olak 1

TO WHAT EXTENT DO SOCIAL NETWORK SITES AFFECT

STUDENTS ACADEMIC LIVES?

Mustafa olak
Bilkent University
Abstract
The aim of this research is to investigate the role of social network sites in academic life.
The so ial et o k sites o e i to people s li es i the e e t ea s. With the i

ease of usage

of social network sites, every user of social network sites is affected from this undeniably.
Unless some scientific research have been done, we cannot determine actual effects of social
network sites on their users. This research focuses on analysing the effects of the social network
sites o tee age s a d ou g adults a ade i li es. The o st u tio of this esea h is
description of social network sites (SNS), the ways that help to access users to SNSs, the effects
of SNSs on teenagers and young adults and after all of these, association between the effects of
usage of Ns a d tee age s a d ou g adults a ade i li es.
Categories
Media, social media, social networking, social network sites, effects of social network sites
Keywords
o ial et o k sites, stude ts a ade i li es, learning process, effects of SNSs on teenagers
and young adults

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1. Introduction
Communication has been a necessity for every person during their lifetime. With the
development of the technology, media has undertaken a responsibility to carry out this
necessity. Social media which is a sub-category of the media has become very popular since
starting of this millennium. People tend to prefer social network sites to communicate with each
other. There are some reasons under these preferences of people. Firstly, this paper
investigates these reasons of usage of social network sites. Then, research will be narrowed
down to the 14-22 age range. The reason for this specialization is to understand that why this
age group uses SNSs and to what extent social network sites affect this specific age range.
Finally, we will search that whether there is a link between usage of social network sites and this
age g oup s a ade i su ess. The causative factor of this research is to clarify some claims
about the effects of SNSs on academic success. In the recent years, many instructors and
pa e ts ha e sta ted to

oa a out de li e of thei stude ts o hild e s su ess i a ade i

lives. Some of them claim that social network is directly main factor of this decrease. They have
held so ial et o k sites espo si le to eate addi tio so, this addi tio has affe ted stude ts
time managements and study arrangements. This research will based on this hypothesis; social
network sites cause addiction for teenagers and young adults so, this harms their academic lives
negatively.
2. Social Networking
Media has created a significant branch to maintain its effect on people for every period in
history. Social networking is a contemporary branch of media. With the development of the
Internet, social networking become a popular facility to communicate and be informed because,

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social networking uses the Internet to reach billions of people. Social network sites are the arms
of this huge communication network. All of these sites have some different aspects and by this
a , the

a att a t a g eat u

e of people s atte tio to tu

them into users. However,

there are some common features which all of these network sites coalesce.
2.1. The aspects and benefits of social network sites
Social network is a web based facility which allows its users to create their own profiles
and communicate with their followers and friends. Users can add their personal and private
information to their social network profiles, which their friends or followers can access these
profiles and make comments or like. According to some, first reason of preference to use
social network sites is to be known by others and desire to be popular among friends
(Calvert et al.). Sandra Calvert and her colleagues use a specific social network site,
Facebook, to clarify aspects of SNSs in their research; College Students Social Networking
Experiences on Facebook.
Facebook offers several options for communicating with others. Users can
interact by sending private messages, similar to emailing. Members who are
f ie ds

a post pu li

essages o ea h othe s

alls , hi h are personal

message boards on their profiles. Communication may also occur in groups,

which Facebook members can create and join. Groups may be formed on any
topi Cal e t et al.
With these several options of Facebook and similar network sites, people tend to prefer
social network sites to communicate with each other. Also, there is another reason, which

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we can come up in the same research, to prefer SNSs. Online interactions can affect
developmental results through peer feedback. For instance, in a content analysis of personal
webpages which their users are in the 14-22 age range, these teenagers and young adults
were often found to express their emotions or thoughts through posting information about
their interests and their identities.(quoted in Calvert et al.) On the other hand, users can
lea

othe s thoughts f o

thei o

e ts a d efo

the sel es

these o

e ts. I

this way, they can get rid of the obstacles which prevent from being popular. In addition to
these, users may use social network sites only like a phone. They can reach their friends and
relatives who live away or cannot get together. With the usage of social network sites,
distances among people become shorter. According to some research, teenagers and
college students use social network sites in order to stay in touch with their friends who see
rarely or often (quoted in Calvert et al.). As a result, social network sites provide some
opportunities for thei use s so, the a ou t of so ial et o k sites users has increased
dramatically since the emergence of social network sites.
2.2. The reasons of use of SNSs more by teenagers and young adults
There are several reasons why teenagers and young adults prefer social network sites
more than other communication facilities. Firstly, social network sites differ from other
communication facilities with free participation. Everyone can join social networking and
e o e a pa t of this o ld. This aspe t of Ns att a ts a g eat u

e of people s

thoughts about social networking. The other reason is that social networking uses a
different type of communication to connect people. In this system, there is no face to face
communication. Therefore, the age group between 14 and 22, who encounter face to face

