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Top1. Introduction And Background Of The Study
Today the internet has taken a firm place in people's lives. It is difficult to imagine a young man who at least once a day did not check for updates in social networks and did not leaf through the news lines. The modern reality requires us to stay in touch and keep abreast of the latest news and trends. However, does this trend affect our daily activities?
When social media such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter appeared, our world was divided into online and offline. Social media are online technology platforms that help to connect people together far and near. It is used to build relationship among people (Social Media by Students, 2017). With their help, we can communicate with each other, even on different continents, listen to music, read books, look at photos and much more. Social media have greatly simplified our lives and tightly tied to ourselves (Shensa et al., 2015).
During the time spent discovering individuals for acquaintances, youngsters go into different connections and get the chance to speak with a relatively boundless number of individuals and premium gatherings, with a wide range of identities, take in a considerable measure of stories, have the opportunity to trade suppositions and talk about issues important to them. Therefore, users of social networks, in most cases, are a representative of the younger generation.
According to scientists, social networks are especially dangerous for teenagers, as they form a false impression that love and friendship are easy to conquer and just as easy to destroy (East, 2016). In addition, young people who are acquainted with the fast stream of Internet life, the truth may appear to be excessively dull, and they can have a go at, making it impossible to “restore” it by making imprudent activities. Some are supporters of the use of social media. They claim that the latter provide access to knowledge and help students exchange information quickly. Others think that students’ use social media primarily to communicate about everything except studies and that they only distract students from the learning process. The use of social media by students helps to have access to basic information as quick as possible (Social Media by Students, 2017).
Many universities and schools around the world restrict the access to social networks within its buildings. They justify this by helping students concentrate on their studies. On the other hand, they deny students the opportunity to use the numerous materials available on these resources, such as scientific videos on YouTube (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010).
To shed light on the positive and negative sides of using social media in general, as well as discover its impact on students’ lives, existing studies were reviewed.
Studies found out that academic outcome of students who spent most of their time interacting using social media are positive because they were able to share and generate ideas and concepts related to their studies. They also use these sites for having fun as these social media sites are helpful in their academic work (Amin, et al., 2016).
A similar study revealed that online social media had improved the communication between the faculty member and students which facilitate the communication of the correct information and improve understanding and the development of the ideas and the courses. Based on the information collected, it is noticeable to say that the use of the social media during the lecture time is not recommended (Ouder & Abousaber, 2018).
Mensah & Nizam (2016), concluded in their study that social media platforms have a significant impact on students’ academic performance in Malaysia tertiary institutions. Nevertheless, among the six variables used in their study, time appropriateness and health addiction have a stronger significant influence on students’ academic performance. This is because time management plays an essential role in determining the success and failure of an individual. Thus, students who lack time management can easily fall prey to the negative impact of social media. Likewise, health and addiction, students who are engrossed with social media platforms ends up skipping meals which has health impact.