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The Influence of Social Networks on High School Students' Performance Article  in  International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies · April 2015 DOI: 10.4018/IJWLTT.2015040104

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International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-59, April-June 2015 49

The Influence of Social Networks on High School Students’ Performance Emad Abu-Shanab, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan Heyam Al-Tarawneh, Ministry of Education, Jumanah High School, Irbid, Jordan

ABSTRACT Social networks are becoming an integral part of people’s lives. Students are spending much time on social media and are considered the largest category that uses such application. This study tries to explore the influence of social media use, and especially Facebook, on high school students’ performance. The study used the GPA of students in four courses and their responses regarding the use of social media. Statistical analysis is used to infer this relationship and its implications. Results indicated a support of this study aim and the relationship between the different dimensions of Facebook influence on students with respect to the time spent on the Internet and Facebook specifically. Conclusions and future work are stated at the end. Keywords:

Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Networks, Facebook, High School, Jordan, Performance, Social Networks, Students

1. INTRODUCTION Social media (SM) is the fastest growing web application in the 21st century. The diverse applications of SM like Wikis, video streaming and applications, and social networks make it the phenomenon of the century. Facebook counted users topped all social media applications with over 955 million users in 2013, followed by Twitter with 500 million users (www. thecountriesof.com). Such huge user base is

comparable to countries, which indicates the importance of such applications. The age distribution of Facebook users is concentrated on the younger categories where 300 million users are 18-24 years old, and 120 million users are between 13-17 years old (www.quintly.com). The same source indicated a nearly equal distribution of users between males and females. In Jordan, users of Facebook accounted for 2.5 million users at the end of 2012, with similar Internet users’

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50 International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-59, April-June 2015

size (www.internetworldstats.com). The last statistics indicate that Jordanians use Facebook through their mobiles, and the Internet. Such high penetration (38%) is indicative of the importance of Facebook and the social media domain for young people. The use of information and communication technology (ICT) is an important factor that opened doors for remote learning and remote access of educational material. Such phenomenon is called “e-learning”, where ICT is used as a facilitator of communication, assignment management, and task collaboration. A study in Jordan concluded that e-learning systems are not fully utilized in Jordan and many applications are not used by students and instructors (Abu-Shanab, Ababneh & Momani, 2012; Abu-Shanab, Momani & Ababneh, 2012). Such results indicate that it is important to reach students wherever they are, and especially on social media applications. This study will explore the influence of Facebook on students’ performance and how they spend their time. As seen previously, young Jordanians are the major category that uses social networks, where they spend substantial time on the net. Such issue is influencing their academic performance. Research connected school/university performance with Facebook use. This study will try to empirically explore such relationship regardless of its type of influence, bad or good. The following section will explore the influence of social networks. The following section will cover a description of the research method used in this research. Data analyses and discussion of results will follow in the fourth section. Finally, research conclusions and future work will be depicted at the end.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW A study by Abu-Shanab and Al-Tarawneh (2013) explored the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook utilizing university students. A sample of 206 students responded to a survey containing 10 advantages and 10 disadvantages of Facebook, and yielded interesting results. The study did not focus on students’ academic performance, but took the issue as a general view of social media influence. Social networks are becoming major tools for education, and entertainment. The human nature is keen on interacting with people and finding common areas and interests. In education, two streams are prevailing: the use of social networks as a tool supporting activities deemed important for the purpose of educational institutions, instructors, and students. The second stream is the bad influence social network inflicts on students behaviors and time management. This study will explore the relationship between performance and SN use. The following sections will review the literature related to the two streams and the performance issue related to students.

2.1. The Advantages of SN Research emphasized the importance of social networks in influencing young people. A study by Abu-Shanab and Frehat (2015) utilized 302 responses of young people in Jordan and investigated the influence of social networks on social reform through a conceptual model with five predictors of intention to use social networks and they are: satisfaction, isolation, trust, social participation and intensity of SN use. Results indicated a significant prediction of intensity and isolation only.

