CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Internet is a very essential part of life from shopping to electronic mails and education Tariq et al (2012). Using computers and the Internet is becoming more and more important in the learning and teaching processes Heyam (2014).
Internet is used for educational purpose by a large community but unfortunately we have a large community including majority of youth and teenagers who use Internet for only social media sites Boyd (2006).
These social media sites are so numerous but a few would be mentioned, which include, 2go, friend finder, e-buddy, Facebook, Instagram, Nimbuzz, Orbit, fubar, classmates, Naijapals, Netlog, Nigerian social network, blackberry messenger, twitter, MySpace, Whatsapp and so on. There are no limitations or restriction as to which social media sites one should belong; one can be a member of as many as possible Anthonia and Aduba (2014).
However, students most times abuse the use of these very socializing tools by neglecting the informative and educating benefits they offer as observed by Ibrahim(2012) that the neglect of educational benefits has endangered students to becoming victims of sexual predators, cyber bullying and harassment, posting or downloading of inappropriate pictures and other materials. Students skip the time for studies and engage in long hours of social media this in turn may be affecting them in variousways. Ibrahim (2012) posited that most students prefer being on the site than reading their books.
Udosen (2009) asserted that the Internet chatting (social media) are widely utilized by secondary school students both male and female in Nigeria. Some research works found out that gender interests differ in social media activities. According to Anthonia and Aduba (2014), girls (female students) are more likely to use social media sites than male. For girls, social media sites are places to reinforce pre-existing friendships while for boys who use the sites, the networks provide opportunities for flirting and making new friends. In terms of knowledge gained from social media sites, Khan (2010) is of the view that quite a number of male students use social media sites for knowledge more than their female counterparts. He opined that gender or not, students are addicted to social media. According to Ibrahim (2012), this addiction tends to take their time and keep them from doing other activities such as studying or socializing offline. He buttressed further that most of these students hardly read their books because of technological advancement which is believed to be largely responsible for the poor outings in most examinations taken by these students. He further stressed that they devote much time to activities that add little or nothing to their lives. For example, students employ the use of short hand style of writing in their social network interactions in writing tests which according to reports, attributed to mass failure in English language at most public examinations. Even at leisure time and late at night, the students keep pressing their phones which have adverse effect on their learning process Anthonia and Aduba (2014).
Social media with its numerous benefits should not be allowed to drift away the minds of students where in lies the development of Nigeria. Reading empowers everyone, it prepares the mind for societal challenges, therefore there is need to ensure it is back in line in order to develop and move the Nation forward Liccardi et al (2007).
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Social media brought many positive implications to human life such as making the connection of millions of people from all over the world possible.
However, there may be some evil characteristics within this medium that required further study. These students become distracted because of the amount of time and attention being devoted to these social media. Often times, they are observed using their mobile phones to communicate and do other social activities even during school hours when they are expected to be engaged in meaningful activities. Thus this valuable time is fitted away on social media, especially on activities that add w value to them Ibrahim (2012). The resultant effect of which has led to poor academic performance.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The general objective of the study was to investigate the impact of Social media sites usage on Academic performance of Secondary School Students in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study are;
1) Find out the extent to which gender differences influence the use of Social media
2) Identify the most visited websites by students
3) Determine the students’ purpose for using various websites
4) Find out the amount of time students invest into Social media
5) Identify the Information Communication Technologies mostly used by students for social media
6) Ascertain the influence of social media on students
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The study will be of immense benefits to students, Parents/Guardians and School Teachers. The students will enjoy the lion’s share of the benefits. Students will learn to manage and balance their time. In the same vein, they will learn to explore the Social media potential benefits as it will boost their creativity and technical skills but at the expense of their primary responsibility which is reading.
It will equally benefit parents and guardians as they need to wake up to their roles of monitoring their children and wards.
This study will also serve as a guide to school teachers in order to teach the students’ mi the need to develop good reading habit and best ways to maximize the benefits of internet usage.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions was formulated to guide the proposed study.
1) To what extent do gender differences influence the use of social media?
2) Which social media sites do students visit the most?
3) To what extent do students use social media sites for various purposes?
4) What is the amount of time students invest into social media?
5) Which Information Communication Technologies are mostly used by students for social media?
6) What are the influences of social media on students?
1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
1) There is no significant difference in academic performance of students who are exposed to social media and those who are not exposed to the use of social media sites
2) There is no significant difference in the academic performance of boys and girls who are exposed to the use of Social media sites.
3) There is no significant difference in the academic performance of students who ‘ended Government and Private owned schools who are exposed to the use of Social media sites.
4) There is no significant difference in the academic performance of students who spent those who spent short time online making use of Social media sites.
1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The study was limited to some selected schools in Eti-Osa Local Government. This is so because of financial constraints, problems that were encountered when administering the questionnaire to students and time constraint.
1.8 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of this study was on the impact of Social media usage on Academic performance of Secondary School Students in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. It focused on determining the extent to which male and female students make use of Social media, the websites sites mostly visited, the various purposes for using the sites, the time students invest into use of Social media. It focused on the Information Communication Technologies used by these students to access the internet.
Internet users showed that people who uses social media sites more in terms of time spent on it were perceived to be less involved with real-life connections to peers and hence a negative social identity tend to use social media more in order to compensate for this. This however could also be the case with students who invest a lot of their time into social media. They relented further that adolescents who received predominantly negative feedback had low self-esteem which in turn led towell-being. Banquil et al (2009) lamented that social media is the cause of damage in students’ chances of being well-off in the future.
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Internet is a massive “network of networks”, a media infrastructure which connects millions of computers together globally, forming a network in which any computer can communicate with each other as long as they are both connected to internet.
2. Social Media- They are forms of electronic communication which facilitate interactive base on certain interests. Social media include web and mobile technology. Kaplan and Helen (2010) defined Social Media as a group of internet based application that allows the creation and exchange of user generated content.
3. Socia1 Media- The use of internet to make information about yourself available to other people especially people you share an interest with to send messages to them.
4. Media - Are all those media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience by mass communication. “They are messages communicated through a mass medium to a number of people.
5. Academic - It is concerned with Studying from books as opposed by a practical work.
6. Students - Someone who is Studying at a University or School. Someone who is very interested in a particular subject.
7. Computer - A computer is a machine that receives or stores or process data quickly according to a stored program.
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