New Era University

Integrated School
FAAP ACSCU-AAI Level III Re-accredited
No. 9 Central Ave., New Era, Quezon City 1107, Philippines

The Excessive and Abusive Use of Social Media

Among Grade 11 students at New Era University Main Campus
S.Y. 2018-2019

A Research Presented to the Practical Research Department

New Era University

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Senior High School

by

Consolacion, Gazel
Cabangon, Johna
Caringal, Neil Allen
Delos Santos, Juliene Mae
Flores, Jomari
Pasamonte, Karen Kaye
Perona, Ria Marie
Suarez, Migl Ronl
Tolentino, Jasmer Dennisidro
Torres, Ehdralene

April 2019
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researchers are grateful to the number of friends and colleagues for encouraging

them to finally developed this research paper. They also like to extend their gratitude to

their research instructor, Prof. Esther Moguer for the support and guidance in preparing

and conducting this research. Without her advice and direction, the implementation of

this would not have been possible.

In addition, the researchers are thankful to their family for the financial and moral

support and for letting them to use their homes in completing the study. And most of all,

to the Almighty God who is always there to guide the researchers for giving such

opportunities to explore more about His creations.

ABSTRACT

Social media has become part of a student’s everyday life. Daily activities like

communication are much easier and convenient in the form of social media. As a result,

social media has been acknowledged as an alternative social environment to physical

society. This study focused on the exessive and abusive use of social media.

The researchers applied causal research design and used survey in gathering

information from the respondents. The data gathered were analyzed with the purpose of

raising awareness and giving knowledge to the students about the negative effects of

social media abuse.

Keywords: social media, students, negative effects, excessive use, awareness

TABLE OF CONTENTS

(Preliminaries)

Chapter 1 The Problem And Its Background....................................................................

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM....................................................................

SCOPE AND DELIMINATION..........................................................................

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.....................................................................

Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework....................................................................................

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE............................................................

REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES....................................................................

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK........................................................................

ASSUMPTIONS OF THE STUDY.....................................................................

DEFINITION OF TERMS...................................................................................

Chapter 3 Research Methodology.....................................................................................

RESEARCH DESIGN..........................................................................................

RESPONDENTS OF THE STUDY.....................................................................

INSTRUMENT OF THE STUDY........................................................................

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY........................................................................

STATISTICAL TREATMENT............................................................................
Chapter 4 Presentation, Analysis, and Interpretation of Data............................................

PRESENTATION OF DATA...............................................................................

ANALYSIS...........................................................................................................

INTERPRETATION.............................................................................................

DISCUSSION.......................................................................................................

Chapter 5 Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations...............................................

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS.................................................................................

CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................

RECOMMENDATION........................................................................................

References.........................................................................................................................

Appendices........................................................................................................................
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

This chapter presents the different essential elements: the introduction, which contains

the rationale; the review of literature and statistical foundation; the statement of the

problem; the scope and delimitation; the significance of the study; and lastly, the

notations.

Introduction

Rationale

The current generation belongs in the modern era and it cannot be denied that the

number of people who use social media continue to increase. Most of these users are

students, which seems to suggest that they are obligated to adapt to the inevitable

evolution of technology in our environment. The use of social networking sites has many

benefits and advantages. For example, it helps students with their studies,

communication, and entertainment. It also serves as a bridge for their socializing and

camaraderie with their friends and classmates. However, there are times when these

students are being irresponsible in using social media. There have been cases that

students have gotten low grades due to social media influencing them to be unproductive,

while unintentionally teaching them to be procrastinators. By causing behaviours like

these, social media simply causes students stress and can lead them to an addiction that

cause bad habits.

Setting of the Problem

Since the researchers for this study are just students from Senior High School of New

Era University, they chose to collect or gather data in their enrolled school, the New Era

University Main Campus at Quezon City.

Literature Foundation

Karadkar (2015), stated in his article the impact of social media on student life, that

getting too involved in social media can lead to an addiction that inculcates bad habits. It

is necessary to develop certain regulations over the use of such social networking sites,

especially for high school students. Also, it was mentioned on the Education & Learning,

Education News & Views (2018), that social media can have a negative effect on

students' productivity when it comes to concentration in the classroom, timekeeping, and

conscientiousness. It is important to discuss ways to combat these factors without

advocating new media as a societal crime which many previous attempts of raising

awareness on this issue have tended to do.