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International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-59, April-June 2015 51

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming important tools for educational support. Computers and the Internet are becoming more and more important in the learning and teaching processes. With the advent of mobile phones, especially smart phones, it is becoming easier to reach students and even utilize the capabilities of technology. A study utilized three groups of students, where the assignments and interactions where conducted with three levels: 1) traditional methods, 2) fair use of phones, and 3) extensive use of smart phones in working on mathematical assignments for school students (Nasser, 2014). The sample included 58 secondary students in Qatar. Results indicated a higher performance of the smart phone group compared to the other two groups. Facebook resulted in a significant improvement in students’ performance in universities. A study in a Vietnamese university concluded that students using Facebook as a social media has improved substantially with respect to their grades (Tuan & Tu, 2013). The same study also concluded that the improvements and value of social network sites was not related to the academic performance but also to the adaptation to the social environment of school. The same argument relating to social absorption by students is reached by Gafni and Deri (2012), where they emphasized the role of social networks in socializing students and opening channels for finding more academic resources, thus improving their academic achievement. Such result was not supported for senior students, where social absorption is less relevant at later years and student experience might benefit more in academic area. Social network is a strong tool for social interaction and connection, where it can improve family ties and friends in a rich social context. A study on 161 Tunisian students concluded that

performance was improved because of students’ satisfaction with their family and friends relations (Rouis, 2012). The author emphasized the role of multitasking as a moderator of such relationships, where multitasking and students interest in university will help enhance performance based on Facebook use. Many studies also focused on using SN applications, where they categorized them as productivity tools. Alonso et al (2013) listed many in their literature, where they focused on mobile applications and how they can accommodate the functionalities of learning management systems. The use of Facebook was associated with co-curricular activities, which might be considered a positive influence by social media (Junco, 2012a). Appendix A summarizes research that indicated positive impact of social media on student performance.

2.2. The Disadvantages of SN The negative influences of SN on students’ performance are reported in research, where a study by Haq and Chand (2012) utilized a sample of 384 students and concluded that Facebook use has an adverse influence on student academic performance. The study noticed that males and females spent equal time on the Internet where females used Facebook more, but males had more friends than females. The important difference was that Facebook use had an adverse influence on males’performance than females. The authors accounted such adverse performance because males spend more time on sports and games activities than females, which caused a loss of time and a bad influence on performance. It is imperative to realize that time spent on social activities (using Facebook or other social media) will be on the account of academic performance. This logic is important regardless

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52 International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-59, April-June 2015

of the positive side we see in SNs. A study that utilized students in a US university concluded to a negative relationship between time spent by students on online social networks and their academic performance (Paul et al., 2012). The authors pointed to the importance of attention span devoted to multiple sources of attractions. Such result indicates the importance of using Facebook and other social media tools wisely and towards a productive time in class rooms and back home. The same study motioned in the previous section, regarding the improvement of social absorption and academic achievement (Gafni & Deri, 2012), concluded that using Facebook by students consumes times and thus negatively influencing academic performance. Using mobile phones for texting and social network access also was explored to see if it is related to the engagement level in classrooms, where research indicated that engagement is closely related to teacher’s style and control. Also, the use of social networks and mobile texting was not related to lower performance results (Paul & Gelish, 2011). Such issue emphasizes the distraction that social media cause, but not to the extent of risking academic performance. Some universities embedded the use of computers, tablets and other technology channels in their educational setup. A study that focused on the issue of multitasking in classrooms concluded to the fact that students who use ICT and involve in multitasking (examples like: text messaging, Facebook, internet searching, emailing, and instant messaging) would have lower GPA, which means lower academic performance based on their behavior (Burak, 2012). The study also related risk taking behavior to such use of ICT, and concluded that multitasking would result in a higher risk taking behavior.

Social network use is related to personality of students, where some students are influenced more than others depending on their personality. A study of Swedish university students utilized 239 undergraduate students filling a survey related to their Facebook use (Rouis et al., 2011). Results indicated that the extensive use of Facebook by students with extraverted personalities will lead to poor academic performance. The authors concluded also that self-regulation and goal orientation (related to performance) characterized the students who are more in control of this social activity, and this better academic performance. The time spent on using Facebook was significantly associated with negative performance of students in a study that used 3866 US students. The other indicator that showed significant association with performance is time spent preparing material for classes, where students devoted some time for sharing resources and material using Facebook or other social media website (Junco, 2012b). Appendix B summarizes the literature related to the negative influence of Facebook on performance.

