Impact Of Facebook On Students Academic Performance Commerce Essay

The use of social Networking sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, Likendin, Orkut etc are growing day by day in India. Facebook is one of the popular social networking site among young adults and college students. Further, very few researches have focused on influence of Facebook on students’ Academic performance in India. Through this research, we have tried to throw a light on the relationship between use of Facebook, a popular online social Networking site students’ academic performance. The study will be undertaken to know the frequency of usage of face book. Also, the study will try to find out the relation between time spent for use of facebook and time for study .The study will focus to know the most preferred social networking site among students and also to know the impact by the ownership of GPRS phones and use of facebook.

For this research, descriptive research design will be used. The sample size will be 300 Students of Ahmadabad. Structure questionnaire developed to measure influence of Facebook on college students’ Academic Performance with respect to Ahmedabad.

1.0 Introduction

Socializing via the Internet has become an increasingly important part of young adult life. Relative to the general population, adolescents and young adults are the heaviest Internet users.SNS are the latest communication tool for interaction with people in their networks

Social networking sites can be defined as an online platform which builds and reflects the networking among people and builds relationship among them. People share their interests, activities each other through such sites.

The most famous social networking sites in India are Orkut, facebook, LinkedIn, Ibibo, Twitter.One such website is Facebook, whose founder was Mark Zuckerberg along with his roommates and fellow students Eduardo Saverin Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The website was launched in February and privately owned by Facebook Inc. It was ranked as the most used social networking service worldwide by a January 2009 compete.com study.

Facebook also consists of individual profile, his/her social links, list of personal interests, contact information, personal information, photos and various other things. Through such sites, users can communicate and share with friends various activities and also join groups of their interests, like pages, advertise product/service. It also offers privacy settings wherein an individual can see only the specific parts of profile. Users can also control the information viewed by others through their privacy settings. Such websites generate huge revenue by advertising and posting banner ads.

Asia stands at second position among the facebook users in the world having 183.9 millions of users having 4.7% penetration level. Facebook is very popular social networking site among the college students. Several researches have examined the effect of social media on the academic performance of the students

Through this research, we have focused on one of the social networking site i.e facebook and tried to find out the influence of facebook on academicperformance of the students.

2.0 Literature Review

In the paper entitled “The influence of social networking sites on students’ academic performance in Malaysia” by Adam Mahamat Helou and Nor Za irah Ab. Rahim, they tried to study the students’ perceptions on the use of social networking sites and its influence on their academic performance.They found most of the respondents do feel that the SNSs have more positive impact on their academic perfor mance due to its use for various academic activities such as communicating with the faculty and university authority, communicating with lecturers and supervisors, making academic discussions

with classmates and chatting with friends in respect to topics o f educational interest

Nicola Cavalli Et al. in his paper “Facebook influence on university students’ media habits: qualitative results from a field research” found that nearly half of them were unfamiliar with facebook site and contrary during 2009 all of the respondents were aware and about 59% of them use it regularly.

In the paper “Effects of social network on students’ performance: A web-based forum study in Taiwan” the researcher investigated the effects of social networks on the performance of students’ online education. They found that students who are more active on facebook have positive effect on their academic performance.

In a study of “Lessons from Facebook: The Effect of Social Network Sites on College Students’ Social Capital” by Sebasti n Valenzuela2, and Kerk F. Kee4 University of Texas at Austin they examined that there exists moderate relation between intensity of facebook usage and life satisfaction, social trust, civic participation and political engagement of students.

In the paper “The relationship between facebook usage and academic performance” – A study at Ohio state University by Aryn Karpinski and Adam Duberstein (Ohio Dominican University) found that facebook usage was associated with lower GPAs, and less time studying. Those who use facebook tended to have lower GPAs than those who did not, and it appears from the slew of articles written about it, that within the group that used facebook that more usage was associated with lower GPAs and less time studying.

A study on “The Benefits of Facebook ”Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites” by Nicole B. Ellison,Charles Steinfield and Cliff Lampe examines the relationship between use of Facebook, a popular online socialnetwork site, and the formation and maintenance of social capital.The study suggested a strong association between use of Facebook and the three types of social capital, with the strongest relationship being to bridging social capital.

In a research paper entitled “Lessons from Facebook: The Effect of Social Network Sites on College Students’ Social Capital” by Sebastián Valenzuela, Namsu Park, and Kerk F. Kee at University of Texas at Austin examines if Facebook, is one of the most popular social network sites among young adults in the U.S.

3.0 Objectives

To study How much time students actively spent on face book.

To know the most preferred social networking site among students

To know the impact by the ownership of GPRS phones and use of facebook.

To study association between the use of facebook and academic performance.

4.0 Research Methodology

A descriptive research was used for study Impact of Facebook on students’academic performance. A survey approach was chosen to gather information from students of Ahmedabad. Non-probability sampling technique or convenience sampling was used. The structured questionnaire was developed and administered to 100 respondents. Before finalizing questionnaire opinion of expert panel was taken and it was followed by pilot survey of 15 students . Data and information gathered through questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS Software. Various statistical tests like chi -square and fisher exact test were performed to study Impact of Facebook on students’academic performance.

5.0 Hypothesis

H1: There is significant association in academic performance among facebook users with different frequency

H2: There is significant association for ownership of GPRS Phone and use of facebook.