Seriousness of the Problem

Earlier studies show the abusive use of social media and its effects on the lifestyle of

the students who use it irresponsibly, especially in their studies. Negative things and

improper words can be seen in social networking sites which are resulted from the

abusive and excessive use of it. This can be true if there is lack of parental guidance in

terms of monitoring the way how their children use their social media. It also let the

students to express their overflowing emotions in a way that is not appropriate.

General Objective

The researcher, as a student, is experiencing the abovementioned scenario in terms of

the irresponsible use of social media, and might result to a poor creativity and

productivity, characteristics that are needed to build as a learner. It is in this light that this

research was conducted to determine and understand the factors that can affect the

students' performance in school regarding the irresponsible use of social media.

General Purpose

This study aims to aquire knowledge on how exactly does social media affects the life

of a student if used excessively. The researchers wanted to give not only the respondents

on this study but also those who has the access to read this some realizations about the

negative effects of social media, factors that can result in providing a loop hole on

lessening the irresponsible use of social media.

Statement of the Problem

1. What social media site does the respondent used the most?

2. How many hours does the respondent spend in using social media?

3. Why does social media consume most of the time of the respondents?

4. What are the negative effects of social media?

5. How can we remedy the too much use of social media?

Scope and Delimitation

This study was focused on the effects of excessive and abusive use of Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Google+, in terms of social and academic performance of

the Grade 11 students in New Era University Main Campus for the school year 2018-

2019. The respondents of the study are 30 Grade 11 Senior High School students. A

validated survey questionnaire served as the only instrument of the study.

Significance of the Study

The results of this study will be of great benefit to the following:

To the students. This study will provide them sufficient knowledge about the

responsible use of social media so they can restrain themselves from misusing a certain

networking site. It can make them realize the things they need toprioritize that may serve

as an enlightenment for them to know how bad can the social media do to them and its

influence.

To the teachers. This study can help the teachers to guide and teach their students

about the effects of the excessive ad abusive use of social media, and so they may also

serve as an eye opener for their students to be more responsible.

To the researchers. This research can be a source of another study or can be

replicated using additional variables in another locale or with different respondents. The

results will be a possible research literature for their own study.

 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter presents the review of literature and studies related to the study; the

theoretical frmework; assumptions about the study and the definition of unfamiliar terms

used.

Review Of Related Literature

A. Usage of social media among senior high students

In an article entitled "The Relationship of Social Media with the Academic

Performance of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology students of Centro-
Escolan University-Malolos", Tamayo and Dela Cruz (2014) said that generally, social
media users largely are from teens and generation Y (internet users age 16-36). They
stated that these younger generations are significantly more likely than their older
counterparts to seek entertainment through online videos, online games, and virtual
worlds. They are also more likely to download music to listen to. This suggests that
younger generations tend to lean more towards the use of the internet than adults.

B. How the social media was overused affects students

As smartphones and social media become more ubiquitous, the potential for social
media addiction and abuse is surging. According to Charles Crews, associate professor of
educational psychology and leadership, the mind’s reaction to social media is biological.
His research has shown that social media usage triggers a dopamine rush. This dopamine
rush gives users a high that leads them to want to use more social media.

It is also said that social media can make it hard to focus on the real world. It is easy to
get distracted by how many likes one is getting on a photo, and it often results in
unhealthy comparisons with others. It is uncommon for students to become addicted to
social media, especially without other underlying issues. In most cases, students who
overuse social media are still able to successfully go through daily life.

However, when social media, or the lack of it, starts to seriously affect a student’s
mood, relationships or functioning, it is time to get professional help. We all have a little
withdrawal (without internet) because we are connected with everything, but if it
interferes with your daily functioning, there’s a problem. It is important for everybody to
take some time away from social media. Students should try to have real conversations
and go out without their phones. (Crews 2008).

C. How the use of social media could negatively affects students.

Psychologists found robust cross-culture evidence linking social media use to body
image concerns, dieting, body surveillance, a drive for thinness, and self - objectification
in adolescents. It is noted that it doesn't mean social media is the cause of these problems
but that there's a strong association between them (Simmons, 2016). To ratify her point of
self-objectification among teens, Simmons explains in her article that: "Visual platforms
like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat deliver the tools that allow teens to earn approval
of their appearance and compare themselves to others". She also quotes researchers in
saying that the most vulnerable users are the ones who spend most of their time posting,
commenting on, and comparing themselves to photos. Simmons points out that teens use
everything to alter their bodies in pictures because they have linked their self-worth to the
approval of peers to how they look in pictures.

