Pages: (130-142 )
Abstract
Social media use among undergraduate students could negatively and positively influence students' academic life. It can lead to addiction, poor preparation for examinations, non-cultivation of good study habits, and lack of concentration and interest during formal learning. The focus of this study was to evaluate the influence of social media use on study habits of Babcock university students. Survey design method was adopted, and the targeted population of study were regular 300L undergraduate students. A simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 106 students out of 1060 students which constituted 10% of the population. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire titled, "Social Media Use and Study Habit questionnaire," was used to collect data. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The finding revealed that social media use students fort study habits significantly (β=0.424, R2=0.180, p≤0.00). Only one-third of the students use the social media for activities that contribute to their education while 100% of the respondents use social media primarily for entertainment each day. The study therefore, concluded that disciplined use of social media was to be consciously and deliberately cultivated and sustained for good study habits as personal discipline can remedy the situation. Therefore, it is recommended that students be given intermittent orientation on the negative consequences of social media use during formal and individual studies. Furthermore, students should be encouraged to use applications to help them limit their social media use time. For instance, there are some applications, such as the cartoon graphic of a bouncer guarding a phone from social apps coming in, "forest", "day wise" and an application in Instagram called "your activity".
Keywords: Social media use, study habits,,