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communication problems, mostly prefers SNSs to communicate with each other. In this
a , ou g people a a ess to othe s p ofile a d the

a se d

essages or making

comments about a topic which is related to owner of profile. It helps to express themselves
without encountering any difficulty. The other side of usage of social networking is
environment. Many users may feel a force to have a social network profile by their
environment. The bad side of issue is that people tend to deny social influence on
themselves. Therefore, surveys cannot find certain answer for this effect. However,
environment effect can create a fear of exclusion on a person unless this person has any
social network profile. Environment effect indicates its effect on people mostly during 14
to 22 age period because of effort to form character. The final reason that will be discussed
in this research is a new world of social networking. Social network provides a virtual life for
their users. Teenagers and young adults can have fun and spend their time freely in this
virtual life. All of these reasons lead teenagers and young adults to use any social network
site and while social network sites are providing these opportunities for users, they do not
want to prefer other communication facilities to communicate as much as preference of
usage of social networking.
3. The Ways to Access Social Network Sites
In 21st century, communication facilities have increased in variety. With the increase in
communication facilities, preferences of people to communicate have also increased. Social
networking is one of the preferences of people to reach to someone else. As been mentioned,
social network sites are web based facilities. Therefore, the usage of SNSs to communicate

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requires the Internet access. Therefore, the relationship between SNSs and Internet access the
first area to examine in order to understand how people can access to social network sites.
3.1. The relation between Internet access and usage of social networking
Users have to own an Internet access to be online on social network sites. Therefore, we
may say that the Internet is indispensable element of the social network sites. The Internet
a ess a di e t people s eha iou s to a ds usage of so ial et o k sites. A o di g to
Ju e Ah s stud , hild e

ho the e is a I te et a ess i thei ho es te d to pa ti ipate

social network sites more than other peers who do not have any Internet access. This study
also states that 63.5% of teenagers access to the Internet from their homes. The second
place which children and young adults access to the Internet is their schools at 51.0% rate.
These findings show us that parents may ha e a sig ifi a t ole o thei

hild e s so ial

networking participation. This confirms a hypothesis which claims that there is a positive
elatio ship et ee fa ilies ho ha e the I te et a ess a d thei hild s so ial
networking usages. Also, 51.0% ate of tee age s a d ou g adults Internet access from
schools is very important percentage (156). In the same study, June Ahn concludes that;
Surprisingly, teens that report having primary access in other locations (perhaps
frie ds ho es o thei

o ile pho es

ee

o e likel to e N use s.

Perhaps youth are more likely to use social network sites away from parental or
adult supervision. Another distinct possibility is that with the rising use of mobile
technology such as smart phones and iPods, youth access their social networks
with these devices over their school or home computers (158).

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This result creates a new topic to examine the relationship between youths and their
smart phone usages. The underlying reason of using smart phones to access social network
sites is some opportunities which are provided by only smart phones. The most important
feature of smart phones is being mobile. People can access SNSs via their smart phones
whenever and whatever they want. With the development of the technology, smart phones
become more fast than before to access to the Internet. In addition to these feature of
smart phones, they provide eases for their users such as small sizes to carry and
accessibility. All of these aspects of them turn smart phones into powerful tools to access
social network sites. However, they can also turn into harmful tools for students when
students use these technological tools during lecture times.
3.2. Smart phones and students
The usage of technological tools to access social network sites has some effects on
people, especially teenagers and young adults because, they use their smart phones during
lecture hours to access to social network sites. According to current studies, the rate of
usage mobile phones during lecture hours has been increasing dramatically. Teenagers and
young adults send and read their text messages or play games on social network sites via
their phones during lessons. There are two opposite views about school prohibitions to
a ess Ns. Fi st ie states that o e stude ts

a p i a il a ess the I te et at

school rather than at home. Schools often have policy restrictions on Internet usage, block
websites or restrict access time for non-instructional purposes. Such situations might limit
stude ts pa ti ipatio i so ial et o k sites. (Ahn 147). This opinion is nothing more
than conjecture according to supporters of the other view. They claim that the prohibition

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to use mobile phones during lessons does not create deterrent effect for student to cease
to do so.

