University of Santo Tomas

Effects of Social Media Use to the Study Habits of Freshmen of College of

Science, SY 2019-2020

Submitted by:

Asis, A.

Borillo, M.

Gotauco, J.

Miranda, A.

Roldan, F.

Santamena, C.

2P2
 Chapter 1

Introduction

Social media is any website that allows social interaction; it is growing rapidly throughout
the world. The introduction of social media has changed the world in many ways. Nowadays, it
is significant in a communicative process because we are able to communicate globally in all
circumstances, we develop our capability of expressing ourselves toward others and it is the
path to teach abroad, complying requirements, and in order to know what is happening globally.
It affects each individual in different ways. Social media has changed how we approach many
facets of life in the 21st century, including everything from our interpersonal relationships to how
we consume and filter media. Many professors used to avoid social media from the classroom,
claiming that it distracts students and raises privacy concerns. However, more progressive
educators are realizing platforms like Facebook and Google are already integral parts of their
students’ lives and are learning how to use social media for educational purposes in the
classroom.

Some students prefer a traditional study method and use pen, paper and a physical
textbook. “If I write it down, I can remember it,” Linda Welt, a business major at PSC, said.
Others prefer the new age method and study using an electronic device, stylus and an e-book.
Several students choose to use both. “I use everything,” said Roxy Resendiz-Garcia, an RN
candidate at PSC. “I don’t trust everything online and if I base everything on the book, I feel like
it sounds outdated.” Each study method has its advantages and disadvantages. The NPR article
“Attention, Students: Put Your Laptops Away,” written by James Doubek, explains that writing
your notes with a pen and paper forces you to focus on the most important information versus
trying to type your notes verbatim on your laptop. “The more words the students copied
verbatim, the worse they performed on recall tests,” Doubek wrote. Students can also argue that
a paper notebook costs 99 cents while a laptop can cost anywhere from $200 to over $1,000.
Additionally, laptops can be distracting. Not much is stopping a student from clicking over to a
social media site in the middle of a lecture. On the other hand, using a laptop to write your notes
allows you to type out more information much faster and more legibly. Having an electronic
version of your notes allows you to study wherever you go, without the added hassle of carrying
a bulky book bag. Today’s generation of students are more inclined to use social media in
their free time than ever before. In fact, students 2 to 11 increased their online activity by 63
percent in the past decade based on Pew Research Center. Thus, Technology continues to
revolutionize both our social dynamics and the way we learn about the world around us.

Social media, when reinforced in a classroom setting can be guided and refined to
produce better learning outcomes and critical awareness. Social media also allows students
more freedom to connect and collaborate beyond the physical classroom, which means
students anywhere can start to experience the globally connected world long before they enter
the workforce. Social media shapes and presents information in a way that makes sense to and
excites students more than traditional tools do, whether it's through a shared article with
comment functionality, a livestream of an important event, a survey related to course materials,
or a question posed to the broader community. Furthermore, sharing posts and information with
other students, rather than simply submitting assignments to the teacher, promotes deeper
engagement and better performance from all students. If students know from the start that they,
together with their peers will interact with course materials and each other on various social
media platforms, they may put in more effort to both their work and online presence.

However, a lot of criticism has been leveled at social media and the effect it has on the
way that students process and retain information, as well as how distracting it can be. Social
media offers plenty of opportunities for learning and interactivity, and if you take a moment to
think about it, it’s not too hard to see how students benefit from using social media. As younger
generations use such technology in the classroom, they remake the educational landscape.
Students are experiencing the world through more than just books and assignments; they are
learning and adapting to the world using a relatively new form of communication. In a world
where connections are important, graduates are coming into the workplace with a lot to offer.

