danso (2014), students felt that their grades phrases everywhere. For eg: ‘k’ instead of
would be improved if they can contact ‘okay’, ‘coz’ or ‘cuz’ instead of because and so
professors openly through social media to get on. Use of such short forms in exams or
their doubts clarified. Yunus and Salehi (2012) assignments may not be appropriate and can
pointed out that, social media use enhanced
affect their grades negatively.
students’ vocabulary and writing skill. Thus, it is
clear that if used wisely for educational and Also, there are many students who only take part
constructive purposes, social media can have in online class or group discussions on social
positive influence on students’ academic media and do not prefer to have face-to-face
performance. Despite the different positive communication with their classmates or even
effects that social media can have, if not utilise professors. As a result, they may not develop
properly and vigilantly it can also affect good communication skills and might even lack
students’ educational performance negatively. confidence to interact with their peers or
lecturers in the class or in person. As they will
Negative Impact of Social Media on not be able to share their viewpoints with others
Educational Performance of Students in class or group discussions, they might end up
Number of researchers have shown that there is getting lower grades.
a close correlation between the use of social
Social media addiction poses many health
media and degradation of overall educational
issues. These issues include back pain owing to
performance of students. This means that, when
the use of social media for a very long time in
a student gets too involved with the use of social
improper or wrong posture, irregular sleep
media, it affects his overall educational
patterns, mood swings, and continuous strain for
performance. Many students use social media
eyes, mental stress and many more. These health
solely for social networking, chatting and just
issues affect their effectiveness in studying and
whiling away their time. This wastes their study
thus can cause a fall in grades. Also, excessive
time and thus they are not able to complete their social media use can lead to various mental
homework, assignments or projects on time.
health issues amongst students such as anxiety,
This affects their studies which eventually
depression, and isolation from real world as well
hampers their GPA. Also, while studying,
as psychological problems. These issues can
students keep checking their social media
lead to loss of focus towards studies and
accounts for new updates and notifications. This
seriously affect their future.
distracts them and results in loss of
concentration in studies which can affect their According to Paul, Baker and Cochran (2012),
academic performance negatively. the time spent on social media was dependent on
the attention span of the learner. Attention span
It has been observed that social media use is is the amount of time for which students can
prevalent even during lectures amongst students.
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 International Journal of Commerce and Management Studies (IJCAMS)
Volume 5, Issue 2
ISSN 2456-3684

focus on their study without getting distracted. Learners should try to create a balance between
They found out that, higher the attention span, social media use and their studies, so that they
lower is the time spent by students on social do not get unfocused while studying. When
media. As per Junco (2011), time spent on using social media, students should aim to use it
Facebook was very strongly negatively related more often for educational purposes such as
to the overall GPA of the students. As per the acquiring or sharing data, seeking help from
study of Kirschner and Karpinski (2010) found associates, classmates or professors to get their
out that, over indulgence with social media can doubts clarified, collaborating with classmates
affect students’ educational performance for group tasks and so on. They must attempt to
negatively. limit the social media utilize for enjoyment
purpose or just to misuse their time.
As per Mingle and Adams(2015), Likert scale
was used to survey the social media effect on Therefore, if used efficiently for productive
grade performance amongst 526 students. A purposes such as learning or sharing information
Likert scale is a scale used for research that online, social media can prove to be a helpful
involves questionnaire. Out of these 526 tool for learners. On the other hand, excessive
students, bulk confirmed that the use of social social media use for social networking or
media affected their grades negatively. 62 entertainment can seriously negatively affect
(11.8%) learners strongly agreed, while a their educational performance.
majority of students of strength 255 (48.5%)
agreed that their grades dropped owing to the 4. References
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Volume 5, Issue 2
ISSN 2456-3684

• Paul, J., Baker, H., & Cochran, J. https://sites.psu.edu/alleghenynews/2015/09/24/t

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