% of tee s ho o

he e ell pho es a e te h i all

ell pho es ha e te ted du i g lass, e e i s hools

a

ed.

uoted i Kuz ekoff & Tits o th

. This

huge ratio indicates that prohibitions are not effective way to decrease the use of social
network sites during lessons.
While this argument continues, the usage of smart phones to access SNSs during lecture
ti es o ti ues to ha

stude ts a ademic lives. These harms will be examined in the next

parts of this study. O the othe ha d, tea he s ho suffe f o

stude ts usage of s a t

phones during lecture hours emphasize that the dependence of social network sites cut off
stude ts attention from lessons. Students cannot be blamed for this completely because of
addi tio . Addi tio is defi ed as a st o g a d ha

ful eed to egula l ha e so ethi g

o do so ethi g Me ia -Webster). This addiction is started by a fear about missing or

not being able to follow the messages on social network sites. After a time period, this fear
turns into addiction to control social networking profile(s) for every two or three minutes.
These controls take over time and students listening and note taking skills are affected
negatively. As a result, the development of communication facilities can be harmful for
so eo e s li es a d these effe ts a

ot e irrecoverable for every time.

4. The Effect of Usage Social Networking

The social network sites have various effects on teenagers and young adults. We can
separate these effects into two groups, positive effects and negative effects. There are some

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dissenting opinions against both sides. We will examine the effects of social network sites on
teenagers and young adults from the point of view of both sides.
4.1. Positive effects of use of social network sites on teenagers and young adults
The usage of social network sites has some positive effects on teenager and young
adults. These effects contribute their psychology and social lives. Nowadays, a great
number of people live in the world alone. They cannot find any person to share their
feelings and their opinions about different issues. Social network sites help them to join
groups of people and express themselves. There are a variety of social network sites which
provide their users to make comments or create discussions. In addition to this, some of
them have various groups and organisations which people can join freely. People can
increase their social capitals by joining them. After gaining these social skills, they can live in
real world with this high level of social skills. In College Students So ial Networking
Experiences on Facebook, Sandra Calvert and her colleagues have given place to students
thoughts about Facebook:
Th ough Fa e ook, I a

u i ate th ough

essages, all post, a d e e e e ts. I

have been able to sustain so many friendships through Facebook, which is the biggest
easo

h I use it.

igning a Facebook wall is a lot easier and less time consuming than picking up the phone
to all a f ie d. Not

ollege ha e the ti e fo that.

olak 10

As seen, students have also accepted the importance of social network sites to maintain
friendships and increase their social skills. On the other hand, initial studies of social
network usage among teenagers and young adults suggest that users can also develop
more social capital on social networking (Ahn 148).
The other side of the topic is benefits of making comments. Making comment or
iti izi g othe s o

e t is a diffe e t a to e o e self-confident and popular.

Teenagers and young adults are able to express their feelings and opinions on social
networking thus, their confidences develop by this process. Making comment does not
have to mean criticizing others, also it may be contribute to a discussion or a topic which is
elated to dail life. The stude ts a e so iall

e ted ith ea h othe fo sha i g thei

dail lea i g e pe ie es a d do o e satio o se e al topi s Kha

. E e gi g

studies that examine the role of social networking in self-confidence have supported this
hypothesis. The final benefit of social networking that will be discussed in this paper is
creativity. Youths are able to create an event, meeting, party or gathering and this helps
them to increase their self-reliance to create new things. All of these can be mentioned as
benefits of social networking usage. These are main hypothesises which supporters of social
networking state to represent that social networking is beneficial for youths, whereas
people who disagree that social networking is beneficial for this age groups claim that social
networking sites damage teenagers and young adults about many parts of their lives.

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4.2. Negative effect of use of social network sites on teenagers and young adults
Although there are some benefits of usage of social network sites by teenagers and
young adults, some results of usage of social network sites indicate that they turn into
harmful facilities for teenagers and young adults. The first damage of them for teenagers
and young adults is to convince existence of a new world. This virtual world provides them
with no responsibilities. Also, there is no person to check out their actions on social
et o k sites. It takes a a effe ts of pa e ts a d tea he s f o

tee age s a d ou g

adults li es. Fasee Ullah and his colleagues emphasize virtual life issue in their article, The
Impact of Social Media and Social Networks on Education and Students of Pakistan (2012),
as following:
Social networks provide a virtual life to the students, those students who not
even speak in front of anyone could feel freedom in their virtual life. When they
use social networks they feel like in heaven but this addiction kills their inner self
confidence for ever. Becoming addict of social networks feels like you have so
many friends but in real all of the contacts are virtual contacts (409).
This behaviour of going far from parents, friends, instructors and other groups can be
very dangerous for life. The second harmful effect of social networking is creating addiction.
As mentioned before, creating addiction is the main negative aspect of the social network
sites. Users of social networking feel that if I do not to follow my profiles on social network
sites, I can miss events or messages come from the others. This belief causes to check social
accounts at short intervals. After some time, it turns into addiction of checking. In College

