CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Social media has really become necessary to the people’s lives with whatever reasons

they have and so almost everyone are already aware of social media and are spending so much

time using it (Boyd et al.,2007; Hakoyama 2011).

According to the Yahoo-Nielsen Survey of 2013, social media usage is continually rising.

Adolescents who use social media nowadays are just too many. As an international survey in

2009 finds that 73% of online teenagers use social media, which is a large increase from 55% 3

years earlier (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010).

Social media has many positive and negative effects that we aren’t aware yet and many

studies are already conducted to know it (Gok T., 2016).

There are so many negative effects of using social media such as anxiety, behavioral

changes, mental health problems, severe loss of personal productivity, stress, etc. (Schill, 2011).

There are even instances that students prefer to use social media instead of doing their homework,

studying and preparing for exams (Wang et al., 2011).

If there are negative effects, there are positive effects as well such as social media

provides students to discuss about class materials, to share academic issues and to share

information (Salas & Alexander, 2008).

There are many criticisms regarding social media about how distracting it can be to

students and workers, but it is also praised in terms of communication and gaining knowledge

through interacting with other people around the world. We are all aware that it is really helpful
for communication, advertising and even marketing but it can also be addictive to the point that

we sometimes disregard works just to use social media.

Many researchers suggest that students learn in new ways using social media and that

teachers should embrace these new ways but sometimes there are instances that crimes are

already being done with the use of social media and so some parents are not really approving

with their children using social media even though it is said that social media can also be used to

learn or gain knowledge (Ito et al., 2009; Jenkins, 2006).

Everything really has their own negative and positive effects but what really are the

effects of social media to the students’ study habits?

It is important for everyone especially the students to know about the positive and

negative effects of social media to the study habits for them to avoid the negative and nourish the

positive. We can always make things very conventional as long as we know how to use it in a

good way and we are able to control such. In short, we can make social media conventional to

our lives without experiencing its negative effects if we are just in control of using it. It can also

be applied to the study habits where in if students could just control their use of social media,

they can avoid it to affect in their study habits in a negative way.

Many studies suggest that the social media neither improves nor negatively impacts

learning when compared to the same teaching strategy in the classroom. It says that technology

or anything related to it does not really affect the students because learning depends on the

strategies of teachers in terms of teaching (Bernard et al., 2004; Clark, 1983, 1991).

This study will help everyone understand the effects of social media to the study habits

and help find a way to avoid the negative effects.

 This study is conventional for the time being because we all know that social media is

very popular today and almost all of the students are engaged in it. Some students even use social

media while in school and so this research can help us determine if social media can really be a

reason for the failing grades of some students and for high grades of some.

As we go by this study, we will get to know the effects of social media to the study habits

of students which can help us understand why some students fail and some don’t through using

social media.

We will get to know the positive and negative effects of social media to the study habits

of students and will understand more about it which can help us find a solution for the negative

effects and be aware of the positive effects for us to nourish it.

Statement of the Problem

This study wants to know the effects of social media to the study habits of the BS

Accountancy students. As for this, the study sought answers for the following questions:

a) What are the profile of the respondents in terms of:

a.1 sex/gender

a.2 age

a.3 time spent in using social media

b) What are the study habits of the BS Accountancy students in EVSU Main Campus?

b.1 Motivation

b.2 Time Management

b.3 Goal Setting

b.4 Reading Skills

 b.5 Note-Taking

c) What is the effect of social media to the study habits of the BS Accountancy students of

EVSU Main Campus in terms of:

c.1 Attention & Motivation

c.2 Uses & Gratification (learning while interacting)

c.3 Social Constructivism (Gaining knowledge in through social platform)

d) Is there a significant influence of the social media to the study habits of the BS Accountancy

learners?

Null Hypothesis

There is no significant influence of the social media to the study habits of the BS

Accountancy learners.

Significance of the Study

This section will discuss about the importance of this study to the:

Students

This study will help the students to know the effects of social media to their study habits

that can help them to avoid the negative effects it may cause and nourish the positive effects.

With this, the students will be able to control their use of social media and help them maintain

their study habits or improve for the best.