To support this statement, a blog article entitled “Media Teaches Bad Values to Your
Children” explains that the media—specifically, social media—is teaching children
“success at any cost”. Taylor (2012) expressed that this culture of success causes children
to believe that they must succeed to be esteemed by society and peers. This message has
created a desperate need for social media (fame) in children. This statement suggests that
children need to succeed to be acknowledged by the society. This desperate need to
‘belong’ causes them to alter themselves just for the thought of being accepted.

In addition to social media success, Taylor (2012) also wrote that this culture of
avarice not only tolerates, but also encourages this “win at all costs” mentally by
modeling and messaging dishonest, cheating, manipulation and back stabbing. This
explains that adolescents are not only altering themselves physically in photos but social
media has also caused them to alter mentally.
Review Of Related Studies

Social media serves as the internet to majority of Filipino online users. To prove this
point, results of the Universal McCann’s 2008 Wave 3 study on social media that found
that the Philippines had the highest penetration of social networking among internet users
at 83%, compared with the global average of 58% are included. The research focuses on
the violation of privacy as an effect of social media. It states that the perimeters as to
what is considered private and public in social media is blurred, especially in the
Philippines. Social media sites have become primary gathering places for the Filipina
adolescents. This is proven true by interviews and surveys she held in the Philippines that
revealed that ages 10-17 are in social media networks. The privacy of these girls are in
jeopardy because they “do not diligently practice privacy” especially in applications like
Facebook in which strangers can easily access some of their pictures and information.
(Brutas, 2015)

Emerging studies find that youth spend a considerable portion of their daily life
interacting through social media. They are among the first to have grown up entirely
surrounded by communication technologies. Teenagers are also in a period of rapid
development, growth and motivation. This statement solidifies the reason why social
media can surely and easily affect the way adolescents develop and mature into adults.
There are many concerns involved with this topic, ranging from privacy, safety,
psychological well-being, social development, and academic performance. Its explains
that individuals were found to have increased depression, loneliness, and smaller social
circles due to longer time use of technology or social media that has features and
infrastructures that impacts user behavior and development. As a conclusion, the abusive
and excessive use of social media will inevitably cause an individuals’ character to alter.
(Ahn, 2011).

Thus, as a conclusion, the abusive and excessive use of social media will inevitably

cause an individuals’ character to alter.

Theoretical Framework

The researchers searched for all the related literatures and studies they can gather to
further acquire sufficient knowledge for their study.

Conceptual Framework

Assumptions of the Study

This study assumes the following statements:

1. Every student has different social media sites.

2. Students spend a lot of time using social media every day.

3. Entertainment, Communication, For Updates, School Related, and Socializing are the

reasons why students use social media.

4. Students think that Low Grades, Bullying, Poor time Management, Depression, Poor

eyesight, Addiction and etc. are the negative effects of excessive use of Social Media.

5. Students think that by changing their lifestyle, managing their time well, having their

priorities first, and having Self-discipline can lessen their irresponsible use of social

media.

Definition of Terms

Camaraderie – is a feeling of trust and friendship among a group of people who have

usually known each other for a long time or gone through some kind of experience

together. [CITATION col \l 1033 ]

Inculcates - an idea or opinion in someone’s mind, you teach it to them by repeating it

until it is fixed in their mind. [ CITATION col19 \l 1033 ]

Advocating - A person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or

policy.[ CITATION oxf19 \l 1033 ]

Enamored - to charm or captivate.[ CITATION dic19 \l 1033 ]

Underlying - features of an object, event, or situation are not obvious, and it may

be difficult to discover or reveal them.[ CITATION col191 \l 1033 ]

Infrastructure – an underlying base or foundation especially for an organization or

systems.[ CITATION the19 \l 1033 ]

Generation Y - the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s, comprising primarily the

children of the baby boomers and typically perceived as increasingly familiar with digital

and electronic technology.[ CITATION Dic19 \l 1033 ]

Ubiquitous - being present everywhere at once. [ CITATION Voc \l 1033 ]

Dopamine - brain chemical that literally makes us happy. [ CITATION Jef17 \l 1033 ]

Robust – describes something that is healthy and strong, or strongly built. [ CITATION

Voc1 \l 1033 ]

Trigger – something that causes something else to happen. [ CITATION Mer \l 1033 ]

Cross-culture - dealing with or offering comparison between two or more different

cultures or cultural areas. [ CITATION Mer1 \l 1033 ]

Jeopardy- in danger of being damaged or destroyed: [ CITATION Cam \l 1033 ]

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This section of the research consist of a research design, the respondents of the study and

the instrument used; the validity and reliability of the findings; and finally, the statistical

treatment.