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Students So ial Networking Experien es on Fa e ook, there is a remarkable finding about

addiction. The question has asked that Facebook is harmful for your education, the 14.13%
of students have answered this question by saying no. Also, other questions which try to
find out the percentage of addicted students indicate that the 14.13% of students are
addicted to social network sites. Consequently, this survey has revealed that addicted
students do not accept or be unaware harms of social networking on their academic lives.
The last harm of use of social network sites is health problems. Health problems which
are caused by usage of SNSs are related to addiction. Teenagers and young adults lose their
health because of excessive use of social network sites. They spend lots of time to be online
and they look at the same screen for hours. It causes high blood pressure and anxiety (Ullah
et al. 409). These health problems affect their lives and education negatively. As a result,
although there are some benefits of social networking for teenagers and young adults,
actually there are as much as damages of social networking. All of these effects should be
considered together to decide whether social network sites are harmful or beneficial for
teenagers and young adults.
5. The Effects of Usage of Social Net orki g o Tee agers a d You g Adults Acade ic Li es
Thus far, social networking, the ways to access to them and effects of social networking on
teenagers and young adults issues have been examined in order to build a substructure to
understand the topic detailed. In this part of paper, we will investigate whether social
et o ki g ha

s tee age s a d ou g adults a ade i li es o

ot. o ial et o ki g sites

olak 13

are affecting tee age s a d ou g adults li es oth positi e a d egati e a s. A ade i life is
one of the areas that are affected.
5.1. Positive effects on academic life
The usage of social network sites has also positive effects on teenagers and young
adults a ade i lives. As we look at the effects of social network sites on teenagers and
young adults, some of them help these people to increase their success in their academic
lives. The first benefit of its on academic life is to develop the relationship between teachers
and students. As this relationship increases, students become more successful in school
because, by using social networking, students can contact with their teachers and they can
ask hate e the

a t a out ou se o a

topi . It helps stude ts lea ning process. In

Impact of Social Networking Websites on Students, this situation has been explained as the
following:
tude ts use so ial et o ki g e sites to dis uss thei a ade i issues
formally and informally and also to interact with their instructor, teachers and
professors. Research [by Mazer et al. 2007] examining student instructor
relationships suggest that professors who have online profiles with high
disclosure levels are associated with increased student motivation and that selfdisclosures decreased uncertainty, increased student motivation, and created
more positive attitudes toward both the course and the professor (Khan 65).
tude ts

oti atio is

o e i po ta t fa to of edu atio p o ess. High le el of

motivation leads students to become more successful. If students and teacher come

olak 14

togethe o so ial et o ki g, the elatio ships et ee the

e i p o ed, stude ts

motivation might be increased. In this way, they can participate in the lecture. In addition
to this, stude ts sh ess i the lass oo

e disappea ed. The othe

a to tu

social network sites into beneficial facilities for academic life is that students can create
online courses and discussions about lessons. In this way, an online course platform helps
students to discuss some topic and reach a conclusion by themselves. These kinds of
platfo

s i p o e stude ts

eati ities. Also the

a ha e thei o

thoughts a out so e

topics and they can discuss them with their teachers during class time. All of these factors
cause to thi k a out e efits of so ial et o ki g o stude ts a ade i li es.
5.2. Negative effects on academic life
Although so e of so ial et o k sites positi e effe ts o tee age s a d ou g adults
a ade i li es, a tuall the e a e a ious ha

s of Ns o stude ts a ade i su ess. The

main harm of social networking is creating an addiction. Students are also not able to get
rid of this addiction during lecture hours therefore, their concentration decreases and this
negatively affects their ability to learn new topics. As mentioned, students use their smart
phones to access social network sites during lecture hours so, they cannot carefully follow
lesso s. o ial et o ks g a the total atte tio a d o e t atio of the stude ts a d
diverts them towards non-educational, unethical and inappropriate actions such as useless
chatting, time killing by random searchi g a d ot doi g thei jo s (Ullah et al. 409).
According to other surveys, usage of smart phones to access social network sites during
lass does ot o l affe t stude ts o e t atio s, also dist a ts stude ts sho t

e o ies

and listening skills. Inevitably, their exam results fall down dramatically. In The Impact of

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Mobile Phone Usage on Student Learning, Scott Titsworth and Jeffrey Kuznekoff have
shared their survey results. In their survey, there are three student groups. First group is
control group, which their use of mobile phone during lecture hour is banned. Second
group is a little bit free to use mobile phone than first group. Third group, high-distraction
group, is totally free about usage of mobile phone during lessons. According to survey
results, control group is the most successful in exams with multiple choices and their free
recall and note details are very well than other groups. High-distraction group is the worst
in all of areas. Their short-time memories are affected negatively because of use of mobile
phone. As a result, usage of mobile phone during lecture hours has a significant effect on
stude ts e a

esults a d

e o ies.