6.0 Analysis and Interpretation

6.1 Most preferred social networking sites

SNS

Responses

Facebook

107(40.1%)

LinkedIn

5(1.9%)

Twitter

13(4.9%)

Orkut

42(15.7%)

YouTube

41(15.4%)

Google+

59(22.1%)

Total

267(100%)

Table 1

To study most preferred sites among students we have asked multiple choice questions to respondents what is your most preferred social networking site. Table 1 shows that 40.1% respondent preferred face book ,Google+ is followed by facebook . LinkedIn and twitter are not preferred by students of ahmedabad.

6.2 Time spent on Facebook

Table 2 Time spent on Facebook

< 30 min.

30 min. to 1Hr

1 hr to 2 hr

>2 hr

Total

Day

22

21

7

9

59

Week

16

11

5

3

35

Fortnight

1

0

1

0

2

Month

4

3

2

1

10

Total

43

35

15

13

106

Table 2

Table 2 show the time spent by students on facebook , it reported that students who used facebook generally the logged In several time or once in a day and spent time 1 hour or less than that mostly. Very few students log in on facebook fortnightly or monthly. So we can say that students use facebook frequently.

6.3 Purpose of Facebook

Purpose of Facebook

Responses

Keeping in Touch with Friends

93(29.4%)

Looking Photos/Videos

37(11.7%)

Playing Games

14(4.4%)

Chatting

69(21.8%)

Applications

20(6.3%)

Messaging

43(13.6%)

Communicating with Faculties

21(6.6%)

Making Academic discussion Group

19(6%)

Table 3

Results of Table 3 shows that 29.4% Students used facebook for keeping touch with friends, 21.8% respondent used facebook for Chatting only 6.6% respondents used facebook for Communicating with faculties and making academic discussion so, majority of students preferred to use face book for keeping touch with friends, chatting and messaging. for Playing games, communicating with faculties and for academic discussion very less students preferred Facebook.

6.4 Hypothesis 1

H1: There is significant association in academic performance among facebook users with different frequency.

To check association of academic performance among facebook users with different frequencies chi-square test of association were performed .

Time

Percentage

<30 Minutes

30 minutes to 1 hour

>1 hour

Total

<60 Percentage

13

11

8

32

>=60 Percentage

9

10

8

27

Total

22

21

16

59

Table 6 Chi-square test

Degree of Freedom

3

Level of Significant

5%

Calculated Value

0.2915

Table Value

7.8150

From above table we have found that calculated value for chi-square was 0.2915 and table value at 5% level of significant and 3 d.f was 7.8150 which is greater than calculated value so, we found that there is no significant association in academic performance among facebook users with different frequency.

6.5 Hypothesis 2

H2: There is significant association for ownership of GPRS Phone and use of facebook.

Some literature studies found that introduction of the Smartphone increased the usage of the facebook. So to find out the relationship between ownership of GPRS supported phone and use of facebook, Fisher’s exact test was used. Result of the test shown in table below.

Value

df

Asymp. Sig. (2-sided)

Exact Sig. (2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square

4.718a

1

.030

Continuity Correctionb

2.558

1

.110

Likelihood Ratio

4.095

1

.043

Fisher’s Exact Test

.062

Linear-by-Linear Association

4.664

1

.031

N of Valid Casesb

87

To study association for ownership of GPRS phone and use of Facebook Fisher’s exact test was performed. P-value of fisher’s exact test is 0.062 which is greater than level of significance value (0.05) So, There is no significant association for ownership of GPRS phone and use of Facebook.

6.6 Perception of Facebook

To study perception towards facebook whether facebook have any impact on academic performance of students we have asked several questions and asked respondents to rate according to their perception where 1 for strongly agree and 5 for strongly disagree.

Statements

Mean score

Facebook influences my academic performance negatively, because they distract me from my studies.

2.86

Using Facebook requires spending money and are wastage of time and by this way it will affect my academic life.

2.96

Addiction to Facebook is problematic issue that affects my academic life.

2.95

I find it hard concentrating on study knowing that I can play online games and visit the site just by logging into it

3.08

I compare my grades before I become engaged into the Facebook and after I became involved. I see a drop in my academic performance.

3.11

Facebook is personal/ social-can‟t be used for education.

3.01

The usage of Facebook is useful in higher educational institutions, because it is an effective communication application.

2.49

Group discussions can be arranged with my classmates using Facebook.

2.42

An appointment can be fixed with my lecturer through Facebook.

2.84

Facebook is helpful in my studies because I can receive announcements from lecturers and faculty.

2.77

Facebook help in my studies because I can discuss my assignments with friends.

2.52

Using Facebook improves my interaction with classmates and lecturers

2.57

I use Facebook to facilitate academic activities and coordinate with friends

2.50 Table 7

Table 7 we found that students have neutral opinion for facebook is personal can’t be used for education and because of facebook there academic performance is dropped. Rest of statement students are agree.

7.0 Findings and Conclusion:

Among the students, facebook is the most preferred social networking site and google plus is the second preferred site.

Maximum students use facebook on daily basis for various purposes like chatting and being in touch with friends.

The use of facebook is very less for academic purpose like discussion with faculties.

There is no impact on students academic performance due to the use of facebook.

Use of GPRS phone has no impact on facebook usage.