Case Study on the Relationship between Social Media and Academic Performance

The relationship between mobile social media and academic
performance
MGT 610- Statistical Applications in Research and Management

Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Statement of Research Question......................................................................................................4
Hypothesis.......................................................................................................................................4
Null Hypothesis...........................................................................................................................4
Alternative Hypothesis................................................................................................................4
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................5
Descriptive Statistics...................................................................................................................5
Regression Analysis.....................................................................................................................7
Correlation Analysis....................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................12

Abstract
This study examined the relationship between social media use and academic
performance. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to a sample of university
students in Kuwait. Results show that heavy mobile social media usage is positively related to
lower GPA. The strong linear relationship suggests the more students use social media the lower
their grades will be. Results also show participants were aware social media usage is lowering
their grades, yet they continue to use them heavily regardless. Future research should consider
the context in which social media are used. It should also explore other ways in which to
measure social media use in addition to self-reports.
Introduction
The use of mobile phones among young adults has reached saturation levels. Almost all
college students in developed and many developing countries own a mobile phone. Most of these
devices are "smart" meaning they are much more than just telephones or texting devices. The
traditional distinction between computers and telephones has all but disappeared. For example, in
the United States, a court of appeals has ruled that smart phones, from a legal viewpoint, are
essentially computers (United States vs. Kramer, 2011). In terms of the services they provide,
mobile phones perform many of the same functions as an Internet connected desktop computer,
and in some instances even more. For example, the visual blogging application Instagram allows
users to post images from a handheld device such as a mobile phone or a tablet, but not on a
conventional personal computer. Today's mobile phones use a remarkable collection of software
driven applications such as video conferencing, micro-blogging, watch and share videos, social
networking and playing video games. In contrast to the conventional view of the computer, the

mobile nature of the smart phone allows these services to be utilized anytime anywhere. In light
of the fact that smart phones are within easy reach of nearly everyone, it is worth taking into
consideration what influence they may have on the users' attitudes and behavioral outcomes. It
may be that mobile phone use has consequences for human behavior which reaches far beyond
the area of communication. For instance, research by Lepp et al. (2013) discovered that mobile
phone use was negatively related to an objective measure of physical fitness among a sample of
typical university students. This finding suggests that high mobile phone users were less fit than
low mobile phone users. The implication here is that mobile phone use occurs at the expense of
performing physical activity, causing high users to be more sedentary compared to low users.
Furthermore, the same study found that mobile phone use may negatively affect a students'
academic performance as many of them tend to use their mobile phone during class time or while
studying.
More than a few researchers have singled out multi-tasking to account for the negative
correlation between mobile phone use and academic achievement (Jacobsen & Forste, 2011;
Junco & Cotton, 2011; Rosen et al., 2013; Wood et al., 2012). Jacobsen & Forste (2011) found
that over 60% of college students in their study used mobile devices while in class, studying or
doing homework. Similarly, Sanchez and Otero (2009) reported that despite the fact that mobile
phone use was prohibited in the classroom, half of the students in their study reported bringing
their mobile device to school and keeping it on during class. In their research specifically
designed to study multi-tasking and academic performance, Junco and Cotton (2011) looked at
large samples of university students and discovered that sending text messages and using
Facebook while studying or doing homework were commonplace