3. DATA ANALYSES AND DISCUSSION This study utilized a survey that consisted of 18 items measuring students’ attitudes and use behavior of Facebook. The sample consisted of all students of the eleventh grade in a public school in the northern part of Jordan. Students are enrolled in an IT stream of study in the Jordanian high school system. Students filled the survey without recognizing the grades collected for five courses. The responses were collected and keyed into SPSS and analyzed for the purpose of this research. The five courses of interest were: mathematics, Arabic

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International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-59, April-June 2015 53

Table 1. Item descriptions, means and standard deviations #

Item description

N

Min

Max

Mean

Std. Dev

Q1

I find that I spent more time than I intended on the Facebook

113

1

4

2.65

1.04

Q2

I refuse to spend time on family activities to stay on the Facebook

113

1

4

1.88

0.99

Q3

I feel excited and thrilled when using the Facebook

113

1

4

3.03

0.98

Q4

I look for making more friends on Facebook

109

1

4

2.04

1.05

Q5

I spend long hours daily on Facebook

111

1

4

2.33

1.08

Q6

I neglect my assignments to spend more time on the Internet

111

1

4

2.06

1.06

Q7

I stay late at night when using the Internet and Facebook

112

1

4

2.38

1.06

Q8

My academic performance declined because of using Facebook

111

1

4

2.05

1.01

Q9

Life without Facebook is boring and empty of joy

110

1

5

3.13

1.04

Q10

I don’t tell my family the exact hours I spent on Facebook

111

1

4

1.71

1.07

Q11

I am disconnected from my friends because of using the Facebook

111

1

4

1.32

0.65

Q12

I am depressed and nervous when I am forbidden from using the net

113

1

4

2.35

1.18

Q13

I suffer from eye strain because of using the net

112

1

4

1.90

1.01

Q14

My Facebook use influenced negatively my academic performance

110

1

4

1.85

1.02

Q15

My use of Facebook and the net causes isolation from my world

113

1

4

1.96

0.90

Q16

My use of Facebook is causing me to abandon my study

113

1

4

2.01

1.03

Q17

My use of Facebook is causing me to neglect my religious duties

112

1

4

1.75

1.06

Q18

I feel relieved because of my new relations on Facebook

113

1

4

2.28

1.16

Language, English language, accounting and religious studies.

3.1. The Instrument and Sample The instrument used utilized a previously set of items related to SN use and adopted from previous research (Al-Tarawneh, 2014). The study proposed a set of items and a model but not tested. This study extended the study and used their proposed instrument to empirically test our proposed research question. The authors of this study pilot tested the instrument on 10 master students, where they tried to see if content analysis and survey dimensions are validated. The survey items then were mixed to try to make students come closer to being more accurate as they reported their names on surveys.

This study utilized all students enrolled in the eleventh grade in a public school in the northern part of Jordan. The study distributed the instrument on students where they reported their answers on the items and the n umber of Internet/Facebook use. The total number of students enrolled in the four classes totaled 122 students. The total number of usable collected surveys was 113 surveys. The first step is to estimate the reliability of instrument using an estimate for internal consistency. The value of Cronbach’s Alpha for the 18 items was 0.888 (N=96). Such value is very much accepted in social sciences. The instrument included in this study contained the name of student and a question related to the number of hours spent on Facebook. A short

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54 International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-59, April-June 2015

Table 2. The means and standard deviations of the dimensions explored Dimension

Items

N

Min

Max

Mean

Std. Dev

Performance index

Q6, Q8, Q14, Q16, Q17

113

1

4

1.935

0.803

Entertainment index

Q1, Q3, Q9

113

1

4

2.935

0.753

Health Influence

Q12, Q13

113

1

4

2.137

0.912

Isolation index

Q2, Q11, Q15

113

1

3.67

1.720

0.610

SN Connections

Q4, Q18

113

1

4

2.177

0.982

Consuming time index

Q5, Q7, Q10

113

1

4

2.137

0.859

description of each item used is described in Table 1 below. When using a Likert scale of 4 points, all means ranging from 1-2 are considered low, 2-3 are considered medium, and 3-4 are considered high.

3.2. Students Perceptions regarding Facebook Influence The second step was to explore the means and standard deviations of the sample responses regarding the perceptional items. Table 1 depicts the data and the item description. Results indicated that 2 items were highly perceived by students (Q3 & Q9), 9 items were moderately evaluated, and 7 items were perceived lower (shown in Table 1). Also, it is obvious that the

highest items that were disputed are Q12 (depression and nervousness influence) and Q18 (making friends on Facebook). Such result is based on the standard deviation value which means higher dispute in relation to such issues. Also, the dimensions of the survey were estimated using the means of specific items and as shown in Table 2. The time spent on Facebook and the Internet was converted from a continuous scale (open question time) to a categorical scale with seven levels (1-7) to avoid the extreme values. Nearly each 2 hours were allocated 1 degree except all responses higher than 11, were allocated 7. Results indicated that 3 dimensions were perceived moderately (entertainment, health influence and SN con-

