Abstract:
Social Media Network (SMN) becomes one of the greater influences on the lifestyle and
habits of teenagers which affects the educational environment and performance. There are
different arguments about the possible effects of SMN on students’ academic
performance. Studies show that it quite appropriates for teachers and students to use
social media to socialize by this means for academic purposes. Studies on the impact of
SMN on academic performance among students of the Advanced Technological Institute
(ATI) is hard to find in academic literature. Therefore, this study examined the use of
SMN on academic performance among students of ATI. A self-administrative
questionnaire was used to collect data from 148 students in different courses in the ATI–
Sammanthurai using a stratified sampling method. The respondents were classified into
four categories (non, light, medium, and heavy users) based on average time spent in
SMN sites and apps. The students’ academic performance was evaluated through the
Grade Point Average (GPA) of respective students in their study program. The ANOVA
statistical technique was used to find the impact of SMN on students’ academic
performance by comparing the mean GPA of groups of respondents. The study found
that light users get the highest GPA than all other groups. Non-users also get a higher
GPA than medium and heavy users. The mean GPA differences between the non-users
and the medium users were not statistically significant. The light users spend less time
relatively other groups of users. The light users may utilize the SMN for educational
purposes. However, medium users utilize SMN for entertainment as well as educational
purpose. The heavy users are spending much of their study time on SMN which leads to
reduce in study time and adversely impacts their academic performance. This study
concluded that the reasonable use of SMN helps to increase the academic performance of
the ATI students.
Keywords: Academic performance, ATI, Education, Social media network
