EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF HIGH

SCHOOL STUDENTS UNDER PANDEMIC (COVID 19) SITUATIONS

Jurena Sanchez Abrenica1 Marife De Torres2 Danilo S. Vargas3

Central Luzon State University1
Central Luzon State University2
Central Luzon State University3

aneruj_abrenica17@ymail.com1 marifedetorres@yahoo.com2 dsvargas@clsu.edu.ph3

ABSTRACT
This study is entitled, “Effects of Social Media on Academic Performance of Don Ramon E. Costales
Memorial National High School Students.” The study was conducted at Don Ramon E. Costales Memorial National
High School in Villasis, Pangasinan.Philippines This study aimed to determine the extent of students’ utilization
of social networking sites, their reasons for using social media, and their social media preference. it also tried to
explore how the different variables such as sex, age, religion, grade level, type of social networking sites, and
number of hours spent in studying affect the extent of their social media usage. Cooperation with the institution was
done to administer the survey questionnaires. Binary logistic regression analysis and descriptive methods were used.
Findings reveal that majority of the students used Facebook to communicate with their friends and relatives followed
by Instagram. The students were using the social media daily for 1-5 hours. The only variable that affected the extent
of utilization of social media was the respondents’ gender. With 0.87, females were two times more exposed to social
media rather than males. The study concludes that females are more exposed to social media rather than males. The
use social media by females have to do with their desire to communicate or share more personal information, revealing
more about their personal lives. They use social networking sites to make connections and stay in touch with family
or friends. Men, by contrast, use social media to gather the information they need to build influence. Facebook is the
most preferred social networking sites of the students to connect with family and friends. They are entertained by the
Facebook. They use longer time chatting with friends rather than doing school works. Facebook becomes their daily
routine. The study recommends for other researchers who wish to do a similar study, employ other variables which are
not tested in the study to find other factors that affect the extent of social media usage of the students.

Keywords: Effects, Social Media, Academic Performance, High School Students

INTRODUCTION inevitable, too. For example, the real value of personal life
Social networking sites (SNSs) have quickly interaction, especially among students who constitute the
become a pervasive way for people to connect and majority of users, is now taken aside because of the use
interact on-line all over the world. The creation of of social networking sites, where interaction is mediated
social networking sites is a phenomenal technological by the computer via Internet
evolution in the world of web applications. These sites
are widely used throughout the world connecting
millions of people simultaneously. The study of
Ahmed et al. (2011) found that the first official social
networking site is Classmates.com that was founded in
1995. The purpose of its creation was to provide the
students a means of social connection during or after
their degree completion (Morallo, 2014).
Research studies pertaining to the
relationship between social media usage and academic
performance of students exist. The evolution of
technology is inevitable and change, is likewise,
access. They create or build groups with people
who share common interests and activities. In line
with that and with many social networking sites,
people, especially the students, are attracted or
tempted to chat with their friends or to surf the
Internet instead of doing their homework or
reading their notes. Many students are addicted to
the Internet, and they spend long hours in social
networking sites.

