THE INFLUENCE OF SMART PHONES AND SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS
ABSTRACT
The study looked into the impact of smart phones and social networking sites on the academic performance of secondary school students in Lagos State’s Amwuwo-Odofin local government area. For this study, a descriptive research design was used.
Using the Simple Random Sampling Technique, three (3) public secondary schools were chosen from a list of public schools in Lagos State’s Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area. The stratified Random Sample Technique was used to select 200 students.
A four-point modified Rennis Likert Rating Scale Questionnaire was used as the research instrument. Five research questions were posed, as well as five hypotheses. To answer research questions, data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentages, while hypotheses were tested using chii-square and t-test – statistical tools at the 0.05 level of significance.
All of the null hypotheses that were stated were rejected. The study concluded that smart phones have a significant influence on student academic performance, social networking sites have a significant influence on student academic performance, and there is a significant difference between the effects of smart phones and social networking sites on academic performance.
There was also a significant difference in smart phone usage between male and female students. Based on the findings, recommendations were made that there is a need for school counselors to access the current use of smart phones by students in the classroom and find a way to stop the usage.
THE FIRST CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Study’s Background
The world is a vast cyber community that is linked by a network of wired and wireless devices via the World Wide Web (WWW). Today, most of us have secured a space in cyberspace by having email accounts, conducting online transactions, and participating in e-learning.
The main application under the umbrella of social media that comes with the Web 2.0 era is social networking sites. In the twenty-first century, social media is the fastest growing web application.
Because adolescents are more vulnerable to addiction, the problem of technology addiction has received special attention, particularly in the field of secondary education. However, smartphone addiction has recently become a more serious issue.
Smart phones are the new generation of mobile phones that have emerged in recent years and have already dominated the market. Smart phones with mini keyboards are more than just phones; they also have computer functions such as email, calendar, and address book, as well as office programs for reading and editing. Multimedia phone features such as camera, video, sound recordings, and podcasting are advanced and can compete with specialized equipment.
With the proliferation of gadgets embedded in modern mobile phones (particularly 3G and 4G phones), such as MP3,Internet, and the reduction in the size and price of such devices, mobile phones have become ubiquitous. The
mobile phone is a tool that can be used at any time and from any location, increasing the tendency to do things both discreetly and openly. People sometimes lose the ability to manage the boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate cell phone usage as a result of their use of cell phones. (Ling, 1997)
In today’s technology, social networking sites (such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Skype, Instagram, and so on) have become commonplace for this generation of college students (Hanson, Drumheller, Mallard, Mckee & Schlegel,2011).
With the increased popularity of wireless technology, connecting to these social networking sites has become easier and more convenient. This has resulted in an increase of over one billion people logging on to these sites on a daily basis. Young adults (18 29 years old) are the most active users of wireless technology, accounting for 81% of all users (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith & Zickuhr, 2010).
College students have a high demand for social networking sites. Social media is used by 92% of all undergraduate students (Junco & Cotton, 2012). As more college students use social media, it is critical for faculty and administrators in higher education institutions to understand how this affects students’ academic performance.
1.2 Problem Description
Without a doubt, the invention of technology such as mobile phones has resulted in enormous positive progress for human societies; however, this invention has also resulted in some observed attitudinal problems among secondary school students.
However, this is not to say that these problems are solely due to the use of these phones, as there are other causes, but that user attitudes and modes of usage are significant contributing factors, particularly in the twenty-first century.
Scholars have identified issues related to phone usage and time (Junco, Merco, and Salter, 2010 Wei and Lo, 2006), as well as phone attachment (Gaser, 2006), and in light of this, there is a need to establish a link between these observations and academic performance. In analyzing the problem of these internet phones, and in order to synchronize and have a clearer understanding of the problem as it is related to this study,
it must be remembered that other varying platforms of distractions towards the academic performance of secondary school students, such as computer usages, which generate internet social networking sites, and visual display devices for relaxation such as televisions, are also implicated.
Furthermore, students have a high proclivity to interact with their phones in class during lectures, either to respond to received messages or to browse the internet. These, without a doubt, have a significant impact on the level of concentration devoted to the lectures.
Even when they are not in the classroom, most students who have internet-enabled phones spend a significant amount of time interacting with their phones by chatting on Twitter 2go, Facebook, and instant messages (Bbm, Yahoo messenger). As a result, time that could have been spent studying or on other worthwhile academic pursuits is squandered.
In light of this issue, and in order to identify the root cause of the problems caused by the relationship between students’ use of internet phones and their academic performance, it is pertinent and necessary to conduct a study of this type.
1.3 The Study’s Purpose
The study’s overarching goal is to determine the impact of smart phones and social networking sites on secondary school students’ academic performance, as stated below.
i. To ascertain the impact of smart phones on the academic performance of high school students.
ii. Determine the impact of social networks on student academic performance.
iii. To ascertain the influence of social networks on student study habits.
iv. Determine the impact of smart phones on students’ levels of concentration in class.
v. To ascertain the impact of social networks on students’ access to learning materials.
1.4Research Issue
i. To what extent do smart phones influence students’ academic performance?
ii. To what extent do students’ academic performance and social networks interact?
iii. To what extent do social networks influence students’ study habits?
iv. To what extent do smart phones influence students’ concentration levels in class?
v. To what extent do social networks influence students’ access to learning materials?
1.5Theory of Research
In the study, the following null hypotheses were tested:”
i. There is no significant relationship between smartphones and student academic performance.
ii. There is no significant relationship between social networks and student academic performance.
iii. There is no significant relationship between social networks and student study habits.
iv. There is no significant relationship between smart phones and student concentration levels in class.
v. There is no significant relationship between social networks and students’ access to learning materials.
1.6 Importance of the Research
As previously stated, the purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of smart phone use and social networking sites on secondary school students’ academic performance. Students, parents, teachers, school administrators, and school counselors will benefit from this research. Students, as knowledge receivers in school, will understand how the use of smart phones can affect their learning performance.
Teachers in schools will benefit from this work because it provides a rationale for ensuring that students are taught how and when to use smart phones, as well as how to benefit from social media sites.
The school administrator will view this work as one that can be relied on and, as a result, will devise rules that will put the study’s commendation into action.
As a professional, the counselor will apply knowledge gained from this work by introducing students to smart phones and social networking sites, thereby assisting them to perform well in their studies.
1.7 The Study’s Scope
The scope of this study will be restricted to Senior Secondary Schools in Educational Districts (iv) of Lagos State’s Mainland Local Government Area. It is important to note that smart phones and social networking sites will be treated separately as variables influencing academic performance.
1.8 Term Definitions in Operational Context
i. Smart Phone: any mobile communication device that can connect to the Internet.
ii. Social networking sites or social media: a collection of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and enable the creation and exchange of user-generated context (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
iii. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): the trend of using iPads, iPhones, Android phones, and sometimes even their own laptops to gain access to corporate educational data (Miller, 2012).
iv. Mobile Learning: the use of mobile or wireless devices for learning while on the go, or learning that makes use of mobile technologies.
v. Student: a person who attends a school, college, or university to study.
vi. Internet: a network of computers and computer networks located all over the world that share information using agreed-upon protocols.
vii. Social Networking Site: This is an online site that focuses on facilitating the formation of social networks or social relations among people who share activities, interests, and backgrounds, allowing them to share ideas and events.
viii. Academic Performance: refers to how students handle their studies and how they cope with or complete various tasks assigned to them by their teachers.
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