ABSTRACT: The study was designed to examine the impact of social media distraction on academic performance of biology students in senior secondary schools. Four research questions were raised and three hypotheses were formulated in the study. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted for the study. Total number of two thousand one hundred and five (2,105) students offering Biology in all the six (6) public secondary schools in the study area constituted the population of the study. The sample size consisted of One hundred and eighty (180) students drawn from the six schools were chosen for the study Area. A questionnaire titled; Social Media questionnaire (SMQ) was used to collect data in the study.
Data collected were analyzed using independent t-test. Findings show that the social media has a significant impact in the academic performance of students as it enables learners to reach varieties of instructional content through social media platform. Also, there is a difference in the performance of male and female students who uses social media in their learning process. It was recommended that Teachers/lecturers can adopt new strategies by channelling assignments or discussions on social media platforms to help inculcate the habit of using these sites for academic work.
The Impact of Social Media Distraction on Academic Performance of Biology Students in Senior Secondary Schools
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Internet and smartphones enable users to be permanently online and permanently connected (Vorderer et al., 2018). As a consequence, users can permanently be distracted by social media. Social media distraction refers to the process by which social media cues draw individuals’ attention away from a task that they originally pursued (e.g., working). Due to especially mobile access to social media, distractions by social media can occur frequently. Previous studies on multitasking have consistently demonstrated negative effects of distraction on performance (Jeong and Hwang, 2016), on academic performance among students (Junco and Cotten, 2012; Giunchiglia et al., 2018) and on well-being (e.g., Brooks, 2015). By drawing away users’ attention, distractions take up limited cognitive resources.
Given these negative consequences, it is important to understand users’ underlying reasons for social media distraction. Understanding the reasons for social media distraction can help to increase users’ agency to deal with unwanted social media distractions.
Social media’s strong pull factor–others have described it as “hedonic appeal” (Brooks, 2015) or temptation (Hofmann et al., 2017)–makes users “drawn to distraction” (Aagaard, 2015) and leads them to override their primary goals and tasks. This strong pull of social media has a high potential for distraction. For instance, research has found that students cannot focus for long on a task such as studying, and that, on average, they switch to social media after about six minutes of focused work (Rosen et al., 2013) and react to notifications shortly after their arrival (Pielot et al., 2014). In order to limit these distractions so that goals can be successfully accomplished, it is necessary to understand the underlying reasons for the distractions.
In recent times the world has witnessed a rapid increase in technological innovations, this era ushered in the advent of social media among other modern technologies in the society. At present the use of social has been linked to every part of human endeavours, such as industries engineering, agriculture, education etc. also, the inception of social medias has imparted positively in teaching methodology, research and developments, information and other related areas.
The integration of these Medias into the teaching and learning process in Nigeria Institutions (Primary Post-primary and tertiary) is a very welcomed development towards, improvement and advancement of education in line with the global standard. Akeem (2016) asserted that, the integration of social media in school system helps the students to learn independently, be updated with the school information and stand a better chance to obtain better academic achievement, since the world itself id technologically inclined. He went further to say that the use of social media like the computer systems will help the teachers in preparing the lesson content, assist in curriculum design and stand a chance of delivery their lessons to the students in a more effective and comprehensive manner. Braith, (2013) asserted that, social media are medium or channel through which students get involve with social networks like facebook, whatsapp, twitter and the rest of them.
Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks (Boyd, 2017). Students usually access social media services via web-based technologies on desktops and laptops, or download services that offer functional educational information to their mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets) which help them in their academic endeavors.
As users engage with these electronic services, they create highly interactive platforms through which individuals, communities, and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, participate and modify user-generated content that can help them improve both academically and otherwise. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), defined social media as a group of internet- based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.
The Oxford dictionary (2011), also defined social media as “applications used for social networking”. Another definition of social media is that it is a ‘’communication channel whhttp://onlineproject.com.ng/4104/effects-of-instructional-materials-on-students-academic-performance-in-biology-pdf/project-materials/ich is very popular, extremely fast and broad, has proven to be highly effective, as well as trusted by billions of people , to share and discover content concerning individuals, brands, information, entertainment and knowhow’’ (Dearborn, 2014). One theme that all these definitions underpin is that social media involves some form of communication between individuals over the internet.
Today, social media has taken a new dimension and has encouraged more participation through the introduction of mobile phones that support social networks. The use of mobile phones that are powered by Android applications for social network, with these developments in technology social networking sites have become more and more popular among students because of the use of social media, and a major concern have arose over how the use of social media sites among undergraduate students affects their academic performances.
It was on this background that the researcher was interested to examine the distraction of social media on academic performance in Biology in secondary schools.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In educational system, success is measured by academic performance or how well a student meets the standard set out by the institution. The menace of failure among the young school students has stared parent, government and stakeholders in the face. There is a consensus of opinion about the fallen standard of education as a big problem that is hindering the posterity of the Nigerian nation in terms of quality man-power resources. Most students in secondary schools experience academic challenges that manifest itself in the form of poor academic performance mostly in Biology subject.
Since the advent of social media sites in the 1990s, it is assumed in some quarters that the academic performance of students is facing a sort of neglect and divided attention between social networking activities and their academic work. It is observed that students devote more attention to social media sites than they do to their studies.
Hence, this study seeks to examine the impact of social media distraction on academic performance of biology students in senior secondary schools.
The Impact of Social Media Distraction on Academic Performance of Biology Students in Senior Secondary Schools
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study will be to examine social media and academic performance in Biology in secondary schools.
Specifically, the study sought to:
- Determine the extent to which the use of facebook as social media distract the academic performance of students.
- Examine the extent to which the use of Whatsapp as social media distract the academic performance of students.
- Find out the amount of time Biology students invest into social media sites
- Examine the difference in the academic performance of male and female student when engage with social media.
1.4 Significance of the Study
The study will be of great significant in the following ways
(i) This study significantly will help government, educational planners as well as other philanthropically organization to know the need for the integration of computer based technologies that could help the teaching and learning process.
(ii) It will enhance innovative thinking, creativity and resourcefulness among students and teachers as they will have to think of and select relevant application media during the teaching learning process.
(iii) The study will be of great significance to future researchers who may wish to carry out more studies on topics related to the distract of social media and academic performance.
1.5 Research Questions
In order to achieve the derived objective of this research study, the following research questions will be raised to guide the study:
- To what extent does the use of Facebook as social media distract the academic performance of students?
- To what extent does the use of Whatsapp as social media distract the academic performance of students?
- What is the extent of time Biology students invest into use of social media?
- To what extent does the academic performance of male and female student differs when engage with social media?
1.6 Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses will be postulated to guide the study:
- The use of Facebook as social media does not significantly distract the academic performance of students in Biology.
- The use of Whatsapp as social media does not significantly distract the academic performance of students in Biology.
- There is no relationship between time spent on social media and academic performance of students in Biology
- The use of social media does not significantly distract of the academic performance of male and female students in biology.
1.7 Limitation of the Study
In conducting a research study of this kind, there are bound to be some challenges. Thus, some of the challenges encountered in the course of this study are as follows:
- Time constraint: time duration allowed for the completion of this research work could not be enough for the research to have a wider scope. Hence some schools were sampled and student out of all the schools in the area.
- Financial problem: this constituted one of the major limitations to the researcher especially as the researcher had to source for relevant materials on the topic and visit the sampled schools under the investigation for data collection.
- Insufficient references materials: this also was a problem as the researcher needed enough relevant literature on the topic.
