The impact of social media on undergraduate’s academic performance: with special reference to Eastern University, Sri Lanka.

Abstract

Online Social Network sites have created a new social dimension of people which influence on social awareness by keeping in touch with friends, making new friends, dispensing new data or products and gathering information in everyday life. It also helps individuals especially students become more knowledgeable. FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube and LinkedIn have positioned with Millions of users and still growing attracting thousands of new users daily including student community. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between the usage of online social network sites and students’ academic performance. To attain these objective 100 questionnaires were distributed to randomly selected students from the six faculties of Eastern University, Sri Lanka to gather initial findings on their use of social networking sites and its influence on their academic performance. The study found that Online Social Net worksites have a significant impact on the student’s academic performance. Also the findings of this research suggest that future strategies in enhancing student’s awareness in efficient time management and better multitasking can lead to improving study activities and academic performance.