ABSTRACT
This study investigated the
influence of social networking on students’ devotion to study in Ambrose Alli University,
Ekpoma. The study was undertaken to identify the Social Networking Sites (SNS)
mostly used by undergraduate students; find out the amount of time devoted
daily to the visit of SNS and studies; determine the influence of social
networking on Ambrose Alli University students’ devotion to studies; find out
whether a significant influence exists between the time spent on social
networking and the time devoted to academic studies among students. The study
examined whether female students in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma differ from
their male counterparts in the amount of time spent on social networking and
time devoted to academic studies. Six research questions were raised and two
hypotheses formulated and tested. The descriptive research design based on
survey method was employed in the study. A total of 1038 undergraduates
representing 5% of the 20938 regular students in the 2013/2014 academic session
were surveyed. Questionnaires were administered to collect data from the
students. The reliability coefficient of the instrument yielded an r-value of
0.72. Frequency count, percentages were used to analyze the data collected on
which were presented in bar charts. Findings showed that Facebook is the most
used Social Networking Site among undergraduates in Ambrose Alli University,
Ekpoma, followed by Whatsapp and 2go that had second and third largest number
of student members (users) respectively. The findings also showed that majority
of the students in Ambrose Alli University devoted more than an hour a day to
social networking; majority of them spent 1-2 hours on various study activities
daily. Lastly, the result further showed that amount of time spent and devoted
to social networking and studies did not differ significantly by gender and
study programme. It was recommended, among others, that undergraduates in
Ambrose Alli University should endeavour to always switch their handsets on
silence mode when engaged in academic activities and temporarily disenabled
message alert tones while they study or engagement in any meaningful academic
activity.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the
Study
The
increased use of Social Networking Sites (SNS) has become an international phenomenon
in recent years. What started out as a hobby for some computer literate people
has become a social norm and way of life for people from all over the world. Nigerian
students and young adults have embraced these sites as a way of connecting with
their peers, sharing information, reinventing their personalities, and showcasing
their social lives.
The
idea of social networking has existed for several decades as a way for people
to communicate in society and build relationships with others. With the
increase in technology used for communicating and the popularity of the
Internet, social networking has become an activity that is done primarily on
the Internet, through sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Friendster, and Xanga
(Coyle & Vaughn, 2008).
In
the early 1990s, online communication technologies were introduced to the public
in forms such as email and chat rooms. At that time, many people thought that
on-line relationships would be superficial or meaningless. Many also predicted
that teenagers would use the Internet for purposes of meeting strangers instead
of building on established relationships. It was also assumed by some
professionals that adolescents would spend too much time on computers, and this
would negatively affect their real life friendships and relationships with
others (Peter & Valkenburg, 2009).
Social
Networking Sites (SNS) have become popular, especially, since the year 2002 and
have attracted and fascinated millions of Internet users (Boyd & Ellison,
2007), even though only a few of the Sites have gained worldwide publicity and acceptability.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) estimated that there are over 200
different sites that are used for social networking. Most people who are
members of these sites, such as Facebook (over 400 million users) and MySpace
(over 100 million users) participate in them on a daily basis (Duven &
Timm, 2008). Each person who becomes a member of a SNS has the opportunity to
create his or her own webpage or profile which is supposed to be seen as a
reflection of that person’s personality (Tufekci, 2008). By using this personal
profile, one can build an entire social network based on one’s personal
preferences (Boyd & Ellison, 2007).
Nigerian
youths, especially students, have become much more accustomed to social
networking lifestyle more than the older generations. This way of living seems
to be all they know as they now use the Internet for majority of their daily
activities, especially for information gathering. They now seem to rely more on
the Internet for information more than on sources such as the television and newspapers.
A recent survey (Kist, 2008) showed that approximately ninety percent of teens at
school in the United States have access to SNS, and about seventy-five percent
of these teens spend a great deal of their study time on social media, chatting
with friends, commenting on events, posting new images, and accepting new
friends on their phones and personal computers, and this seems to have affected
the amount of time they now devote to their studies.