As mentioned, addiction is the main negative effect of social networking on teenagers

and young adults. In this case, addiction causes bad time management to do home tasks
and study lessons. Students do not fulfil their responsibilities because, students spend a
major part of their times on social network sites. As a result, students cannot start their
work and finish them on time. To solve this problem, they appeal to contact elders and
seniors to help them in cloning their educational materials (Ullah et al. 409). The other
issue is virtual life which is provided students by social network sites. Students do not want
to follow lessons because lessons are boring them. They want to be online on social
network sites instead of being in class. The reason behind of this is virtual life opportunities.
In social network sites, there is no obligation for users. Therefore, students like living in this
virtual world because, classroom does not provide same opportunities for them. If they are
i

lass oo , the ha e to liste lesso s a d o plete o ks. This i tual life of stude t

olak 16

destructs his thoughts from education towards other activities and by living inside fantasy
o ld stude t slo l sta ts to hate edu ated life a d studies Ullah et al. 409). There is a
e a k a out the issue, The fi st thi g hi h stude ts ha e lea t he the sta t to
s hool is es ape doo . If stude ts a es ape f o

lesso

ia thei

o ile pho es, the

always do that. Consequently, mobile phones are the most dangerous tools for lectures and
students during lessons and this tool should be removed from lectures if efficient lessons
are wanted to give to students.
6. Discussion
Social network sites have entered in our lives since beginning of 21st century with blogs.
After few years, they have captured our daily lives. In addition to this, they have affected all
sides of ou li es. Tee age s a d ou g adults a ade i life is o e of the . As see , the e a e
various different effects of usage of so ial et o k sites o tee age s a d ou g adults
academic lives. However, positive aspects of usage of social network sites cannot be supported
by scientific findings. They are just positive thoughts about the topic. According to scientific
fi di gs, so ial et o k usage da ages stude ts a ade i li es. We a list these effe ts as
creating addiction, killing time, living in a virtual life (escaping from reality) and disrupting
stude ts o e t atio s. As a esult, e a sa that, the usage of social network sites can be
e efi ial fo so e a eas ut,
lives negatively.

ost of the ti e it affe ts tee age s a d ou g adults a ade i

olak 17

7. Future Work
Technology is developing in every second. Therefore we cannot say what will happen in the
future about social network sites and its usage. The question, which is whether there will be
anything which will addict people to itself or not instead of SNSs, is a challenging for people. We
cannot answer this question easily but, it seems that social networks will save their places in
people s li es fo a hile. Of course, new research will help to clarify to what extent do social
networking save its places.
8. Conclusion
This research shows us reasons behind the usage of social network sites and results which
are derived from this. It helps us to understand that usage of social network sites is not just one
dimensional issue. It can be seen as a beneficial facility from one side of the topic, but also it can
be seen harmful facility from other side of the topic. However, this paper indicates that the
harms of usage of social network sites are more important than the benefits of it. To save
tee age s a d ou g adults a ade i li es, pa e ts, tea he s a d autho ities should
collaborate patiently. It seems that the only way to decrease harms of social networking is this
collaboration.

olak 18

Works Cited
Addi tio

Def. . Merriam Webster Online, Merriam Webster, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/addiction
Ahn, June. "Digital Divides And Social Network Sites: Which Students Participate In Social
Media?." Journal of Educational Computing Research : 147-163. Print.
Calvert, Sandra L., Pempek, Tiffany A. and Yermolayeva, Yevdokiya A. "College Students' Social
Networking Experiences on Facebook." Journal of Applied Developmental
Psychology 30.3 (2009): 227-238.
Khan, Shahzad. "Impact of Social Networking Websites on Students." Abasyn Journal of Social
Sciences. 5.2 n. page. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
<http://64.17.184.140/wpcontent/uploads/2013/02/V5I2-5.pdf>.
Kuznekoff, Jeffrey H., and Scott Titsworth. "The Impact of Mobile Phone Usage on Student
Learning." Communication Education 62: 233-252. Print.
Ullah, Fasee et al. "The Impact of Social Media and Social Networks on Education and Students
of Pakistan." International Journal of Computer Science Issues (IJCSI) 9.4 (2012)