Table 3. The correlation matrix Dimension

PI

EI

HI

II

SNCs

CTI

GPA

Performance index (PI)

1.000

Entertainment index (EI)

0.590**

1.000

Health Influence (HI)

0.514**

0.532**

1.000

Isolation index (II)

0.488**

0.493**

0.479**

1.000

SN Connections (SNCs)

0.261**

0.522**

0.299**

0.243**

1.000

Consuming time index (CTI)

0.569**

0.572**

0.472**

0.318**

0.416**

1.000

GPA

-0.182

-0.047

0.005

0.024

-0.180

-0.186*

1.000

Time spent daily

0.493**

0.489**

0.376**

0.389**

0.233*

0.502**

-0.058

*Significant at the 0.05 level ** Significant at the 0.01 level

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International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-59, April-June 2015 55

nections), and three were perceived low (performance, perceived time spent in Facebook, and isolation). The average time spent on the web was 2.13, which reflects a low time level. Finally, this study correlated the five dimensions with GPA and the time spent on Facebook. GPA is the average grade of student in the five courses, where such value was added by researchers based on student name. Grades were reported by teachers of each course. Results were surprising as all five dimensions (PI, EI, HI, II & SNCs) were significantly correlated with the time spent on Facebook. Such result confirms our premise in this study, where the time spent on Facebook is associated with all dimensions of our focus in this study. Second, the GPA is not related with any dimension except the one related to consuming time. This means that students reporting that Facebook consumed their time or spent more time on Facebook had lower GPA (negative correlations). It is sometimes worth mentioning that the some of the dimensions were close to be significant when correlated to GPA, but not at the 0.05 level (alpha value were slightly higher than 0.05). Such result indicated that students with lower GPA also reported higher SN connections and higher negligence of performance levels (negative correlations).

4. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK This study aimed at measuring the influence of Facebook use on secondary school students. The study used a survey and the GPA of students in five courses of study. Also, the time spent on Facebook or the Internet was reported by students. Results indicated a full support of the premise of the paper, as the higher the reported

time spent on Facebook the higher the levels of students neglecting their duties and admitting the lower academic performance (PI), also the same with respect to entertainment, bad health influence, isolation perception and Facebook connection. The GPA significantly correlated with the time spent on Facebook, similarly with the reported time by students as an hourly measure. Such result indicated that the more time is spent on Facebook, the lower GPA would be. Regardless of the reported benefits of Facebook in the literature this study concluded that Facebook negatively influenced students’ performance and their social activities in the real world for the aim of living an active life on cyberspace. This study is one of the first to connect perceptional reported estimates (measured through a survey) with a real objective GPA measure (students’ grades). Also, it comes in an important era, where research is in conflict regarding the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook. On the other hand, this study suffered from a limitation of depending on a self reported measure of Facebook use. It is difficult to measure student time on Facebook without invading their privacy. Future research is encouraged to improve the instrument used and to reshape the dimensions that constitute the influence of Facebook on students’ performance. A more comprehensive model might serve the purpose of research and conceptualize the issue related to performance. Also, a larger sample might serve better the large item size. Finally, this study is confined to the sample used; a different sample (males, other school levels, university students, or other demographic factors) might improve our understanding of this area.

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56 International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-59, April-June 2015

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International Journal of Web-Based Learning and Teaching Technologies, 10(2), 49-59, April-June 2015 59

Emad A. Abu-Shanab earned his PhD in business administration, in the MIS area from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, USA, his MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, and his Bachelor in civil engineering from Yarmouk University (YU) in Jordan. He is an associate professor in MIS. His research interest in areas like E-government, technology acceptance, E-marketing, E-CRM, Digital divide, and Elearning. Published many articles in journals and conferences, and authored three books in e-government. Dr. Abu-Shanab worked as an assistant dean for students’ affairs, quality assurance officer in Oman, and the director of Faculty Development Center at YU. Heyam Al-Tarawneh is a counselor in the Ministry of Education in Jordan. Earned her bachelor in education psychology from the University of Jordan in 1987, and a diploma in special education from the same university in 1994. She earned her master in education psychology from Yarmouk University in 2010. Her research interest is in social performance and the behavioral influences of technology.

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