Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Rationale

In the modern era, the use of social media platforms has become rampant.

It drastically influences the student community and such technology is

progressively becoming an everyday part of every individual’s life. In this

generation, social media is used in so many ways. It is used for communication,

for entertainment, for news, and most especially for education. Despite its

positive effects, it also has negative effects. Negative effects include students

becoming more focused on using social media platforms rather than spending

their time doing their school works and students staying up late at night engaging

in different social media rather than sleeping early to prepare for school in the

morning.

Study habits play a big role that will lead to academic excellence.

According to Rabia et al., study habits contribute significantly to the development

of knowledge and perceptual capacities. Study habits tell a person how much he

will learn and how far he wants to go, and how much he wants to earn. Having a

good study habit can lead to confidence that will, later on, reflect on their

academic performance.

Many said that social media is one of the main hindrances for students'

good study habits. Fagbemi (2001) posited that the degree of learning depends

on the amount of time the child is actively engaged in studying. It is the time
spent studying that helps students retain materials learned which will eventually

boost academic performance. It concluded that students who spent more time on

social media were more likely to perform poorly in their academics than those

who did not. Other literature, however, link social media usage with positive

academic performance noting that students were able to multitask as they

engaged in social media while carrying out their assignments.

The study of Olutola et al. (2016), the "Assessment of Social Media

Utilization and Study Habit of Students of Tertiary Institutions in Katsina State",

found out that there is a significant influence of students' level of social media

utilization on their study habits. Their study revealed that the more the use of

social media by the students, the better is their study habits. Therefore, the use

of social media is an important factor in predicting students' study habits. The

study of Ezeji et al. (2018), the "Effect of Social Media on the Study Habits of

Students of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri", revealed that

social media usage was prevalent among their respondents. The results

indicated that social media usage negatively affected students' revision of their

lecture notes daily, as well as submission and carrying out of study assignments.

They concluded that social media usage negatively affected students' study

habits. The two mentioned studies show different results. The first one stated that

students' social media usage can lead to a better and effective study habit. The

second one revealed that social media usage has a negative effect on students'

study habits.
 This study is conducted because, in this era, social media have become

one of the most recommended mediums for educational purposes. Study habits,

however, is very important for students' excellent academic performance. This

study investigated the level of students' social media usage and their study

habits. Furthermore, this study also aims to know the significant relationship

between the two variables. For Senior High School students, they really need to

have good time management because they need to comply with the

requirements they are obligated to do in school. They need to be responsible for

dividing their time into many things.

Theoretical Background

This study is anchored with the Uses and Gratification Theory, The Theory

of Educational Productivity, and Time Displacement Theory.

The Uses and Gratification Theory was developed by Elihu Katz in the

early 1970s. Uses and gratification theory seeks to understand why people seek

out the media that they do and what they use it for. UGT differs from other media

effect theories in that it assumes that individuals have power over their media

usage, rather than positioning individuals as passive consumers of media. UGT

explores how individuals deliberately seek out media to fulfill certain needs or

goals such as entertainment, relaxation, or socializing. This theory is applicable

to this study because social media are used by people, especially by students

according to their needs and gratification.

 The Theory of Educational Productivity was developed by Herbert Walberg

in 1978. The idea of this theory is if someone wants to increase educational

productivity and efficiency, educational process goals as well as achievement

goals must be considered. Educational process goals are interpreted to include

student perceptions of the social environment, creativity, self-concept,

participation in extracurricular activities, and interest in the subject matter.

Ignoring these perceptions and experiences in favor of traditional goals

measured by test scores will decrease motivation and ultimately lower

educational achievement. This theory is applicable to this study because if

someone wants to have educational success, they must have educational

process goals such as having a good study habit.

Time Displacement Theory was developed by Maxwell McCombs in 1992.

The theory stated that people have a limited amount of time to do a particular

thing. An increased amount of time on a particular activity will displace other

activities (Mutz et al., 2013). According to Newman (2016), when people increase

the time they spend online engaging in social media, time sacrifices will have to

be made in other areas, such as time spent on studying and doing homework. In

terms of students’ use of the internet, Kim (2011) opined that time displacement

may happen because the internet which entertains young people with stimulating

images as well as visual and auditory effects is more attractive and immediately

gratifying than school-related activities. Consequently, using the Internet will

result in the displacement of academic activities and will eventually decrease the

students’ academic achievements. This theory is applicable to this study because

students’ use of social media may positively or negatively affect their study

habits. It can affect their study habits positively if they use social media for

educational purposes while the non-educational use of social media, especially

recreational use, might negatively affect students’ study habits.

Theoretical Framework

Theory of Educational Time Displacement

Uses and Productivity (Walberg, Theory (McCombs,
Gratification Theory 1978) 1992)
(Katz, 1970)

The
Social
Media
Usage
of

Relationship
Level of Social between students'
Media Usage social media usage Study Habits
and their study
habits
Statement of the Problem

This study is conducted to examine the impact of students' social media

usage on their study habits. Students' social networking sites’ utilization and their

study habits are examined to see if there is a significant relationship between the

two. This study will be conducted during the first semester of the academic year

2020-2021 with Grade 11 and Grade 12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and

Mathematics students of the University of Cebu-Main as participants.

Specific Questions:

1. What is the level of students' social media usage in terms of:

1.1 frequency in using social media

1.2 most common used social media platforms

2. What is the level of students' study habits?

3. Is there a significant relationship between social media use and study habits of

students?

Null Hypothesis:

Ho: There is no significant relationship between the student’s social media

utilization and their study habits.

Significance of the Study

The results of the study will be of great benefit to the following.

Students. This study will benefit students as they learn to manage and balance

their time as they make use of social media so as not to lose concentration and

interest in studying as for them to excel and achieve academic excellence. It will

also help them to explore the social media potential benefits as it will boost their

creativity and technical skills.

Parents. This study will make all parents aware as regards to their children’s

behavior towards academics. This context will lead the parents to pay more

attention to their children, and provide advice and encouragement to be able for

the latter to be more active and be participative in all academic activities.

Teachers. This study will benefit the teachers that will help them in handling the

problem of the students’ attitudes, towards the use of social media and also to

develop the strategies that will help to motivate students to study and to pass all

the projects and assignments, thus will encourage students to perform better in

all academic activities.

School Administration. This study will help the school and administration to

understand the behavior of students’. It will serve as motivating factors among

students to behave appropriately towards their academics. It can also benefit the

school admin to know what to improve.

Scope and Delimitations

This study aimed to know if there was a significant relationship between

students' social media usage and their study habits. The respondents of the

study were 40 students from University of Cebu- Main Campus Senior High

School Department in the first semester of the school year 2020-2021. This study

utilized an online survey form composed of questions useful in gathering data.

Definition of terms

The following terms were defined conceptually.

Social Media in the modern era is an influence to the student community and is

progressively becoming an everyday part of every individual’s life. It distracts

from education and reduces the social skills of young people.

Study Habit plays a big role that will lead to academic excellence. It is the

behavior used when preparing for tests or learning academic material.