THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC AND LEARNING ABILITY IN KOGI STATE

CHAPTER ONE

  INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

The capacity to learn is essential to participation in a significant number of educational activities, both in official and informal settings. This is the case due to the fact that an individual's ability to learn will determine whether or not they will be able to survive, adapt, and adjust to the ever-changing conditions in their environment (Nwadinigwe, 2022). A lot of the world's foremost experts on learning have come to the conclusion that the process of learning requires some kind of mental activity, regardless of whether or not the activity is the result of conscious effort. It is a multi-step process that involves the acquisition, storage, and application of knowledge, skills, habits, facts, ideas, and fundamentals in order to adjust one's behavior to their surroundings and to modify those behaviors when it is deemed appropriate to do so. This process is known as complex learning. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the level of potential that a person has received from his or her parents frequently plays a significant role in determining how well that people is able to learn new things. Even if nature is the source of the raw materials in the form of human potential and talents, it is the environment that decides the degree to which those potentials are developed (Nwadinigwe, 2022).

The work of scholars who study new media literacy, on the other hand, offers one way to better describe the kinds of behaviors that could contribute to learning. The majority of research on the relationship between youth education and social media use literacy as the lens through which to define learning (Greenhow and Ahn, 2020). The literacy viewpoint shifts the emphasis away from conventional measurements of learning such as grades or standardized tests and onto learning behaviors instead, such as the creation of different types of media. It is essential to have a solid understanding of the idea of literacy practices when seen from this vantage point. The activities that children engage in while at school, such as listening to a teacher's lesson, practicing problems on worksheets, and taking tests to assess learning, can be viewed as specialized literacy practices, according to these experts; however, the functions that are served by those who create media are very different from what would be expected in a classroom setting. In any event, education received in a classroom setting strives toward a more quantifiable purpose than that of social media.

In the meanwhile, the use of social media is an exciting topic to research since technology is such an important component of the lives of adolescents today's pupils. This is the case due to the fact that students of today are born into a world in which computer technology is already well established and, as a result, it is an instrument that is often used by students in their day-to-day lives. This encompasses the manner in which people acquire information, communicate, and acquire knowledge. When opposed to the chalk and talk-based atmosphere in which the vast majority of adults were educated, it is impossible to refute the reality that today's pupils come from a generation that is heavily focused on standardized testing. One would have anticipated that the introduction of new technologies like computers, the internet, and mobile phones would boost students' capacity for learning and lead to improvements in their knowledge, skills, and attitudes. It is quite concerning to hear that kids, rather of reading and studying in order to improve their knowledge, skills, and attitude, are preoccupied with the generation of social media material that has nothing to do with their education. As a direct consequence of this, students are rapidly becoming more and more unmotivated to engage in the typical study and reading habits necessary to fully prepare for their tests. The rising prevalence of students using social media platforms is cause for fear and has been a topic of discussion all around the globe, prompting a number of researchers to look into the issue.

Although there is a plethora of study that examines the impact that students' use of social media has on their education in Nigeria, there is a dearth of research that focuses on this subject as it relates to students who are enrolled in higher education.

There have been a few studies that have made mention of the fact that student usage of social media is continuously growing, which may or may not be connected to mental, knowledge, experiential, skill, and attitude learning. It would seem that secondary schools in Kogi State make either very little or no mention to the influence that social media has had, if any, on the pupils' capacity to study. Unquestionably, the use of social media may also be influencing the manner in which students interact with technology in general. According to Adeogun (2020), the information that children acquire on the internet, television, and telephone may influence the conduct of an individual student in a favorable or bad way. It is possible for the information to either generate new responses or change old ones; this is dependent on the level of observation that is made available to the individual who is socializing, as well as the level of imitation that the individual is able to have of the behaviors and attitudes displayed by the models. Given that the forces of development are found primarily within the individual, the environment, as was mentioned earlier, plays a secondary role in the process of natural enfoldment of that which nature has enfolded within the individual in a natural environment free from corruption. This is the case even though it is true that the forces of development are primarily found within the individual. Individuals will grow positively and act logically if the information is good and favorable; but, if the information is bad, the development may be damaging.

Students' capacity to study is adversely affected when they use social media, which unquestionably gives them more opportunities for procrastination when they are attempting to do their homework and assignments. A student who chooses to study using social media rather than the traditional methods must make a trade-off because of their understanding of economics and the concept of opportunity cost. Students that spend a lot of time on social media tend to be less engaged in classroom instruction and learning, which has been shown in research published in academic journals. In addition to this, it encourages pupils to be slothful and to put off completing their assignments or homework. It would be irresponsible of us to throw the baby out with the bathwater. One of the positive aspects of social media is that it provides students with the opportunity to learn more. This is because the platform allows and encourages students to post their schoolwork, which in turn increases their motivation to learn. There are innumerable learning opportunities made available by social media, but it would be impossible to list them all in this literature.

