SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND COLLEGE STUDENTS’ CONCENTRATION ON ACADEMIC TASKS

SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND COLLEGE STUDENTS’ CONCENTRATION ON ACADEMIC TASKS

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY  FACULTY OF BUSINESS ENGLISH 

  

SOCIAL MEDIA USE AND COLLEGE STUDENTS’ CONCENTRATION 

ON ACADEMIC TASKS         Instructor:​ Tran Thi Lan Huong 

   

 

Social media has integrated into today’s students’ lives Technological development       

makes smart phones affordable even to students, which brings social media as close as       

within their hand palm The increased access to digital world leads to the growing       

concern that students’ learning may be affected as social media has the potential to       

distract students and compromise their attention and learning Many researchers have       

tried to determine the relationship between social media use and students’ academic       

performance; however, the findings are conflicting Using survey data from students of       

Faculty of Business English, Foreign Trade University, this research examines the        effects of social media on students’ concentration while studying.  

 

Social media is not new on the market anymore, but it is still hot Personal computing       

dictionary defines social media as “the collective of online communications channels       

dedicated to community­based input, interaction, content­sharing and collaboration.”       

Websites and applications dedicated to         ​forums, ​microblogging​, ​social networking  ​,  social bookmarking  ​, ​social curation  ​, and   ​wiki​s are among the different types of social       

media Today, people prefer to spend their time on digital world more than in the real       

world, and the basic concept of social media is interactive community so the popularity       

of social media is not surprising Social media is now everywhere on the webs, which       

can be recognized by the sharing button on every page of news article, music streaming       

page or gaming sites People love it because it is a powerful tool for data collection and       

communications However, the use of social media has caused public concern about its       

impact on people’s lives.  This study will examine the impact of social media on students’ concentration while       

studying, with a hope of contributing to the growing body of knowledge regarding       

identified linkages between the use of social media and students’ learning Once the       

problems are addressed, we hope to provide some recommendations to deal with       

problems associated with the use of social media by college students, especially       

determine whether using social media when learning affects college students’       

concentration.    The study aims to answer two research questions The first one is: “How do college       

students use social media?” The answers for the first question will be the foundation       

for the second research question: “How does social media use affect students’       

concentration while studying?” Data will be collected through questionnaire survey        and analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. 

 

1 Social Media Use 

The social media boom has caught attention of many scholars and researchers.       

Although social media is not a new trend now, its popularity is still expanding A       

report by We are Social Singapore o      ​n Digital, Social and Mobile in 2015 around the       

world shows that social media continues to grow apace worldwide with active user       

accounts now equating to roughly 29% of the world’s population In Vietnam, the       

social media landscape looks stunning with active social media making up 40% of the       

total population The publicly available data suggest that Facebook is the country’s       

most popular social platform Young people are found to be the leading generation in       

using social media, specifically facebook Among users 20 to 29 years of age, 45% are       

actively engaged in this social networking site compared to 31% of users 13­19 years       

old and only 17% of users 30­39 years old Meanwhile, research conducted       

by ​GlobalWebIndex​ suggests that social media is capturing a significant share of       

people’s time and activities with an average usage of 2 hours and 25 minutes​ ​per day.  2 Social Media – A source of Distraction  Due to social media’s ubiquity, there is a growing concern about its impact on people’s       

lives An evitable side effect of social media is that it provides users with a lot of       

distraction Research suggests that technology can cause distraction for digital learners       

both externally (sounds, flashes and notifications can distract students from what they       

are doing and redirect their attention to another task) and internally (many people keep       

thinking about technology, even when not using it) (Rosen, 2010).  Our attention spans have shortened in the digital age According to a survey by       

