THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

ADDICTION TO STUDENT’S
LEARNING OF SSC-R MANILA SHS
STUDENTS
RESEARCH STATEMENT

Social Media has become a global phenomenon and a very important means of communication
among peers, families, and all manners of persons.

Due to the development of technology, numerous social media sites are developed such as Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and mobile instant message (IM) such as WhatsApp, Viber and IMO, and video
calling services like Skype which become a popular means of communication in the past few years.

Students at the senior high school level may form a large chunk of social media users as research has
shown that social media is largely used by young people between the ages of 16-21 (PEW Research
Centre, 2014) and many senior high school students fall within this age bracket.

In line with this, students not only are social media users but some are already social media addicts.
Studies say that social networks are massively addictive although it still is a choice of the person
using it in regulating themselves. Millennials yearn for a sense of belongingness which is the addictive
aspect of social networking---FOMO (fear of missing out).

Social Media has its advantages that students can benefit from. It improves student’s learning in a
way. Too much though is unhealthy, which leads to social media addiction.

This research would focus on 1) identifying the effects of social media addiction to student’s learning
and 2) the factors that contribute to social media addiction.

METHODOLOGY

METHOD USED

In this study, the researchers used the qualitative method in gathering and interpreting data; they
conducted online interview through Facebook Messenger and stated the facts from the answers of
the respondents.

GATHERING DATA

The researchers used the information gathered from the answers of the students whereas they also
used the Internet as reference for their research study. The respondents came from the selected
students of San Sebastian College-Recoletos Manila Senior High School. They were interviewed
online and their responses contribute to the analysis and interpretation of the data.
SUBJECT OF THE STUDY

There are five selected students from the Senior High School Department of San Sebastian College-
Recoletos Manila. Teenagers most likely are to use social networking sites which makes them the
actual target of the research paper. Their responses would help in the accuracy and credibility of
this study.

INSTRUMENT USED

The researchers prepared five questions to be answered by the respondents. These questions are
the following:

1. How much time do you spend on using social networking sites? Is it everyday, every weekdays or
every weekends?
2.What social networking site do you frequently use?
3. For what reasons do you use social networking sites?
4. Did you ever think of yourself as a social media addict? Why do you think so?
5. What has been the effect of social media addiction to your studies?

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Students nowadays are engaged in using Social Media that it has developed numerous social
networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and many more. Numerous studies proved
how social media addiction affects the student’s learning.

1.1 Social Media Addiction

According to an article by Reyn (2015), conventional addictions have identifiable and clear
symptoms however “social media impacts people in different ways”. It could be in one’s mental or
physical health, social behavior and attitude, and most importantly to the student’s learning and
academic performance in school. Whereas, one’s addiction to social media could be measured based
on how much time they spent on using social media (Reyn, 2015). Somehow, only a person could
know whether he or she is already addicted to social media (Reyn, 2015). Because even “for Matt
Rice ’15 being addicted to something means that the addiction impedes opportunities to do
things a person normally does” (Reyn, 2015).
1.2 Social Media Engagement

Access to Social Media comes in various forms. Wherein it could be through the use of smartphones,
pc, laptop, and electronic gadgets. As a matter of fact, teenagers nowadays are the first ones to use
digital devices and gadgets while living their teenage years (Reyn, 2015) in comparison to that of the
past. Reyn (2015) lists the most popular social networking sites which are Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram. In addition, Dwamena et al (2016) conducted a study wherein the survey resulted to
Facebook garnering the highest percentage of 28.9% or 100 responses out of 346 respondents in
response to what type of social media site they are engage in.

1.3 Effects of Social Media Addiction

Despite the fact that social media enables people to connect all over the world, build friendships,
support political causes and help people to find work (Staff Writers, 2013), it has created numerous
problems not only socially but also academically. This is because social media had developed
student’s negative behaviors and habits such as procrastination (Dwamena et al, 2016), distraction,
lack of focus and many more. Staff Writers (2013) further states that “multitasking leads to habitual,
distracted thinking”, wherein the multitasking nature of social media increases student’s distraction
and could harm their academic performance (Dwamena et al, 2016) as well. Furthermore, the use of
social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter urges the students to procrastinate while trying
to finish their projects and homeworks (Dwamena et al, 2016). One example of which is from the
Staff Writers (2013), wherein they found out from Miriam Hospital’s Center for Behavioral and
Preventative Medicine that student engagement with digital media could lead to a big impact on
grades and negatives effects on other areas of academic performance. Other effects of social media
addiction are decrease in the number of personal forms of communication (Staff Writers, 2013) such
that it lessens the time to socialize and communicate with other persons due to how much time these
students spent on using social media,

RESULTS and DISCUSSION

The data gathered are all very similar. Students answered almost the same. Social networking sites
are being used everyday for approximately more than 4 hours. Among all the social networking sites,
Facebook is frequently used by the students. They use it as it helps in doing their school works,
getting updated, communicating with family and friends and mostly for leisure. Most students
consider themselves social media addict because they use it for a very long time. They can't help
themselves. It affects their studies as it divides their time. Instead of studying, they use up that time
for accessing social media. Students have their minds focused upon something less important.

With this, it could be considered that Social Media has greatly influenced the lives of students.
Whether they are at school or at home, they would be checking their smartphones or electronic
gadgets for updates and etc. Despite the fact that they already know how it affects their studies, they
still continue using it in order to get updated, for leisure, entertainment purposes, and many more.
However, one must learn the productive ways of using social media in order to avoid and prevent its
adverse effects not only to oneself but also to their studies and learning as well.