Effects Of Social Media On Students Academic Performnace In Tertiary Education Institutions In Thika Municipality, Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose for this study was to investigate the effects of social media on students’ academic performance of students in tertiary institutions within Thika municipality, Kiambu County in Kenya. The study was guided by three research objectives. This include to find out level of exposure of this learners to social media, what the students use social media for and how social media has enhanced learners’ interaction and performance in tertiary institutions within Thika municipality, Kenya. Past studies reveal that students use social media mostly to make friends and chat. Other studies also reveal there to be a negative relationship between social media use and academic performance, grammar and spelling. The study employed descriptive research design. A questionnaire and observation method was used to collect data. The target population was any student in a tertiary institution within Thika Municipality, Kenya. Researcher developed a survey questionnaire that contained section A demographic data and section B with 25 items. A pilot study was carried out and findings used to improve the clarity of some questions in the questionnaire. A sample of 245 respondents from tertiary institutions within Thika municipality was selected using the stratified sampling technique. The researcher identified the various departments within Thika Technical Training Institute, Mount Kenya University, Gretsa University and Amboseli Institute of Hospitality and Technology which were selected for the study, issued the questionnaires and collected the data. After data collection, the results were analyzed with the use of a spreadsheet package i.e. Ms. Excel and the result shown in frequency distribution tables corresponding percentages. The researcher observed there to be free wifi accessibility within the institutions and that the learners were quite active on their phones during break time. The study revealed that students in tertiary institutions within Thika Municipality use social media platforms mostly through smartphones. WhatsApp social site was found out to be the application that supports academic activities than the rest. It also revealed that the students’ spend most of their time on this sites during which they could be studying. Due to this, the students perform poorly academically. A majority of the students agreed that they get some kind of satisfaction from visiting the social sites. They also agreed that they mostly use social media for socialization purposes. A higher number of the students disagreed that social media affects their performance and that it negatively affects their English language and spelling. Study also revealed that the students are unaware of the effects of spending a lot of their time daily on social media sites. The study recommends that the students should spend less time on social media site and be counselled on how to use social media for educative purposes. It also recommends that teachers should incorporate devices such as laptops or tablets when giving instruction so that the students can learn from them how to use electric devises for educational purposes. Lastly, the study recommends that the government of Kenya should revise their policies on social media usage especially for the youths.