Microsoft, prolonged focus is eroded as a result of digital lifestyles 44% of Canadians       

surveyed claimed that they found it hard to stay focused on a single task for extended       

periods of time, among which 67% are heavy social media users This finding was       

drawn from online quantitative survey of 2,000 Canadian respondents.   Since college­age users dominate other users in social media usage, they cannot escape       

the distracting influence of social media A study by Rosen et al (2012) reveals that       

college students’ ability to stay focused on one task is limited and their task switching       

happens as often as every 5­6 minutes due to the availability of technological       

distraction Furthermore, academic reading is an activity that requires a great deal of       

concentration so it is not surprised when researchers found that the amount of time       

students spent on social networking sites was significantly related to more       

distractibility for their reading activity (Levine et al, 2007).  3 Social Media and Student Learning  A large number of researches have tried to determine the relationship between social       

media use and academic achievements among college students However, the results of       

these studies are not consistent, probably due to weakness of the self­reported       

measures.  On the one hand, some studies supported the idea that social media were negatively       

predicative of students’ outcomes Jacobsen and Forste (2011) collected data from       

1026 university freshmen using time diary and Internet survey and found that       

electronic media use has a negative influence on first­semester GPA Another study of       

Facebook usage and seft­reported GPA among more than 250 college students showed       

that grades of heavy or frequent Facebook users to be lower than that of light users       

(Thuseethan and Kuhanesan, 2014) The similar finding was shared by a study of Junco       

with a sample of 1839 respondents employing hierarchical linear regression On the       

other hand, studies by Kolek & Saunders (2008) and Pasek et al (2009) found no        correlation between social media use and college students’ academic performance.  

The mixed results of these studies may stem from the problem that it is not just a       

question of if or how much students engage in social media, but also the ways in which       

students engage Therefore, our research team decided to focus on only one aspect ­       

how using social media while studying affects college students’ concentration Since       

concentration is a necessary ingredient for effective learning, the finding may reveal        some facts about the impact of social media on students’ academic outcomes. 

 

1 Participants 

The sample consists of 120 undergraduate students from Faculty Business of English,       

Foreign Trade University Of all the participants, 41,5% are freshman, 17,1% are       

sophomores, 39% are junior and 2,4% were senior Fourth year students are busy with       

their graduation preparation so they are less willing to finish the questionnaire.       

Participants are composed of 88,6% females and 11,4% males.  2 Procedures  The questionnaire survey was distributed through facebook messages and delivered       

directly to students in their classrooms The paper survey and online survey are the       

same in content During break time of some classes in Faculty of Business English,       

researchers distributed the questionnaire among all students present However, not all       

the surveys were completed and some questions were left unanswered The unfinished       

surveys were sorted out and not counted in the finding.  All data were stored confidentially, and participation was completely voluntary.  The survey was composed of 15 questions including “yes/no” questions, multiple       

choice questions and individual questions.      All items of the questionnaire were       

designed by the researcher with an aim of collecting data about students’ social media       

usage while studying The survey was expected to take three to five minutes to        complete. 

Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are used in data analysis. 

 

1 Social Media Use 

The following data will answer the first research question: “How do college students       

use social media?”  Question 1: What kinds of social media do you use?  Figure 1.     From figure 1, 97.5% of the respondents sampled used social networking, 81.7% used       

multimedia, 47.5% used social knowledge and only 25.8% used blogging and other       

types of social media This means that majority of the respondents used 3 main types of       

social media: social networking, multimedia and social knowledge and almost all of        them used social networking ( 97.5%). 

Question 2: How many hours a day on average do you spend on social media? 

The analysis shows that majority of the respondents spend more than 2 hours a day on       social media (85%) and half of them use social media in more than 4 hours. 

Question 3: What do you use social media for? 

Figure 2 

 

From figure 2, 85% of the respondents use the social media for the purpose of       communication, 83.3% for studying, 90.8% for entertainment and 6.6% for other       purposes. 

It can be concluded that majority of the respondents use the social media for all 3 main       purposes: communication, studying and entertainment and almost all of them use it to       entertain (90.8%). 

Question 4: What purpose above do you spend most time on when using social       media? 

Question 5: Which is your most visited social media site? 