Students’
devotion to studies, according to Astin (2001), refers to the amount of time
resource, physical and psychological energy that a student spends on acquiring
academic experience. The concept of students’ devotion to studies refers to the
time and effort students expend on educational activities that lead to desired school
outcomes. Over time, the concept of study devotion has evolved to mean not just
the time devoted to purely academic activities, but in a more technical way, to
connote the quality of time expended by a student studying materials at a sitting
as measured by the number of hours expended per day on academics ( Pascarella
& Terenzini, 2005; Kuh, 2009). The general rule of thumb regarding college
studying is, and has been for a long time, that for each class, students should
spend approximately 2 hours of study time for each hour that they spend in
class (Bucks County Community College). For example, if you are carrying 10
credit load of course work a semester, you should allow 20 hours per week for
study. This includes time for reading, writing assignments, gathering academic
information, academic group discussions and tutorials.
In
the context of this work, study devotion is conceptualized as the number of hours
spent on reading, writing assignments, gathering academic information, academic
group discussions and tutorials per week/day by students of Ambrose Alli
University, Ekpoma. The benchmark time shall be 21 hours per week, which
translates to 3 hours per day. This is against the general rule of thumb
prescription regarding college studying because of the peculiarities of the
University environment in Ekpoma, where majority of the students reside outside
the University campus, spend time preparing their meals and spend time
searching for portable water. Besides, the time available to the students is
further constrained by poor electricity supply and transportation system.
The
use of technology such as the internet and its associate resources is one
important factor that may influence a student’s devotion to studies, either positively
or negatively. Studies regarding social networking behaviour and students
devotion to studies (Enriquez, 2010; Uwem, Enobong & Nsikan, 2013) have revealed
that majority of undergraduate students use social networking for social connections
and entertainment, and seldom use it for educative purposes, which implies that
a significant amount of their time is spent on social networking with distant
and cyber friends as against the time spent on academic activities.
In
Nigeria, social networking has expanded widely since the arrival of Facebook in
2004, MySpace in 2005, and YouTube in 2006. In all these cases, the original
idea was to allow people from different locations to instigate debates and
share information using different kinds of support, such as pictures, videos,
and notes. However, their usage among Nigerian students at tertiary level has
become so frequent and time consuming, that students now tend to spend more time
surfing Facebook and other social networks at the expense of their studies.
Statement of the
Problem
The
use of social networking sites among students of tertiary institutions in
Nigeria has become a source of concern to many education professionals because
of the distraction it creates within the school. Even though some schools have blocked,
within the school premises, certain social networking websites and formulated
strict rules that forbid the use of hand-held technology during school periods,
many adolescents are still able to connect during school hours as they please. This
has caused distractions during classroom instruction, which now seems to have
negative influence on the learning environment.
It
is a common sight in school campuses in Nigeria to see students fondling with
their cell phones during lectures, when walking on pathways, and even when
eating in restaurants. This is because most of the students have social
networking sites running in their cell phones and as such get distracted when messages
prop up on their phones with an alert tone which they spend lengths of hours browsing
through, replying and pasting posts. Although studies have been undertaken on
Facebook usage and academic performance among students overseas (Kuh, 2009;
Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Heiberger & Harper, 2008) yet the
influence of social networking on students’ devotion to studies may not have
really been explored in Nigeria. Therefore, this study is an attempt to fill
this vacuum by investigating the influence of social networking on students’
devotion to studies in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma.
Research Questions
This study was guided by the
following research questions:
- What
are the Social Networking Sites (SNS) mostly used by undergraduate students
in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma?
- What amount of time is spent
daily on visit to SNS by undergraduate students in Ambrose Alli
University?
- What amount of time is devoted
daily to studies by undergraduate students in Ambrose Alli University?