Research Design

The researcher wants to explore the impact of social media to Grade 11 students and

chose the causal design for it is best served to answer the questions and the purposes of

the study. The causal design of research explores how a specific change impacts a certain

situation. Like in our study, how the excessive use of social media affects the daily lives

of the respondents. This research design also employs hypotheses that seek to establish a

cause-and-effect relationship between variables.

Respondents of the Study

A researcher intends to study the excessive and abusive use of social media among Grade

11 students at the New Era University Main Campus. The preferred instrument will be

implemented to the present students at the time of the researcher's visit in the classrooms

and will be chosen as respondents.

Instrument of the Study

The proponent prepares a set of survey forms to be distributed to the chosen respondents.

The survey form will consist a series of questions that are made to answer the statements

of the problem the study. The functionality of the study will be determined through the

questionnaires given.

Validity and Reliability

The researchers conducted this study using the measure to confirm that the scores

make sense based on their understanding on the construct. They collect data

to demonstrate the instrument used work.

The survey form designed for the study was subjected to a validation process for face

and content validity. In the validation process of this study, copies of the questionnaire

and copies of the research questions were given to our research professor. She went

through the research questions and the survey form carefully to ascertain the

appropriateness and adequacy of the instrument.

Having validated the questionnaire, the survey form was carried out to the

respondents; 100 grade 11 students of Senior High School at New Era University Main

Campus.

The result of the collected data has proven the accuracy of the earlier studies about the

abusive use of social media mostly among the students. It is reliable to the result we came

up with. Using social media irresponsibly can cost them negative effects. It could make

the students unproductive and procrastinator.

Statistical Treatment
 The researchers will use the percentage and frequency method in computing the total

results of answers of the respondents.. Frequency will be calculated by getting the

number of respondents’ response for each item. In the meantime, percentage will be

obtained by dividing the frequency score for each student multiplied by one hundred.

To interpret the data effectively, the researcher will employ the following statistical

treatment. The Percentage, Weighted Mean and T-test are the tools use to interpret data. 1.

Percentage

This will be employ to determine the frequency counts and percentage distribution of

personal related variables of the respondents.

f
Formula: x 100 Where:
n

F is the Frequency

N is the total number of respondents

100 is a constant value

2. Average Weighted Mean

This will be use to determine the assessment of the respondents with regards to their

personal profiles.

fx
Formula: x =
n

Where:
f is the frequency

x is the weight of each item

n is the number of cases

3. Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA)

This will be helpful in making comparison between two or more means which enables

a researcher to draw various results and predictions about two or more sets of data.

Steps in ANOVA:

1. First step is to compute the total sum of the squares.

2. Second step is to compute the squares between columns.

3. The third step is to compute for the sum of squares within the column

4. To complete the ANOVA table, calculate the mean of sum of squares.

CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter contains the all the data that have been gathered and the analizations and

interpretations of the researchers from the data presented.

Presentation of Data

TABLE 1.1
RESPONDENTS

Frequency Percentage

100 100%

Table 1.1 shows that the questionnaires were circulated amongst respondents of grade 11
students with a frequency of one hundred (100) or one hundred percent (100%) were all
Grade-11 students.

TABLE 1.2
YEAR LEVEL

Year-level Frequency Percentage

Grade 11 100 100%

Total: 100 100%
Table 1.2 shows that the respondents, with a frequency of one hundred (100) or one
hundred percent (100%) were all Grade 11 students.

Answer of the respondents

Table 2.1
Most Used Social Media Sites of the Respondents

Parameters Frequency Percentage

Facebook 68 33.17%
YouTube 54 26.34%
Twitter 24 11.70%
Instagram 29 14.14%
Google+ 30 14.63%
Total: 205 100%
Table 2.1 shows the frequency and percentage of the most used social media sites of the
respondents.

Table 2.2
Hours of the Respondents Spend in Using Social Media

Parameters Frequency Percentage

1-2 hours 19 19%

3-4 hours 42 42%

5 hours and above 39 39%

Total: 100 100%

Table 2.2 shows the number and percentage of the hours spend in using social media of
the students.