 

 

From table 3, 70.8% of the respondents preferred Facebook as their most visited social       

media site, 20% prefer You Tube and 9.2 % prefer other sites.  Clearly, Facebook dominates the respondents’ interest when using social media You       

Tube also gains much interest but it pales as compared to Facebook (less than 1/3).  To sum up, basing on the results above, we can find out the answer for the first      

research question:” How do the students use the social media? ”:   Majority of the students used the social media in both types of social networking and      

multimedia It should be streamlined that almost all of the students use social      

networking (question 1) We can also see that majority of them use social media      

simultaneously for three main purposes: communication, studying and entertainment      

Among them, entertainment is the one that more than 90% of the students use the      

social media for (question3) and 50% spend most of their time on (question 4)      

Moreover, a large number of the students spend more than 2 hours a day on the social      

media, even half of these students spend up to more than 4 hours (question2) The most       visited social media site of the students prefer is Facebook. 

2 Impact of Social Media Use on Concentration while studying 

The second research question read: “How does social media use affect the students’       concentration as doing academic tasks?” As mentioned earlier, the relevant answers to       the above question will be presented as responded to by the respondents in tables       below: 

Hence, the most popular answer is every 30 minutes Besides, a large number of the       respondents often check the social media after 1 hour of studying (26.5%), yet the       percentage of students whose option is every 15 minute is only 15.9%. 

I get completely distracted by social media use while       

Total  102  100 

 

From table 6, 17.6% of the respondents have the answer that they get completely       distracted by social media while doing academic tasks, 30.4% get distracted but not       much, 44.1% get distracted a little and 7.9% do not get distracted. 

It can be concluded that majority of the respondents get distracted by social media       when studying; however, the main level of distraction is only “a little”. 

Question 9: Why do you think you cannot concentrate long on academic tasks?  Table 7 

Respondents 

Percentage (%) 

Therefore, majority of the respondents are distracted by social media when studying as       

checking social media became their habit.  Question 10: In which way does your distraction from social media use affect your      

learning?  Table 8  Option  No. of   Respondents Percentag e (%)  Because of social media use, I do my academic tasks badly  5  4.9  Because of social media use, I have to spend more time on       

academic tasks  37  36.3  Because of social media use, I cannot finish my academic tasks at       

all  32  31.4  My social media use does not affect quality of my learning  22  21.6  Other  6  5.8  Total  102  100    We can see from the table 8 that 36.3 % of the respondents have to spend more time on       

academic tasks and 31.4% cannot finish them at all so we can conclude that using       

social media make the students cannot complete their tasks as schedule.  The second research question is answered by five survey questions above The majority      

of the students often use social media when they do academic tasks and check them      

every 1 hour or less than 30 minutes (question 6 and question 7) As a result, the      

majority of these students get distracted by social media when studying; however, the      

impact is not significant (question 8) Two main reasons for the distraction are      

concentration ability resulting from distracting social media reduces students’ studying       efficiency (question 10). 

 

1 Discussion 

It can be concluded from the findings that social media use negatively affects college       

students’ concentration while studying.   A large number of students agreed that their distraction from studying results from       

challenging or boring tasks This reveals the fact of education system nowadays.       

Because today students are immersed in a digital world full of sensory stimulations, it       

is not surprised they cannot endure the boredom Therefore, it is highly recommended       

that subjects or curriculum be more interesting with stories, humor, and sensory details       

to attract students’ attention.  Social media or any Internet­based system is addictive to young people so it is       

worrying that the majority of students claimed to grow the habit of browsing social       

media regularly This habitual social media checking does not only affect their       

concentration ability, but also their studying in the long run To avoid becoming too       

immersed into social media, it is important for college students to spend their time on       

offline world like conversing with their friends or participating in extracurricular       

activities.  Social media can be used for many purposes including studying, communication and       

entertainment but entertainment is the most preferred activity among students Social       

media can be a powerful educational tool if used appropriately A considerable number       

of websites are designed and dedicated to promote students’ knowledge Moreover,       

group chat is an ideal environment to share knowledge among friends or experts        

Distant learning is another benefit of social media Facebook allows people to create        groups where people can post materials or discuss their problems with others.