Students’ Perception on Negative Impacts of Social Media Use on Academic Performance in Colleges of Education in Osun State

Abstract

The study focused on students’ perception on negative impacts of social media use on academic performance in Colleges of Education in Osun State. Descriptive research design was adopted. The population of the study comprised 2,752 registered students in 2023/2024 academic session in the institutions, out of which 334 was proportionately sampled. Students’ Perception on Negative Impacts of Social Media on Students’ Academic Performance Questionnaire (NISAPQ) was used to collect data for the study. Mean, standard deviation and ranking order were used to answer the research questions. The findings of the study revealed among others, that WhatsApp was the social media platform mostly used by students in Colleges of Education in Osun State. Chatting was the most reason students used social media in the institutions. Excessive use of social media for non-academic purposes could result in poor academic performance. Too much use of social media makes students lose concentration during lectures and this could consequently lead to poor academic performance. Students who frequently use social media do not utilise their leisure for self-study and this eventually causes poor academic performance. The study concluded that social media use had negative impacts on academic performance of students in Colleges of Education in Osun State. It was recommended that students should be committed to the use of social media for academic activities, rather than using it for frivolities, so as to enhance their academic performance.