The impact of smart phone use on academic performance, a case study of school of statistics and planning, Makerere University

Abstract

The use of smartphones in students’ academic lives is now a necessity among universities, and it is expected that it will not only improve students’ learning but as well enhance teaching practices. The use of smartphones is now a debatable concern due to both positive and negative effects on academic performance. This study investigates the functions of a smartphone such as smartphone applications, social media activity, multimedia messaging (MMS) and Short message service (SMS). The survey was based on simple random sampling and 123 responses were taken from School of Statistics and employed an ordinal logistic regression model for the analysis of the data. The results of this paper have practical implications and demonstrate that smartphone functions have a significant impact on students’ academic performance inside and outside university campuses.