Objectives of the
Study
The following were the objectives of the
study:
1. To know the socio-demographic profile of
therespondents
2. To identify the social networking sites
they usually visit/access
3. To know the extent of utilization of
social media/social networking sites of the
students
4. To know their reasons for using the social
media
5. To identify how the different variables such
as sex, religion, year level, type of social
networking sites, and number of hours spent in
studying affect the extent of their social media
usage.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Boyd & Ellison (2007) found out that
millions of people were attracted to social networking
sites (SNSs) such as MySpace, Facebook, Youtube,
Skype, and many more. They consume a lot of time on
these sites uploading or downloading, getting
information concerning their career or academic work,
and they are always online every second chatting with
friends, watching online movies, and doing research.
This activity becomes a habit because some people
find it difficult to study without the interference of the
social networking sites. Some people become very
smart because of the information they get from the site.
However, some have become very poor academically
because it easy to get almost any materials for school
assignment.
Moon (2011) in his study on the impact of
Facebook on undergraduate academic performance, he
stated that the social media has negative impact on
students. It shows in the result that the more students
use Facebook, the more it affects their academic
performance. On the contrary, Oye (2012) observed
that most of the students do feel that social networking
sites have more positive impact on the students’
academic performance and he notes that most of the
younger students use social networking sites for
socializing rather than for academic purposes.
It was also revealed in the study of Shana
(2012) that students use social network mainly for
making friends and chatting. It was showed in the
result that only 26 percent of the students indicated
that they used social media for academic purposes.
Moreover, in the study of Young (2006)
entitled, The Effects of Internet and Social Capital on
the Academic Performance of Students,” it shows that
the Internet expands its reach to teenagers’ school life.
Young noted that students are more reliant on the
Internet to access information that is involved in
school life as well as entertainment. The researcher
further added that the Internet, though consumes time,
has less effect on studies. Yoon (2000) observed that
the type of social media or network subscribed to by a
teenager exerts influence on him or her to visit the
Internet. Also, Jeong (2005) noted that internet
addiction is significantly and negatively related to
students’ academic performance, as well as emotional
attributes.
For Nauert (2007), social networking sites
made the youth technology addicts and are quite
introverted. It was found out in the new research study
that widespread use of media among freshman college
students may compromise academic performance.
This is one of the first to explore mechanisms of media
effects on academic outcomes. The investigators
determined that the use of media, from texting to
chatting on cellphones, and to posting status updates
on Facebook tend to lower the grades of freshmen
female students.
Also, Napoleon (2010) stated that exposure
to social media has negative influence on the academic
performance of students. Students spend more time on
social media rather than reading their books and also
they are now relying on social media to do their
assignments without consulting other sources. Social
media’s influence on the academic performance is
negative. Students who spend more time on social
media are likely to perform poorly in their academic
activities than those who do not.
However, Karpinski (2009) received much
media attention with findings that college Facebook
users have lower GPAs than students who are not users
of the site. Karpinski offers several hypotheses for
these findings. For example, Facebook users spend too
much time online and less time studying. However,
this study did not rigorously examine counter
hypotheses and remains a rather exploratory, basic
attempt to understand the effects of SNSs on learning.
METHODOLOGY
This study used the descriptive method
because it was suitable in meeting the objectives of the
study. The descriptive method involves observing and
describing the behavior of the subject without
influencing it in any way and to obtain a general
overview of the subject. It usually focuses on the
important facts of the people. By using this method, it
is easier to analyze the gathered information supported
by the answered questionnaires by the respondents. It
used descriptive statistics such as frequency counts
and percentages.
In data analysis, the researcher used binary
logistic regression analysis. This was used to
determine the effects of factors such as age, sex,
religion, year level, types of social networking sites,
and number of hours spent in studying, including the
frequency of usage of social networking sites.
Also, the researcher also used descriptive
statistics. This was used to describe the basic features
of the data in a study. It provide simple summaries
about the sample and the measures. Together with
simple graphics analysis, they form the basis of
virtually every quantitative analysis of data.
Descriptive statistics was used to present quantitative
descriptions in a manageable form. Descriptive
statistics helps us to simplify large amounts of data in Religion Frequency Percentage

a sensible way. Each descriptive statistic reduces lots

of data into a simpler summary.
Roman Catholic 102 69.9
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Born Again 25 17.1
Iglesia ni Cristo 10 6.8
Table 1 shows the profile of the respondents
Baptist 1 0.7
of Don Ramon E. Costales Memorial National High
Espiritista 2 1.4
School. As shown, the ages of respondents range from
Mormons 1 0.7
11-17 years old. Majority of the respondents or 36.3%
CDCC 1 0.7
were 13 years old. The least age of one respondent or
Islam 2 1.4
0.7% was 11 years old.
Saksi ni Jehova 2 1.4
Total 146 100.0
Table 1. Distribution of students by age
Table 4 shows the respondents’ type of
Age Frequency Percentage language. Majority of the respondents or 93.8% of
them said that they were using Tagalog as their dialect.
The remaining 6.2% was not using Tagalog as their
11.00 1 0.7
12.00 47 32.2 dialect.
13.00 53 36.3 Table 4. Distribution of students by dialect
14.00 18 12.3
15.00 20 13.7
16.00 5 3.4 Dialect Frequency Percentage
17.00 2 1.4
Total 146 100.0
Yes 137 93.8
No 9 6.2
Table 2 shows the gender of the respondents. Total 146 100.0
Majority of the respondents were females with a total
percentage of 60.3% while males have obtained
39.7%. Table 4.1 shows the type of dialect used by
the respondents. As shown, 59.6% of the respondents
Table 2. Distribution of students by sex answered “yes,” referring to Iloco as their language
Sex Frequency Percentage while the remaining 40.4% answered no.

Female 88 60.3 Table 4.1. Distribution of students by dialect

Male 58 39.7
Total 146 100.0
Dialect Frequency Percentage
Table 3 shows the respondents’ religion. As
shown, majority or 69.9% of them were Roman Yes 87 59.6
Catholics. This was followed by Born Again with No 59 40.4
17.1%, Epiritista, Islam, and Saksi ni Jehova with Total 146 100.0
1.4% each, and Baptist, Mormons, and CDCC with Table 5 shows the different social networking
0.7% each. sites being used by the students. Majority or 97% of
the respondents used Facebook. This was followed by
Table 2. Distribution of students by religion Instagram with 23%, Twitter and Snapchat with 14%
each, and and Tumblr with only 2%.
Table 5. Distribution of students by social media

