Joshua Cadorna Sir.

Angelo Cereno
11-Empathy

The Positive Effects of Social Networking Sites on the Level of Reading Comprehension of
Senior High School Students

Social networking sites (SNS) have become popular with the help of digital technologies (tablet,
smartphone,notebook, etc.) and internet recently (Boyd &Ellison, 2007). Social media is a virtual
platform. This platform helps people to make new connections, to improve friendly relations
with other humans, and to exchange information (Coyle & Vaughn, 2008; Wang, Chen, & Liang,
2011). Many social networking sites (Blogs, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube,
etc.) are using at the present time. One of the most popular sites is Facebook. The statistical data
showed that there are more than 500 million people with Facebook membership and the majority
of them are members of other social networking sites besides approximately 250 million of these
memberships visit Facebook site in each day at least one time (Boyd & Ellison, 2007).

ocial media has really become an integral part of people in daily lives (Boyd & Ellison, 2007;
Hakoyama & Hakoyama, 2011). Raacke & Raacke-Bonds (2008), Williams & Merten (2009)
and Raffterty (2009) indicated that people have a social networking sites account based on
difference reasons (making new friends, following famous people, sharing personal information,
commenting the events, etc.). These people addicted to SNS are called as “heavy users”. Many
studies (Barnes & Laird, 2012; Carroll & Kirkpatrick, 2011; Gok, 2015; Nehls & Smith, 2014;
O’Keeffe & Pearson, 2011) were conducted to determine the positive and negative effects of
social networking sites. Schill (2011) reported that social media is the negative impacts (anxiety,
behavioral changes, mental health problems, psychological effect, severe loss of personal
productivity, stress, a sense of guilt and crisis, etc.) on adolescents. Bryant et al., (2006)
indicated that many adolescents preferred technological communication in order to express their
feelings and thoughts instead of using face to face communication. Wang, et al. (2011) showed
that children spent plenty of time on SNS instead of doing homework, studying the courses, and
preparing examination. Many studies (Duncan, Hoekstra, & Wilcox, 2012; Kalpidou, Costin, &
Morris, 2011; Ophir, Nass, & Wagner, 2009; Wang et al., 2011) reported that students’ grades
negatively affected using of SNS.

Salas & Alexander (2008) revealed that SNS provided students to discuss about class materials
and to share academic issues. Other studies (Giles & Price, 2008; Junco, Merson, & Salter, 2010;
Subrahmanyam & Lin, 2007; Valkenburg & Peter, 2009; Wei & Lo, 2006) reported that the
usage of social media and internet was changed to gender. They demonstrated that male spent
more time than female on computer games and female spent more time than male on chatting.
The purpose of the research was to examine the positive and negative effects of social
networking sites on female and male students’ studying and habits. The research questions
investigated were: a) Are there any differences between female and male students’ social
networking sites usage? b) Are there any differences between female and male students’
studying and habits?

The study sought to investigate the relationship between the use of social media and its impact
on reading habits with evidence from senior high students in Ghana. A questionnaire was
administered on sample of senior high students to gather data and analyzed quantitatively with
the use of statistical package for social science (SPSS) to form the basis of the study. Out of one
thousand questionnaires administered, five hundred and sixty-six responses were retrieved
representing 56.6%. The study found out that all the constructs of social media thus (Face book,
Whatsapps, Yahoo messenger, Skype and Tango) showed a positive significant interrelationship
with each other at 0.01 level. Also there was a significant relationship between all the constructs
(Facebook, Whatsapps, Yahoomessnger, Skype and Tango) independent variables and the
dependent variable reading habits at 0.01 level. Hence the entire hypotheses tested were
accepted. Keywords: Social Networks, Senior High Students, Reading Style, Reading Interest,
Information Literacy

The emergence of the Internet and its associate’s social media sites has further widened sources
of information (Schneider, 2009). The 21st century is considered as information explosion age.
For one thing, it is an age in which information provision and management have become more
critical to all levels of development than before (Schneider, 2009). Furthermore, information is
knowledge, and to many, knowledge is power. Therefore, those who lack it will always be
behind those who have it. For the purpose of this study, social media is defined as the use of
‘‘Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, YouTube, Twitter, Tango etc. With smart phones being able to
access the Internet and have applications of social networking. Many are concerned about how
such phones with social networking applications will affect the reading habits of students. Social
networking became popular between 2004 and 2006, after Facebook and MySpace were created.
Facebook, for example has over 500 million members and it is still growing. Approximately 85%
of undergraduate students are Facebook users. These numbers are only expected to grow since
Facebook users will continue to grow. This is not only true for Facebook. Numbers of YouTube
users closely follow as well (University of New Hampshire, 2010). Social media has exploded as
a category of online discourse where people create content, share it, bookmark it and network at
a prodigious rate. Because of its ease of use, speed and reach, social media is fast changing the
public discourse in society and setting trends and agenda in topics that range from the
environment and politics to technology and the entertainment industry. Since social media can
also be construed as a form of collective wisdom, most of the youth now consider it a source of
getting information (Asur & Huberman, 2010). Social networking websites provide tools by
which people can communicate, share information, and create new relationships. With the
popularity of social networking websites on the rise, our social interaction is affected in multiple
ways as we adapt to our increasingly technological world. The way the web users interact and
talk to each other has changed and continues to change. These users now socialize through the
internet and it takes away from the person socialization that has been around forever. Social
networking websites have affected our social interaction by changing the way we interact face-
to-face, how we receive information, and the dynamics of our social groups and friendships
(Asur & Huberman, 2010). Kaitlin (2010) further opines that social networking websites also
affect the way we receive information and news. The sites open up different portals through
which we get information and create more diverse news outlets. Rather than reading the
newspaper or watching the news on television, students rely on “friends” on the sites to give
them updates on the world around us (Kaitlin, 2010). Most of the studies (Schneider 2009,
Kaitlin 2010, & Palani 2012) conducted in this area dealt with the use of social media, linking it
to reading habits among students in the developed world. It is against this backdrop that has
necessitated the conduct of this research to investigate students’ use of social media and their
effect on reading habits among senior high students in Ghana. This is largely because no
empirical study has been conducted in Ghana to find out the effect to which social media has on
the reading habits of senior high students in Ghana.

The study investigated the relationship between use of social media and reading habits focusing
on senior high school students from Koforidua and Accra metropolis in Ghana. The study found
out that all the constructs of social media thus (Face book, Whatsapps, Yahoomessnger, Skype
and Tango) showed a positive significant interrelationship with each other at 0.01 level. Also
there was a significant relationship between all the constructs thus Facebook, Whatsapps, Yahoo
messenger, Skype and Tango (independent variables) and the dependent variable reading habits
at 0.01 level. Hence the all the five hypothesis tested were accepted.

References: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1105127.pdf
https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/IKM/article/viewFile/26981
/27664
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