Table 2.3
Reasons Why the Respondents Use Social Media
Parameters Frequency Percentage
Entertainment 75 32.46%
Communication 57 24.67%
For updates 37 16%
School related 42 18.18
Socializing 20 8.65%
Total: 231 100%

Table 2.12 shows the frequency and percentage of reasons on why respondents use social
media

Table 2.4
Negative Effects of the Excessive Use of Social Media

Parameters Frequency Percentage

Poor studies/low grades 31 15%

Bullying 8 3.88%
Poor time management 61 29.61%
Depression/ Anxiety 9 4.36%
Poor eyesight 53 25.72%
Addiction 44 21.35
Total: 206 100%
Table 2.4 shows the frequency and percentage of the stated negative effects of excessive
use of social media to the respondents.

Table 2.5
Remedy on the Excessive Use of Social Media

Parameters Frequency Percentage

Change my lifestyle 25 16.12%

Manage my time well 58 37.41%
Priorities first 29 18.70%
Self-discipline 43 27.74%
Total: 155 100%

Table 2.5 shows the frequency and percentage of the remedies on the excessive use of

socil media for the respondents.

Analysis

Based on the gathered data, Facebook is the most used social media by our

respondents with a percentage of 68. Second is the YouTube with 54% or 54 answered

out of 100. Third is the Google+ with 30%. Fourth is the Instagram with 29% and the last

is Twitter with a percentage of 24. Referring to the analyzation of data,, the respondents

spend their 3-4 hours everyday to entertain themselves using social media.

Interpretation

In the survey conducted most of the students answered Facebook as the most used

social networking site, with a 68 checked out of 100. Youtube ranked as the second to the

highest checked most used social media, with a 54 checked out of 100. Also, it is based

on the data gathered that Twitter is the top 3 most used social media, with a 34 checked

out of 100. Fourth is the Instagram with the average of 29% and the lowest rank is the

Google with the average of 30%.

Discussion

After the analization of the data gathered, it is found that students are very fond of

using Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+, not to mention other social

networking sites. It also observable that the students are getting addicted in using their

social media sites with the increasing rate of frequency in daily usage of social media

applications. This has proved that during our era, social networking is being part of a

student or individual lives.

Chapter 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

In this chapter, the summary of the research have been stated and the resercher’s

conclusion and recommendation to address the problem of the needed for the research.

Summary of Findings

In summary, this study wants to give knowledge about the excessive and abusive use
of social media and enlighten individual from the addiction resulted from this kind of
lifestyle. The causal type is being preferred by the researchers for it is served to answer
the questions and the purposes of the study. It is found that most of the student is using
social media 5 and above hours a day, and it affects them in a way that they are having
poor time management, low grades, experiences bullying, anxiety, having poor eyesight
and resulting to a bad habits.

Conclusion

In this research study, results from the gathered data of the survey on how social

media affects the students negatively has been presented and discussed. It is found that

students are very fond of using Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+, not

to mention other social networking sites. Irresponsible use of any of these sites can lead

them to be procrastinator, unproductive, and unhealthy students or individual. Paying

attention to their academic and self-progress and addressing any issues will go a long way

towards keeping the negative aspects of social media from influencing their studies. The

students are getting addicted to using their social media sites day by day the number of

users is on the rise.

This proves that the “electronic world” is taking its toll over the real world. Finally, we

would like to conclude our paper by the appropriate, balanced and socially approved use

of social networking sites. With wisdom along with rationale thinking, too much of

anything is good for nothing. One should be cautious when using new technologies.

Recommendation

For the Students. Students must learn to use their time wisely. Make sure that gadgets or

using social media cannot affect our school works because sometimes, excessive use of
social media may be the reason for them to forget their responsibilities as students. Time

management is the key.

For the Parents. Parents differ on their opinions about whether to check what their kids

are doing on social media sites. Some believe their children deserve privacy and should

not worry about mom or dad checking on them. But they didn't know that many case

studies of kids not being fully aware of the dangers of predators, mental health issues and

even cyber-bullies who hide behind a screen to wreak havoc on peers. So parents should

monitor their children in using social media and give only how many hours can they use

it.

For the Teachers. In student’s everyday lives in their school, they spend their learnings

and studying with their teacher. Teachers must also be aware of the negative effects of

using social media. They must also be their to guide the students. Also, the administrators

can implement teachings on how to use social media responsibly for the students.