Today, it can be used as a very helpful tool in changing a person’s life, but at the same
time, it can cause such conflicts which can negatively affect the academic performance of the
student. Students can miss their studies and spend a lot of time in social media. Students can
miss the chance to submit their assignments and requirements, they are not able to study well
and they cannot actively participate in class discussion which can affect their academic
performance. students today have begun to rely on the accessibility of information that is
available on the social media platforms specifically as well as the web in general in order to get
answers. This means that there is a reduced focus on learning as well as on retaining
information. In addition, students are attempting to multi-task. They are trying to check various
social media sites while they study. This leads to reduced academic performance. Besides, their
ability to concentrate on their task at hand gets significantly reduced due to the distraction that is
brought by all these social media sites. The other negative effect on students is that they are
spending too much time on social sites, and much lesser time on socializing in person. In fact,
there is a lack of body signals besides other nonverbal cues, including tone and inflection in
case of social networking sites. In respect to the pros and cons brought by social media to the
students, this research, the researcher will try to find out the relationship between social media
and academic performance, if this is cost positively or negatively in class performance of college
students.

Statement of the Problem

1. What are the common study habits of freshmen?

2. In what way do freshmen incorporate social media in their study habits?

3. How does the use of social media affect the study habits of freshmen?

Scope and Limitations

This study dealt mainly with the effect of Social Media use to the study habits of
freshmen students of College of Science. Social Media in the platform of Facebook, Instagram
and Twitter. Since they are considered to be the one’s mostly participating in and heavy users of
social media according to the Sensis Social Media Report, these college students are chosen to
be the subject of the topic. The study's respondents will strictly come from the freshmen of
College of Science of University of Santo Tomas.

Theoretical Framework

Social Media Integration Theory Model

Social bookmarking sites place content (such as blogs or web pages) into an active eco-
system that allows social media interaction such as Twitter or Facebook. This content is then
shared and spread virally through the connections made from interaction on the social media
eco-system. This refers to people being linked to people through common groups, associations,
interests etc. Since this becomes the "six degrees" of separation this interaction causes the viral
effect. This social media platform allows the interaction and the ability for the model to flow and
become organic. Then, the social networking platforms enable the connection with the public
through the engagement approach caused by the "two-way street" interaction process, linked to
the social bookmarking sharing perspective. At the same time, while the driving forces of one
side are acting and creating communication.

The Social Media Integration Model of Isra Garcia and with the help of Chadwick Martin
Bailey,has an impact on the overall effectiveness for the Social Media platforms. For this reason
we may want to consider all the elements when developing Social Media strategies. Social
media and technology has a lot of uses and has great potential. Today, it is used for many
things such as voicing out opinions, communication, business, education, and more. Based on
the Social Media Integration Theory Model, the use of social media as a means of business-
communication and education have yield good effects if used properly and all elements
(purpose, end-goal, etc.) are considered.

Significance of the Study

This research will be a significant endeavor in bringing awareness to the readers

regarding how social media affects their study habit. The researchers will be able to help
students recognize the effects of the use of social media in regards with their academics
whether it may have a positive or negative effect. In addition, this study will contribute on finding
out if there will be an increase in their productivity in studying. This study will benefit their mental
health as well, knowing how the works of social media is and its effect to the students’
productivity in accomplishing the school works designated. Moreover, this research intends to
inform teachers in regards to how social media affects study habits of students so that they will
be able to incorporate social media or find a way to limit them. This research intends to study
exclusively on the College of Science freshmen students of the University of Santo Tomas.

Definition of Terms

This study contains certain key concepts and constructs explained to further understand
the group’s research paper. This definition of terms is intended to assist you in understanding
commonly used terms and concept when reading, interpreting, and evaluating this research.
Also included are general words defined within the context of how they apply to the research of
college of science .

Academic Performance. As used in the study, it is the extent to which a student,

teacher or institution has achieved their short or long-term educational goals. It is measured by
the final grade earned in the course. It is the measure of how well you do in an educational
setting. Cumulative GPA and completion of educational benchmarks such as secondary school
diplomas and bachelor’s degrees represent academic achievement or performance.

Blog. A regularly updated website or webpage, typically run by an individual or small

group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.

Livestreaming. Refers to online streaming media simultaneously recorded and

broadcast in real time to the viewer.

