CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Reading is the essential factor that
forms the foundation of greatness in everyone's life irrespective of
gender, status and age. It helps to develop an individual and is also
important when trying to pass an examination. One of the major reasons
for the decreasing rate at which students read is due to the
introduction of phones, computers, laptops and the wrong usage of all
forms of communication technology. Social media and its networks such as
BBM, , Instagram, 2go, Facebook, Twitter, Badoo, YouTube and the use of
internet as a whole has been the major obsessions of most Nigerian
youths. Despite the fact that the social media is making student's
academic performance to deteriorate, it also has some positive
contributions to education.
The internet is more than just a means
of seeking information. People have discovered that the Internet can be
used to connect with other people for business or commercial purpose, to
make new friends, or to reawaken old friends and long lost relatives.
The emergence of social media simplifies the process because they do not
require advanced internet knowledge or experience and are made up of a
wide array of different formats and topics. This means that anyone can
connect through social media. With such extensive acceptance, it is no
surprise that social media have impacted the way people live and
socialize. Social media are also being used by teachers and students as a
communication tool, especially in the West. It is a bidirectional
process as students are using these mediums to share comments with their
teachers.
According to Boyd and Ellison, Social
network site is a web based service which allows people to sign up in a
bounded system, articulating group of people within the same system so
as to share personal or academic related information. This indicates
that social media entails a place where people connect with each other
and share common issues relating to relationship, sports, politics or
academics. However, Boyd and Ellison argue that participants from
certain social media sites are not primarily there to connect with
people they are not familiar with, rather they sign up to connect and
catch up with loss but found offline friends as well as close ones.
Social network sites have attracted considerable attention among
scholars and educators due to the growing popularity among students and
the potential effect on academic performance. However, the studies
appear from two opposing views on the impact of social media on users.
While proponents argue that it allows users in connecting people of
common interest and value, opponents claim that excessive use of these
sites affect the social, mental and physical health of the users.
Many students who have access to the
social media waste their time on it by chatting and surfing the internet
for non-educative information. They are glued to their phones all day
making them loose sense of time. Some students are also seen pressing
their phones during classes, seminars and also in the libraries. Some of
them will even plug in their ear pieces and hum out the songs they are
listening to when studying which reduce their rates of assimilation and
act as a source of disturbances to others around them. In a bid to know
what is going on in the world and to be current with events, they are
always seen on the internet reading, browsing and reading fashion and
social blogs. There is obvious a great decrease in student's passion to
read for pleasure and enjoyment but instead prefer to seek pleasure from
the media by streaming videos on Social Media and playing with their
Smart phones. The main reason why they now read is just to pass
examination and not to gain knowledge. This has reduced the vast use and
development of the brain. Students are no more learning through
reading. Students who so much devote their times on networking have a
great tendency of having low grades, poor academic performance and
become unsuccessful.
The social media also have numerous
positive impacts. Firstly, it enhances learning and education. Students,
with the help of the Internet now have access to all form of
information. Nothing is strange to 'google'. No matter how old the
information is, the internet serves as search lights to them. Some
information that cannot be found in the libraries and research centers
are now available online. The use of search engines such as Google and
Google Scholar has helped many students in their educational life. The
world is now a small place where there is circulation of knowledge and
information. Some educational problems encountered by students are being
discussed and solved through interaction with online counselors.
Distance learning is made possible by the use of social media. Many
universities now offer online courses to the public. The social media
has brought education and learning to our doorsteps. No need of
traveling and risking lives just to study. Options of studying abroad
when in Nigeria are open to students who are not financially buoyant to
travel out of the country. Lecturers now prefer assignments and projects
to be submitted to their emails. Lecture notes, handouts and reading
materials are made available by the teachers online and downloaded by
the students. This reduces cost of making photocopies and the risk of
misplacing them.
Individual’s beliefs and self-acceptance
based on evaluation of self on different components of the environment
could influence students’ attitudes toward the use social media. An
assessment of the influence of social media on the academic performance
of students can become a decisive step towards the effort to stem the
trend of attitudes toward the use social media.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Social media is the
connection of friends or family together which allows one to communicate
easily. With media one can have a long chain of friends chat, or share
information or ideal with. According to Boyd & Ellison (2008),
Social networking sites can be defined as web-based services that allow
individuals to construct a public or semi-public profile within a
bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a
connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those
made by others within the system. At the most basic level social
networking sites allow users to set up online profiles or personal
homepages, and develop an online social network. The profile page
functions as the user’s own webpage and includes profile information
ranging from their date of birth, gender, religion, politics and
hometown, to their favourite films, books quotes and what they like
doing in their spare time. In addition to profile information, users can
design the appearance of their page, and add content such as photos,
video clips, music and files.
1.3 Research Questions
This research will be carried out to answer the following research questions:
a) what are the reasons why the Nigerian students use the social media?
b) what are the ways social media can be used as a platform for educational learning among Nigerian students?
c) what are the uses and gratifications drawn from social media and its effects on learning among Nigerian students?
1.4 Objectives of the Study
The purpose of this research
is to determine whether the social media affect the academic
performance of students in Nigeria. This research will be carried out
with the following objectives:
a) to discover the reasons why the Nigerian students use the social networking sites
b) to determine the ways social media can be used as a platform for educational learning among Nigerian students
c) to establish the uses and gratifications drawn from social media and its effects of learning among Nigerian students
1.5 Research Hypothesis
The research hypotheses to be tested include:
i) there will be a significant relationship between social media and academic performance of students.
ii) there will be no significant influence of social media academic performance of students.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The findings from this
research will hopefully create awareness among Nigerian students who
access social media. The findings will also help students to use social
media appropriately.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This study covered undergraduate and
post graduate students of Nigeria. Variables of interest include: social
media and academic performance. While social media is independent
variable, academic ‘performance’ of students is dependent variable.
1.8 Limitation of the study
This research was carried
out in some selected schools in Nigeria with a sample of 100 students. A
survey was conducted among the Nigerian students which took around
12-15 minutes for each student.
1.9 Definitions of Terms
The following terms were used in the course of this study:
Social Media: This refers to computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks.
Academic Performance: This
refers to the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has
achieved their short or long-term educational goals. Cumulative GPA and completion of educational degrees such as High School and Bachelor's degrees represent academic achievement.