The effects of social media usage on the academic performance of Makerere University students : A background study

Abstract

This present study sought to assess the effects of social media usage on the academic performance of Makerere University Students. Primary data was collected using an online questionnaire which was administered to 86 students from the School of Statistics and Planning. Four main research questions were of immense interests and these were; (i) what is the relationship between social media usage and the academic performance among Makerere university students?, (ii) what are the social media platforms that the students are more exposed to and the effect on their academic performance? (iii) how has the use of social media affected the academic performance of the students in Makerere University at the school of statistics and planning?, and (iv) what is the difference in students' usage of social media by gender? The findings of the study revealed that the usage of social media was prevalent among the students from the School of Planning and Statistics. Regarding the most used social media platform, the findings revealed that it was WhatsApp compared to other social media platforms. It was also revealed that most of the students from the School of Planning and Statistics were spending 5-7 hours on social media daily. Despite these paramount findings, there is need for a qualitative study to bring forth the reasons as to why students mostly use a particular social media and a study focusing on the effect of social media usage while for lectures on the academic performance of students from the School of Planning and Statistics.