Six Degrees of Separation. A theory that any person on the planet can be connected
to any other person through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries.
A website that is named after the “six degrees of separation theory”.

Social Bookmarking. A user-defined taxonomy system for bookmarks. Such a

taxonomy is sometimes called a folksonomy and the bookmarks are referred to as tags. Unlike
storing bookmarks in a folder on your computer, tagged pages are stored on the web and can
be accessed from any computer.

Social Media. It is the collective of online communication channels dedicated to

community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. It is a computer-based
technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas and information on the building of virtual networks
and communities. In this study we covered the different platforms of social media such as
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Social Media Integration Theory Model. The exposure, feedback, engagement

(connecting) and exchange (sharing) that Social Media platforms provides, it creates a major
change for the traditional communication understanding. In this study we connected how the
Social Media Integration Theory Model can be used in today's generation of study habits.

Social Media Platform. A web-based technology that enables the development,

deployment and management of social media websites and services with complete social media
network functionality.
 Social Media Strategy. Defines how an organization will use social media to achieve its
communications aims and the supporting platform and tools it will use to achieve this.

Two-way Street Interaction Process. It is an effective way of communication. It means

that the receiver has understood the message conveyed by the sender – otherwise there is no
point in communicating at all. Whether or not the desired outcome is achieved is a reflection of
how effectively the information was passed on.

Webpage. It is a representation of a document that is actually located at a remote site.

The information on a Web page is displayed online with the help of a Web browser such as
Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. An individual HTML document; a
document for the World Wide Web that is identified by a unique uniform resource locator (URL).
It can be accessed and displayed on a monitor or mobile device through a web browser. It also
contains style sheets, scripts, and images for presentation.

Website. A collection of related web pages, including multimedia content, typically

identified with a common domain name, and published on at least on web server. Examples are
wikipedia.org, google.com, and amazon.com

Hypothesis

Social media platform has a significant impact on College of Science students’ academic
performance. With this, time management plays an essential role on determining the success or
failure of and individual. Thus, students who lack time management can easily fall prey to the
negative impact which social media platform present to its uses.
 Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter presents an overview of social media and tackles about the Effects of
Social Media Use to the Study Habits of Freshmen of College of Science, SY 2019-2020. It
includes a brief description of social media, and highlights how students use social media

Local Studies

Social media is a computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas and
information and the building of virtual networks and communities. It refers to a “place” where
users interact with one another. Transition in behavior has led the youth to explore new patterns
of information and perform multitasking. Though, this multitasking has to affect the time utility
and distribution in both positive and negative ways. One significant effect of these channels is
on the student’s academic performance and several studies have reported that the excessive
unproductive time spent on social networking sites have affect the students’ grades. The
advantages of social networking sites are advertising communication and research help
students and one of the disadvantages of it is short attention span.Following are examples of
social media platforms.For social networking: Facebook and Google.For microblogging: Twitter,
Tumblr. Photosharing: Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest. For videosharing: Facebook, Vimeo,
and Facebooklive.

Local Literature

We can’t deny the fact as years pass by the demand for internet usage keeps increasing
because it is already a necessity among end users, particularly to students. Developers have
created online social media sites where people can have more advanced, more reliable, and
more creative ways of communicating. This shows we, humans, are social animals. We always
want to belong in a group where we also prefer what the group does.

According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center, as of 2015 the largest social
networking company, Facebook for example, has 1.49 billion active users and the number of
users is increasing every year. As part of the said survey, 72 percent of high school students
and 78 percent college students spend time on these social networking sites, Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, Viber, E-mail, etc. These numbers evidently indicate how much
the student community is involved in this virtual world of networking. Students prefer social
media sites as reliable sources of information because everything is a package. A research
conducted by Gagne sometime in 2003 defined media in general as some kind of components
in a students’ environment that can stimulate them to study better. Researchers also found that
the use of some types of social media has beneficial effects to students, not only on their
academic needs but also to help them establish a sense of identity and build and enhance
networking skills.