In addition, the rate at which students use social media raises questions about the potential effect that students' mental learning in schools has on the potential effect that social media have on students' mental learning. According to the findings of a number of the researchers who were cited earlier, using social media is pointless, wastes time, and diverts attention from academic work. It would appear that students are more interested in using social media for social interaction than they are in using it for academic purposes. As a result, it would appear that students' use of social media does not contribute to the mental or knowledge learning that takes place in schools. This is mirrored in the way that pupils write and spell words, which often deviates from the correct method to spell English words. It is possible for students to fail their tests both internally and externally if they send or receive text messages or short messages via social media when they are supposed to be studying for such exams. In light of the above context information, the current study investigates the influence that students' use of social media has on their academic performance and their capacity for learning in the state of Kogi.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

The issue that prompted this line of inquiry was the alarming pace at which students are eschewing traditional forms of education in favor of content-creating platforms associated with social media, such as Facebook and 2go, amongst others. The prevalence of the usage of social media in today's society has reached a point where it raises a great deal of problems (Nwadinigwe, 2022). The situation is not only unsettling for everyone with an interest in education; rather, it is quite frightening. Because of this, it is necessary to address the issues that social media poses to the cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor domains of pupils. If there is nothing that can be done to prevent the flow of the water at this moment, there will be long-term harm done. This will not be beneficial for the educational system in our nation since it will make it far more difficult to produce the skilled workforce necessary to address the obstacles facing our country's socioeconomic growth.

At the present time, it would seem that the majority of students who arrive to school equipped with internet connections pay more attention to their interactions on social media than they do to their academic learning. It is possible that the time that should be spent reading and studying is instead being dedicated to interactions on social media, which may not have any influence on the cognitive, emotional, or psychomotor development of the student. It's possible that this will have a catastrophic impact on the children' capacity to learn new things. This has the potential to increase the number of pupils in schools who do not succeed academically. This is not good for our country's education system, which is looking for a means to pull itself out of the muddy seas in which it now finds itself. The present pace of social media use among students makes it possible to make a prediction that if the neglect of textbooks and learning journals is not addressed within a short amount of time, more of our library's textbooks and journals will be completely forgotten. This is another another obstacle on the path to the continued academic success of our country. In addition to this, the widespread use of social media and the lightning-fast pace at which information is disseminated seem to be contributing factors in the widespread disregard for correct spelling and grammar. This may be transmitted to traditional writing, which may impair pupils' ability to write successfully without depending on the spell check function of a computer. Worse yet, the bad performance of students in external examinations, which has been on the rise every year, may be tied to students spending time reading and studying on social media interactions with other students. This trend has been increasing every year. This will bring to the forefront the need of doing research on the effect that students' use of social media has on their academic performance and their capacity to study in the state of Kogi.

1.3       Purpose of the Study

The general objective of the study is to examine the impact of social media on students’ academic and learning ability in kogi state. The specific objectives of the study are to;

i.          To examine students reason for using social media.

ii.        To ascertain the impact of social media on students academic performance.

iii.      To determine the influence of social media usage on students learning  ability.

iv.      To ascertain whether there is a gender differences in social media usage among students in secondary schools.

1.4          Research Questions

The following questions guided this research study

i.          What are the students reason for using social media?

ii.        What is the  impact of social media on students academic performance?

iii.      Is  there an  influence of social media usage on students learning  ability?

iv.      Is there a gender differences in social media usage among students in secondary schools?

1.5       Significance of the study

The study will be significant to students, teachers, parents, educational psychologist’s and policy makers on the current trends in social media world, in the following ways: The study will help the students to know that social media can help them improve their learning ability and school work performance if used judiciously. The study will help the teachers to gain additional knowledge on the current issues in social media usage by the students and find the appropriate measures in helping students to maximize gain on these media for academic attainment. It will also open the eyes of the parents to the challenges encountered by their students in social media usage in relation to their physical and cognitive development and the levels of their performance in education. This study will be useful to the guidance and counselors on how to make adolescent cope with the challenges of social media and social networking that suit education of these adolescent students for educational purpose and control the access to bad social media sites that affect students’ educational attainment.

This study will be significant to the academic community as it will contribute to the existing literature.

1.6      Scope of the Study

The study will examine students reason for using social media. The study will also ascertain the impact of social media on students academic performance. The study will further determine the influence of social media usage on students learning  ability. Lastly, the study will ascertain whether there is a gender differences in social media usage among students in secondary schools. Hence the study will be delimited to Kogi state.

1.7       Limitation of the study

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. Insufficient funds tend to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire, and interview), which is why the researcher resorted to a moderate choice of sample size. More so, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. As a result, the amount of time spent on research will be reduced.

1.8       Operational Definition of Terms

Social Media: These are forms of electronic communication which facilitate interactive base on certain interests.

Learning Ability: The learning ability of any individual referred in the study is mental ability of individuals to cope with things around him.

Learning: The activity or process of gaining knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught or experiencing something.

Academic Performance:  this refers to the ability of student to do well, fairly or poorly in an examination.

Learning ability: the ability to comprehend; to understand and

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