A Comparative Study on the Use of Social Media, Reading Habits and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students

Aim: A comparative study was conducted on how the use of social media affects the reading habit and academic performance of secondary school students.

Study Design: The study adopted the descriptive survey research design to help elicit data from the target population through questionnaire, observations and interview instruments.

Methodology: The questionnaires were randomly administered to both male and female students.

Results: Social media is a great digital platform for learning and obtaining current information. There are consequences attached to the proper use and misuse among adolescent students. More than 50% of social media operators in secondary schools are users of Facebook. 58 out of 75 students who scored “A” grade in their favourite subject operated social media. 67.23% of the total respondents who use the social media didn’t score an “A” grade in their favourite subject. Students who operated more than one social media network scarcely scored an “A” grade. Only 3.5% of students spent up to 4 hours of reading every day. 46.5% read for 2-3 hours and 36.5% read for an hour. 11.5% read for 30munites while 2% read for less than 30 minutes.

Conclusion: Students should be properly guided and given an adequate orientation before providing them with electronic devices like smart phones. Teachers should be encouraged to join large student groups. Off-topics and non-academic discussions should be curtailed.