Do you
Total
often use
social
Social Networking Sites Frequency Percentage media?
Facebook 142 97% Yes No

Twitter 20 14% How often do you Everyday 88 0 88

Instagram 34 23% use social media? Once a week 8 42 50
Four times a 1
Snapchat 20 14% 0 1
month
Two times a 1
*Multiple Response 1 0
week
Three times a 2
Table 6 shows the most used social networking sites 1 1
by the students. As shown, majority or 93.2% of the week
respondents preferred Facebook. This was followed Four times a 1
0 1
by the Instagram with 3.4%, Google with 2.1%, and week
Twitter and Snapchat with 0.7% each. If needed 0 3 3
146
Total 98 48
Table 6. Distribution of students by social media

Table 8 shows the respondents’ number of

Social Networking Sites Frequency Percentage hours spent in using the social media. As shown,
majority or 72 respondents said that their social media
Facebook 136 93.2 usage was 1-5 hours. This was followed by 6-10 hours,
16-20 hours, and the lowest was 11-15 hours.
Twitter 1 .7
Instagram 5 3.4 Table 8. Distribution of students by number of
hours spent in using social media
Snapchat 1 .7
Count
Google 3 2.1
Total 146 100.0
Total
Do you
use
Table 7 shows the students’ frequency in How do you often use social social
using the social media. As shown, majority or 98 media? media
respondents said they were using the Facebook daily daily?
while the remaining 48 respondents answered no. Yes
Those who answered “no” said that they were using
Everyday How
the social media once a week only.
many
hours 1-5
Table 7. Distribution of students by frequency of
hours 72
using social media 72
per day?
Count
6-10 8
8
hours
 11-15 3
3
hours
16-20 5 Reason Frequency Percentage
5
hours
Total 88 88
Chatting with my 121 83%
friends or relatives
Posting status and/or 45 31%
Table 9 shows the respondents’ reasons for pictures and videos
using the social media. Majority or 83% of the Downloading videos 10 7%
respondents used them to have a connection with their Playing online games 34 23%
friends or relatives who are far away from them. This Posting comments on 37 25%
was followed by 69% of the respondents who used it my friend’s posts
to search for their assignments. Others or 33% of them Reading articles or news 51 35%
used the social media to get involved with issues, and Searching my assignments 88 60%
the least answer was to cope up with the new trends *Multiple Answers
which obtained 6% of the total number of respondents.
Table 11 shows the respondents’ varying
reasons for using the social media. As shown, majority
or 38% of the respondents said to ease their boredom.
Reason Frequency Percentage
This was followed by 35% of the respondents who said
Because my friends have 10 7%
to find friends. Close to this result was 32% of the
their own account so I
respondents who said that they wanted to share their
want to have it also
opinions. This was followed by 23% of the
Because I feel like I’m 48 33%
respondents who said that their social media usage was
involve with the new
mainly for their own happiness. The remaining 6% of
issues/news
the respondents said that their friends have social
Because I want to cope 9 6%
networking.
up with the new trends
To express my feelings 16 11% Table 11. Distribution of students by their reasons
To share my experience 11 8% while using social media
To have a connection with 121 83%
my friends or relatives who
are far away
To search my assignments 101 69% Reason Frequency Percentage
*Multiple Answers
Table 10 shows the activities done by the Because most of 9 6%
students for using the social media. As shown, my friends are using
majority or 83% of the respondents said they chat with social networking sites
their friends or relatives. This was followed by 60% of For my own happiness 34 23%
the respondents who disclosed that they do their To find friends 51 35%
assignments. Other respondents or 35% of them read To share opinions 46 32%
articles or news. This was followed by 31% of the To ease my boredom 56 38%
respondents who said they post status and/or pictures *Multiple Response
and videos, post comments on my friend’s posts with
25%, to play online games 23%, and download videos CONCLUSIONS
with 7%.
Females are more exposed to social media
Table 10. Distribution of students by their activities rather than males. The use social media by females
while using social media
have to do with their desire to communicate or share
more personal information, revealing more about their
personal lives. Women are more vocal, expressive,
and willing to share their beliefs and feelings. In other
words, women are biologically wired for social
networking.
Generally, females use social networking
sites to make connections and stay in touch with
family or friends. Men, by contrast, use social media
to gather the information they need to build influence.
Social media helps them perform research, gather
relevant contacts, and ultimately increase their status.
Facebook is the most preferred social networking sites
of the students to connect with family and friends.
They are entertained by the Facebook. They use longer
time chatting with friends rather than doing school
works. Facebook becomes their daily routine.
RECOMMENDATIONS
For the students, use the social media for
educational purposes in order to improve their
academic performance in school.
For other researchers who wish to do a
similar study, employ other variables which are not
tested in the study to find other factors that affect the
extent of social media usage of the students.
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