SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine social media addiction and academic performance of undergraduate students at Imo State University. Four hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to sample 349 participants from the population. The instrument used is a self developed questionnaire. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions, while z-test was used to test the hypotheses at 5% alpha level.  Based on the findings, the study showed that a great number of students are addicted to social media which in turn make their academic achievements to decrease. The study recommended that social media should be used for educational purposes as well. Social networking sites should be expanded and new pages should be created to enhance academic activities and avoid setbacks in student users’ academic achievement. Also, students should be monitored by teachers and parents on how they use these sites, this is to create a balance between social media and academic activities of students.