Chapter 1
Introduction
Situation Analysis
The internet is more than just a means of searching information. People
have revealed that the Internet can be used to connect with other
people for business or commercial purposes, to make new friends, or to
bring back old friends and long lost relatives. The latest example of new
communication technology usually used by students is social media,
also known as Social Networking Sites. ( Mushtaq et al., 2018)
The use of social media is being rapidly rising during last few years. It is
not only being used by the working people but also there is heavy
increase in the use of social media by the students or education society.
With such broad acceptance, there is no surprise that social media have
affected the way people live and socialize. Social Networking Sites such
as Facebook is one of the latest examples of communication
technologies that have been widely-adopted by students and,
subsequently, have the potential to become a valuable resource to
support their educational communications and collaborations with
faculty. Social media are mostly used by students to communicate and
exchange ideas with lecturers specifically in western contexts. It was
stated that the development of technology and increase in internet
usage, social media has become a part of our daily lives. If social media
is used in a positive way, it can help students and youth to get
knowledge that can be used to improve their academic performances.
(Raut et al., 2016)
Furthermore, Neal (2012) stated that the term social media relates to
the many easy-to use services that anybody can use to interact with
other people online such as Facebook, YouTube, Blog, Twitter and so on
and so forth. Therefore, using social media easy and simple services,
enable us to create online presence very easily as signing up for
Facebook and Twitter account, subsequently create our own content
on the web within minutes. Besides that, academic achievement is the
ability of student to study and remember facts and being able to
communicate his/her knowledge orally or in written form even in an
examination condition (Kpolovie, Joe and Okoto, 2014).
Accordingly, the current study is supposed to be useful, since it is a new
in Afghanistan, among undergraduates in Alberoni University. Because
in an academic environment, beside traditional resources, students also
need a new informational technology such as social media. As said by
Sudha and Kavitha (2016) social network sites have attracted
considerable attention among scholars and educators due to the
increasing popularity among students and the potential effect on
academic performance. However, the previous studies, which were
conducted in other countries belong to their countries which have
many educational, environmental, religious differences with
Afghanistan. Thus, this study conducted the research objectives and
questions as follows:
1.1 Research objectives
1. To assess the positive effects of social media on the students'
academic performances.
2. To assess the negative effects of social media on the students'
academic performances.
1.2 Research Questions
1. What are the positive effects of social media on the academic
performances of students?
2. What are the negative effects of social media on the academic
performances of students?
1.3 Research Hypothesis
1. There are no significant differences concerning the positive effects of
social media on the academic performances of students.
2. There are no significant differences concerning the negative effects
of social media on the academic performances of students.
1.4 Significance of the study
This study can be a good academic source for researchers, especially in
Afghanistan, where there is more probably no such literature. This
research will be as a trusted academic source and pave the way for
scholars, lecturers and students to know the effects of social media,
and the effects on the undergraduates' academic performances. It will
raise the awareness of the people about either positive and negative
impacts of social media on the academic performances of students in
Afghanistan society. It will also encourage students to use social media
beneficially as effective communication tools as well as educational
media to improve their knowledge and skills.
1.5 Limitation of the study
The results of the current study are limited to the Alberoni University
students of Afghanistan, who are studying in the nine faculties of
Medical, Engineering, Political Sciences, Journalism, Islamic Law,
Language and Literature, Education, Economic and agriculture. It is just
limited to find the positive and negative impact of social media on the
undergraduates' academic performances
II. Literature Review
There are many studies performed about the positive and negative
effects of social media on the students' academic performances. For
example, Heffner (2016) alleged that the use of social media can be a
good outlet to deal with academic frustrations, especially if the
students are in contact with another student that is having the same
problem. Social media lets students to get connected with other
students, which can be very useful because it will allow them to discuss
class matters via social media. Additionally, Adam Mahamat (2014)
tried to obtain students’ perceptions of how their use of social
networking sites influences their academic performances. The
researchers performed a preliminary survey of a group of
Malaysian university students. It was found that the majority of
respondents agreed that social networking sites have a positive impact
on their academic performances. Menseh and Nizam (2016) described
that social networking have a meaningful effect on the students'
academic performances. They also pointed out about the abnormal use
of social media platforms by students. The study suggested it is useful
that universities and colleges in Malaysia educate their students to use
these platforms positively for educational purposes which will
ultimately result in a positive impact on their academic performance.
