Social media presents a substantial portion of life for modern college students. Thus, a significant part of the literature is devoted to examining social media’s influence on college students’ well-being and perceptions as well as academic progress. Conducting a literature review on the subject of social media usage in college students demonstrates that there are many negative and positive aspects of the social media usage in college students.
One of the primary concerns about college students’ interaction with social media is social media addiction and its negative outcomes. The study conducted by Hou et al. characterizes social media addiction as an “uncontrollable urge” for constant use of social media (2019, p. 2). The authors suggest that social media addiction for college students negatively affects their mental health, particularly self-esteem, resulting in lowered academic performance. The article defines a connection where individuals with poor mental health and low self-worth were more prone to social media addiction.
College students affected by social media addiction are subjected to risks of not understanding learning materials covered in the classroom. According to Spence et al. (2020), using social media in the classroom leads to multitasking, negatively affecting students’ cognitive abilities. By studying the impact of Instagram feed scrolling on short-term memory by utilizing the Logical Memory Immediate Recall scale, the authors defined that social media use affects “short term memory recall” ability (Spence et al., 2020). Thus, there are several ways in which social media use can negatively affect college students in the academic performance area.
Furthermore, concerning the specific ways social media affects college students’ academic performance, the article by Talaue et al. (2018) determines that social media negatively affects the time students spend on studies. The survey by the authors showed that most students (38%) acknowledged that they had less time to make assignments or study due to social media use (Talaue et al., 2018). However, the authors also suggested that social media use plays an important role in the socializing process for college students. Similar contradictory results were shown in the study conducted by Roberts and David (2019), which focused on the fear of missing out (FoMO) in social media. The study defined that social media intensity is positively connected with FoMO, but in cases where it promotes social connections, FoMO positively impacts students’ well-being.
One of the ways in which social media negatively affects college students’ performance through poor sleep quality was explained by Aldhawyan et al. (2020). The questionnaire completed by more than eight hundred students determined that around 75% of students that use social media have poor sleep quality. Poor sleep quality presents a risk factor for mental and physical health concerns, such as obesity, anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disorders, and diabetes mellitus (Aldhawyan et al., 2020). The study defined that poor sleep quality from daytime dysfunction of social media use negatively influences academic performance. The research conducted by Wang et al. (2021) on the connection between sleep quality and the use of social media defined that college students’ peers’ sleep behavior influences their quality and quantity of sleep. Therefore, there is a positive correlation between the students’ network on social media and their sleep quantity.
Next, social media use is closely connected with the topic of digital citizenship. The combination of social media competencies of “self-efficacy, social media expertise, performance expectancy and facilitating conditions” in college students predict digital citizenship (Xu et al., 2018, p. 4). Therefore, even though the excessive use of social media can negatively affect college students’ mental health and academic performance, it provides a substantial foundation for developing social media competence and digital citizenship.
However, according to Leeder (2019), the college students’ presence on social media platforms contributes to the spread of fake news. The author suggested that the issue is sourced in students’ inability to evaluate the trustworthiness of news spread in online space and increased willingness to share news on their social media. The study determined that college students’ analytical abilities influence their ability to distinguish fake news (Leeder, 2019). Therefore, college students need to be educated about social media skills of, critical evaluation and advanced internet search to prevent the spread of fake news.
Social media vastly contributes to the development of adolescents’ perceptions of different life values. According to a study conducted by Baldwin-White and Gower (2021), college students’ participation in risky behavior can be influenced by social media. The authors performed a survey of nearly four hundred college students, which focused on their perceptions of relationships, both romantic and sexual. The study results showed that social media, across different platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, influences students’ perception of healthy relationships. Furthermore, an article focused on the study conducted by Fansher and Randa (2018) explored the nature of undergraduate students’ risky behavior using social media. The study results determined that 10 percent of sampled students shared personal information with new acquaintances on social media, and 5% proceeded to meet in person within 24 hours after first contact. The articles raise important questions about the interference of social media in college students’ lives and relationships for discussion in the paper.
Therefore, the literature research on social media usage in college students focuses on different aspects in which social media influences college students, such as academic performance, well-being, digital citizenship, and relationships. The research paper aims to define how social media influences college students to determine whether its impact could be acknowledged as positive or negative. The literature review provides a theoretical framework for the research in helping define the primary concern connected with social media usage by college students and evaluate its influence on students.
References
Aldhawyan, A. F., Alfaraj, A. A., Elyahia, S. A., Alshehri, S. Z., & Alghamdi, A. A. (2020). Determinants of subjective poor sleep quality in social media users among freshman college students. Nature and science of sleep, 12, 279–288.
Baldwin-White, A., & Gower, K. (2021). Influence of social media on how college students perceive healthy relationships and consent. Journal of American College Health, 1-9.
Fansher, A., K., & Randa, R. (2018). Risky social media behaviors and the potential for victimization: A descriptive look at college students victimized by someone met online. Violence and Gender, 6(2), 1-9.
Hou, Y., Xiong, D., Jiang, T., Song, L., & Wang, Q. (2019). Social media addiction: Its impact, mediation, and intervention. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychological Research on Cyberspace, 13(1), 1-17.
Leeder, C. (2019). How college students evaluate and share “fake news” stories. Library and Information Science Research, 41(3), 1-11.
Roberts, J. A., & David, M. E. (2019). The social media party: Fear of missing out (FoMO), social media intensity, connection, and well-being. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 36(4), 386-392.
Spence, A., Beasley, K., Gravenkemper, H., Hoefler, A., Ngo, A., Ortiz, D., & Campisi, J. (2020). Social media use while listening to new material negatively affects short-term memory in college students. Physiology & Behavior, 227, 1-6.
Talaue, G. M., AlSaad, A., AlRushaidan, N., AlHugail, A., & AlFahhad, S. (2018). The impact of social media on academic performance of selected college students. International Journal of Advanced Information Technology (IJAIT), 8(4), 27-35.
Wang, C., Mattingly, S., Payne, J., Lizardo, O., & Hachen, D. S. (2021). The impact of social networks on sleep among a cohort of college students. SSM – Population Health, 16, 1-11.
Xu, S., Yang, H. H., MacLeod, J., & Zhu, S. (2018). Social media competence and digital citizenship among college students. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 25(4), 1-18.