4.
Does
social networking influence Ambrose Alli University students’ devotion to
studies?
- Do female students in Ambrose
Alli University, Ekpoma differ from their male counterparts in the amount
of time spent on social networking?
- Do female students in Ambrose
Alli University, Ekpoma differ from their male counterparts in the amount
of time devoted to academic studies?
Hypotheses
1.
Female
students in Ambrose Alli University do not significantly differ from the male
students in the amount of time spent on social networking.
2.
Female
students in Ambrose Alli University do not significantly differ from the male
students in the amount of time devoted to academic studies.
Purpose of the Study
The study examined the influence of
social networking on students’ devotion to study in Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma.
Specifically, the study:
- Identified
the Social Networking Sites (SNS) mostly used by undergraduate students of
Ambrose Alli University.
- Investigated the amount of time
is spent daily on visit to SNS by undergraduate students in Ambrose Alli
University?
- Investigated the amount of time
is devoted daily to studies by undergraduate students in Ambrose Alli
University?
- Found out whether social networking influences
Ambrose Alli University students’ devotion to study
- Investigated whether female students significantly
differ from their male
counterparts in the amount of time spent on social networking
- Found out whether female students differ from their male counterparts in the amount of time spent on academic studies.
Significance of the Study
This study will be of benefit to school
administrators, academic staff and the university authorities, educational
research institutes, stakeholders on Information Communication and Technology
(ICT) matters in Nigeria, and even Nigerian undergraduates.
Students’ management is one of the major
tasks of school administrators. The ability of school administrators to
properly manage the behaviour of students will positively enhance the teaching
and learning process in schools. The findings of this study will assist school
administrators manage the social networking behaviour of students in such a way
that it will not interfere with the time students devote to their studies,
rather social networking will be made to enhance their learning capabilities.
To academic staff and university
authorities, this study will explain some of the reasons for low lecture
attendance, poor students’ performance and the diminishing reading culture
among students in higher institutions and most particularly, the influence of online
communication technologies on students’ devotion to their studies.
To
Educational Research Institutes, the findings from this study will contribute
to knowledge and provoke further researches on this area that will lead to the
production of more empirical data that would be of immense benefit to
prospective researchers in the future.
To
stakeholders on ICT matters in Nigeria, the findings from this study will
unveil to them the attitude of students towards social networking media, and
this may provide useful insight into the future of technology integration,
acceptance and usage in Nigerian.
In the light of findings from this
study, undergraduates students will be exposed to how their frequent visit to
social networking sites, reduces the amount of time available for them to
engage in other productive activities. Thus, this will help them (students) to
moderate their excesses.
Scope of the Study
This study covered the social
networking behaviour of Ambrose Alli University students and how the behaviour
influenced their devotion to academic studies. The study also covered the SNS
mostly used by the students, the time spent on social networking, the time
devoted to academic studies in addition to the social networking behaviour of
male and female undergraduate degree students of the University. The
investigation was restricted to four social networking sites, namely: Facebook,
Whatsapp, 2go and Badoo because these sites appear to be the ones mostly
visited by young Nigerians within the country.
Operational Definition
of Terms
The following terms are operationally
defined in the study:
Social Networking Sites
(SNS): Social networking sites or media (SNS) may be
defined as a Web-based service that allow individuals to construct a public or
semi public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users
with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of
connections and those made by others within the system. Some of these sites
include Facebook, Whatsapp, 2go, Twitter, MySpace, Baado, Youtube, yahoo messenger,
and others.
Study Devotion: Study
devotion refers to the amount of time expended on reading, writing assignments,
gathering academic information, academic group discussions and tutorials which should
take time duration of 3 hours per day or 21 hours per week.
Frequency
of Visit: Frequency of visit refers to the number of return
rate to a particular site by a particular person per time period. It connotes the
number of times a web-based service or site is visited by an individual per
hour, per day, per week, etc
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