Foreign Literature

Today’s college students (which consist of Generation Y or also named Millennial) are
exposed to all types of technologies in many aspects of their lives (Browning, Gerlich, &
Westermann, 2011). On a daily basis they use desktop computers, laptops, E-readers, tablets,
and cell phones to actively engage in social networking, text messaging, blogging, content
sharing, online learning, and much more (Cassidy, Griffin, Manolovitz, Shen, & Turney, 2011).
Online social networks (OSNs) have permeated all generations of Internet users, becoming a
prominent communications tool, particularly in the student community. Thus, academic
institutions and faculty are increasingly using social networking sites, such as Facebook and
LinkedIn, to connect with current and potential students and to deliver instructional content.
(Paul, Baker, Cochran, 2012). Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield state that using
online communication has both negative and positive effects, because there are harmful ways in
which the internet could be used.
Students’ academic life has moved to a different dimension since the introduction of
these social media networks and several studies have affirmed that social media plays an
important role on students in higher education including the study conducted by Wheeler,
Yeomans and Wheeler,(2008); Rifkin, Longnecker, Leach and Ortia,(2009). In their study, they
recognized four (4) major advantages of social media usage by students in higher education
which included; enhancing relationship, improving learning motivation, offering personalized
course material, and developing collaborative abilities. Indeed, social media has contributed
greatly to facilitating learning in the 21st century. It is shown that a greater percentage of
students including those at the PhD level commonly use social media to ameliorate their studies
(Khan, 2010).

Foreign Studies

But with this, According to the article Active Learning in Higher Education, when
students are given the opportunity to multitask using their phones, their grade performance was
hindered compared to traditional pen and paper note taking. It is seen that when one tries to
multitask by using social media with listening to discussions in class, it would reduce the
learners' capacity for cognitive processing which causes poor academic performance. Davies
and Cranston (2008), enumerated some of the risks associated with social media which
included criminal activities such as identity theft and fake contacts which is prevalent today,
sexual abuse or harassment and unsuitable advertising. On the same subject O’keeffe and
Clakepearson (2011), also mentioned cyberbullying, online harassment, sexting, facebook
depression, and privacy concerns as some of the challenges associated with social networking.
Cyberbullying: cyberbullying is a category of bullying that occurs in the digital realm or medium
of electronic text. ‘‘It is any behavior performed through electronic or digital media by 9
individuals or groups that repeatedly communicates hostile or aggressive messages intended to
inflict harm or discomfort on others’’ (Tokunaga, 2010). Other studies conducted by scholars
have also proved that social media can be detrimental to students’ academic life if caution is not
taken in its usage. For instance the study conducted by Obi, Bulus, Adamu and Sala’at (2012),
titled “The need for safety consciousness among Youths on social Networking Sites” concluded
that social media affects students use of English. They use short-handwriting when chatting with
friends and unconsciously get used to it thereby replicating same errors during examinations.
Even though one may argue that these are minor challenges, it is important to acknowledge the
increasing rate at which these errors are replicated in the education sector and if care is not
taken future generation may see it as a norm.
 It is crucial to determine the impact of social media on the academic performance of
students. Technology is booming rapidly from year to year, and the younger generations are the
ones caught in this rapid change. Indeed a number of studies including but not limited to the
study of Kuppuswamy and Shankar (2010), Osharive (2015), Maya (2015), among others have
revealed unequivocally that social media can be problematic to students’ academic life if caution
is not taken in its usage.

Chapter 3

Research Design

The very nature of this study compels its research design to be inclined more towards on
data, Quantitative research. The fact that the aim of the study is evaluating the impact of social
media on the study habits of freshman of College of Science programs gives much lee-way into
using secondary data sources for comparison and analysis with relation to chapter 1’s Social
Media Integration Theory Model. The main focus of a quantitative research is the data that is
being collected and analyzed in a numeric form. The quantitative study is being obtained
through testing of hypothesis where the relationship between two variables is being tested and
the analysis is being done using various statistical techniques. In the group’s research
questionnaire is structured with a combination of open ended and close ended questions which
is being related to the purpose of the study along with the objective of the group’s study.