Researchers

This study can be an effective tool for references on the effects of social media to the

study habits of BS Accountancy students for the researchers who would want to pursue related

studies.
Instructors

This study will help the teachers be aware of the possible negative and positive effects of

using social media to the study habits of the students that can help them guide the students

properly to maintain their study habits or rather improve.

Parents

This study will help the parents to know the effects of social media to the study habits of

BS Accountancy students and will make them try to control the social media usage of their

children to make them avoid the negative effects of social media and nourish its positive effects.

School Administrators

This study will help the school administrator to be aware of the effects of using social

media to the study habits of the students that can lead them to conduct a program regarding on

how to control the usage of social media to help the students combat its negative effects to their

study habits.

Scope and Delimitation

This study focused on the effects of social media to the study habits of the BS

Accountancy students of EVSU Main Campus.

The study wants to know the effects of social media to the study habits of the BS

Accountancy students of EVSU Main Campus only and do not intend to discuss other effects.

Furthermore, the data to be gathered in order to satisfy the aims of the study and the

research questions posted is limited only to the BS Accountancy learners of EVSU Main Campus

and the information outside the locale that might be essential to its vision is not considered in the

conduct of this study.

Definition of Terms

In order to understand and provide clear meaning of the terms used in the study, the

following are defined:

Study Habits - the behaviors used when preparing for tests or when learning

Social Media - websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to

participate in social networking

Virtual Study Groups – are groups in the internet that is created for study purposes of learners

about a specific subject

Nourish – to enhance

Conventional – proper; important

Locale - the place where the research is conducted

Theoretical Framework

In order to provide a guideline for this study, Maslow’s Theory of Motivation, Social

Constructivism by Dr. Richard J. Light under Social Learning Theory and Uses and

Gratifications Theory are properly discussed and are taken into consideration as the foundation

of the study.

Maslow’s Theory of Motivation states that a person should pay attention to a certain

work to be motivated. It suggests that if the attention of a certain person is directed to some work,

he slowly gains motivation to it and he will get to spend much time for it. The theory further

suggests that if you already have the motivation to do a certain work, your attention will be

directed to it alone and may disregard other tasks.

 Maslow’s Theory of Motivation proves that having a lot more attention to social media

can cause a student to lose motivation in studying and gain a lot more interest for social media.

Studying will be a second priority to the students that could affect their study habits in a negative

way.

As for Social Constructivism by Dr. Richard J. Light under Social Learning Theory,

students learning can be a lot more effective when interacting with others through social media.

It states that gaining knowledge through social media like joining virtual study groups could help

a student learn easier. It suggests that students learning in group can make them gain knowledge

more effectively and further understand a certain topic.

Social Constructivism under Social Learning Theory states that learning while interacting

will help student gain information that is not discussed in the school and become more

knowledgeable.

On the contrary, Uses and Gratifications Theory states that interacting with others

through social media can make students gain knowledge more effectively but it can be addictive

that can cause them to neglect their studies and affect their study habits in a negative way. The

theory suggests that using social media can cause addiction that lead a student to spend more

time using it. It proves that students can gain knowledge better while interacting with other

students through social media but can make them get fond of using it and start to neglect other

duties like doing their homework, reading, doing projects, etc.

The theories above is related to this study for it discussed about the effects of attention to

the motivation (Maslow’s Theory of Motivation) which will prove that attending social media

can make a person gain a lot more interest and their attention will be directed to it alone that may

affect their study habits in a negative way. The theories even discussed about how students learn
and gain knowledge through social media and how it is more effective (Social Constructivism)

but states that it can also be addicting (Uses and Gratifications Theory) which can prove that

some students can learn through social media but can be addicted to it and neglect their study

habits.
Conceptual Framework

This section provides the paradigm which is used as a guideline for this study.

The Effects of Social Media to the Study Habits of the BS Accountancy Students of EVSU
Main Campus

Profile of the Effects of Social Study habits:

respondents: Media in terms of:
 Motivation
 Sex/gender  Attention &  Time
 Age Motivation Management
 Time spent in  Uses &  Goal Setting
using social Gratification  Reading Skills
media (learning while  Note-Taking
interacting)
 Social
Constructivism
(Gaining
knowledge in
through social
platform)

Output:
• Awareness of the effects of social media to the study habits
• Programs and activities combatting the possible negative effects of social media to
the study habits