Jha, Jaipuria, Jha, and Sinha (2016) asserted that students more
probably affected by social media. To some extent, it absolutely affects
the lives of college students counting the grades. They added that social
media is attractive as it gives college students another world to make
friends, also provides a good way to release pressure. It was also noted
that an approach is required to balance the relationship between social
media and academic study. Consequently, college students should think
more about the balancing of social media and academics. Additionally,
the findings of an investigation conducted by Eke, Omekwu and Odoh
(2014) among undergraduates in Nigeria showed that there are some
benefits come from using social media, which encourages virtual
meeting with co-research scholar; self-esteem and wellbeing; Research
and learning; strengthening interpersonal relationship; read and write
web skills etc. It was also noted that students use social media to
communicate with friends, viewing movies, for discussing national
issues like politics, economy and religious matters, and for academic
purposes. Mingle and Adams (2015) stated that there are some
students experienced improvement in their reading skills as a
consequence of participation and involving social media. Also,
respondents shared ideas, discussed and shared examination questions
among themselves on social media. All the same, Mingle and Adams
(2015) asserted that majority of respondents experienced negative
effects i.e. poor grammar and spelling, late submission of assignment,
less study time and poor academic performance because of too much
use of social media networks. Moreover, addiction toward using social
media among students was high. Eke, Omekwu and Odoh (2014)
described some dangers associated with social networking sites such as
Ecrime, Internet addiction, laziness, standard crime like, fraud, murder,
kidnapping; immoral act like, pornography, prostitution, cyber-bullying
where identified. In addition, the outcomes of a survey performed by
Roblyer, McDaniel, Herman and Witty (2010) showed that faculty and
students differ somewhat in their current and anticipated uses of social
media such as Facebook. It was noted that there is a significant
difference between the perceived role of this tool as social, rather than
educational. Students look like much more open to the idea of using
Facebook instructionally than do faculty. Sudha and Kavitha, (2016) also
stated that most of the faculty members believed that social media
have a negative effect on the students' academic performances
compared with positive effects, due to lack of awareness among the
students and faculty members about the appropriate usage of social
media topics of educational interest. In the meantime, the positive
effects of social media on their academic performances appeared to be
significantly low. Moreover, Heffner and Tara (2016) conducted a study
among undergraduates at Rowan University of the USA. The study
results described that social media do not have a positive effect on the
students' academic achievements. Because the student GPA decreased
as much as they were engaged in social media. The study suggested the
undergraduate students should manage and monitor their time spent
using social media such as Facebook. In another study, Mushtaq (2015)
discovered social media as a factor in the lacking of habits of reading
newspaper among students and it may cause them to lose much
advantageous information consist of the newspaper. Furthermore,
Wang, Chen and Liang (2011) alleged that social networking is
absolutely affecting students’ effectiveness as well as their grades.
Therefore, educators need to be worried about these problems and
attempt to find better ways to solve these problems. Though, framed
within an academic context, the concepts outlined here can be used to
investigate the use of communication technology not only at school,
but also at home, workplace, and many other settings, and for a
diversity of different viewers like teenagers, young adults, the elderly,
or families.
III. Methodology
The quantitative research design was chosen as the main and
substantial method of the study. In a quantitative method, the
researcher collects, analyses and interprets different kinds of numerical
data obtained from a large population (Teddlie and Tashakori, 2009).
3.1 Participants
The respondents of the study were undergraduates of Alberoni
University. These respondents were randomly selected from nine
faculties of Medical, Engineering, Political sciences, Journalism, Islamic
law, Language and literature, Education, Economic and Agriculture.
There are more than 7000 students studying in Alberoni University
form all over the country. From among them, 371 students randomly
were chosen as the subjects of quantitative data.
3.2 Instruments and data analyses
A survey questionnaire was designed as the instruments of the study.
The questionnaire items include 16 Lickert scale questions. The items of
the questionnaire were adapted from the previous study
questionnaires such as Sudha and Kavitha (2016) performed their study
among the undergraduates at Salem University of the USA. In addition,
the SPSS software, specifically, descriptive tests and One Way Analysis
of Variance (ANOVA) were employed to analyse the survey data.
3.3 Respondents profile
The demographic part of questionnaire consists of three items, which
are gender, ages and education years of the respondents. Following
explains demographic information of respondents. 3.3.1 Gender of
respondents Table 3.1 shows the gender of the participants. From the
371 participants took part in the study, majority 236 (63.6%) of them
were male, while 135 (36.4%) were female. It shows the superiority of
male students in the university than the females.