The Effect of Social Media on Social Life

Group 5: Grace Pestridge, Christopher Dlamini, Shelby Weber

EDT 180 A

Lewallen

April 23rd 2018

 Group 5 The Effect of Social Media on Social Life

We chose to research the effects social media has on the social lives of students. Since

technology has grown immensely within the past few years, we wanted to see how much of an

impact it has made within society today. For this survey, we configured questions that would

allow us to see just how much of an impact social media has had on students. For example:

● How many forms of social media does the average student have?

● How many hours a day is spent using social media?

● How many times a week does the average student post on social media?

● Do you feel that your privacy has been impacted by the use of social media?

● What impact has social media had on the average student’s social life?

● Does the average student feel they spend more time using social media than with their

friends?

● Would students delete their social media accounts under the right circumstances?

All of these questions lead us to seeing just how much social media has affected the

social lives of students. To collect this data, we created a survey for students to anonymously

answer these questions. We utilized tools such as Google Docs, Powerpoint, and Excel to gather

the necessary data. We had 142 students participate in this survey. The responses gathered

confirmed social media has had a major impact on students socially.

The charts that were utilized for this project represented the data in the most accurate and

clear format. In this project we created the following:

1. Stacked Graph

2. Two Pie Charts

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 Group 5 The Effect of Social Media on Social Life

3. Two Bar Graphs

Do You feel like you spend more time on

social media than with friends?

37%

63%

yes no

LIKELINESS OF DELETING SOCIAL MEDIA

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

13%

8%
41%
5%

3%

8%

9%
6%
7%

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 Group 5 The Effect of Social Media on Social Life

The two pie charts were used to determine how much time was spent on social media

compared to time spent with friends/the likeliness of students deleting their social media

accounts. The results indicated more students spent time with their friends instead of social

media. In fact 63% of the people said they spent more time with their friends than social media

and only 37% indicated they spent more time on social media. From the data collected on the

second pie chart, we determined that most students would delete their social media if they felt it

had a direct impact on their social lives. The pie chart allowed us to demonstrate the results

accurately and in a visually appealing manner.

25 posts
No. of hours vs. frequency of posts 24 posts
23 posts
60 22 posts
21 posts
20 posts
50 19 posts
18 posts
17 posts
40 16 posts
No. of people

15 posts
14 posts
30 13 posts
12 posts
11 posts
20 10 posts
9 posts
8 posts
10 7 posts
6 posts
5 posts
0 4 posts
Less than 1 hour 1-2 hours 3-4 hours 5+ 3 posts
No. of hours 2 posts
1 post

The stacked graph reviewed the number of hours spent on social media per week

compared to the frequency of posts the average student posted in a week. We found that there

was a correlation between the two topics. The more hours spent on social media directly affects

the amount students post in a week. The people who spent 1-2 hours on social media did not post

as much as the people who spent 5 or more hours on social media. The stacked graph is an

effective way to display the information in a clear and concise format.

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 Group 5 The Effect of Social Media on Social Life

Forms of social media vs. effects on privacy

16
14
12
No. Of People

10
8
6
4
2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Forms of Social Media
effect on privacy (1-
1 2 3 4 5

50

45

40

35
No. of people

30

25

20

15

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# forms of social media

The two bar graphs we used helped us to retrieve data on the number of forms of social

media average students had compared to how much students feel their privacy has been affected/

number of hours spent of social media compared to the frequency of posts. The more forms of

social media a student has, the more their privacy was affected. The students who had on average

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 Group 5 The Effect of Social Media on Social Life

4-5 forms of social media felt that their privacy has been majorly impacted. The students who

were on social media for more hours of the day would post more frequently. Bar graphs are

excellent tools to apply to data results because they are very simple and clear cut.

When looking at the data collected, we came to the conclusion that social media has had more of

an impact on students than we initially anticipated. Social media has become a new way of life

that students depend on for communicating and staying up to date on the latest happenings

around them. Students rely on social media more than they have ever before.

The questions that come to mind when thinking about this topic include:

● Does the average person feel that social media will impact future generations in a

negative or positive light?

● What are the repercussions social media has had on society as a whole?

● Do you think we will continue to depend on social media as a means of

communicating?

If we were to complete this survey again, we would put more emphasis on the positive

and negative effects social media has had on our culture. As a group, we would like to see if

students think social media has benefited society or prevented us from learning to communicate

face to face. Social media is an important part of the world today and keeps us aware of the

happenings of the world. By completing this research, we were able to focus in on the issue and

encourage students to start having these discussions so they can become aware to the effects

social media is having in our society.