St.

Aloysius Gonzaga Integrated School of Cavite

The Effects of Social Networking Sites to the

Academic Performance of High School Students of SAGIS

By

JOMARI CUISIA
And
EDWARD YACAP

A research paper submitted to MS. WIMALYN F. CAINAP as a partial fulfilment of the requirements for
Research.

March 2013

Dedication
To our parents, teachers, friends and our inspirations.

Acknowledgement

The researchers would like to extend their sincerest gratitude to those people who helped in their
paper. They are the following:
Ms. Wimalyn Cainap, the researchers' adviser, for helping the researchers know what they must
do in this study and for correcting grammatical error in this paper.
Ms. Carla Fiel, who taught the researchers in statistical analysis
Of course the panellists; Ms. Maurich May Cainap and Sir Russel Valdez who criticized this
study.
Aside from that, the researchers would like to give the sincerest gratitude to the respondents for
answering the questionnaires; the researchers subjects for their voluntary participation in their
experimental procedure and for their willingness to take challenges to them and consequences.
The researchers would like also to thank their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cuisia and Mr. and Mrs.
Yacap, for giving financial contribution to their study.

Abstract

This research paper is entitled, "The effects of social networking sites to the academic excellence
of the students in SAGIS". The researchers had decided to study this because SNS is getting more popular
among teenagers and students and curious of the effects of SNS to them. Since the students are still high
school students, the researchers decided to conduct this research to gain students, teachers, parents
knowledge.
It only covered the whole high school department of SAGIS, from 1st year to 4th year which
totalled in 44 respondents. The researchers used the simple random sampling (SRS) to pick 30 students
and purposive sampling since the students are Aloysians and they arent the same in Intelligence Quotient
(IQ). The length of the experimental procedure covered 5 days straight and after that, the subjects were
given a quiz in three subjects such as Mathematics, Science and English to measure the academic
excellence of the students.
Based on the students answers, they use Facebook mostly. As a matter of fact they found it easy
to use for communication. Moreover, the students got affected in a positive way like SNS have given
them some facts, trivia, and information in the society and in a negative way by distracting their focus and
being a source of addiction. The researchers concluded that social networking sites can affect the
academic excellence of the students.

Table of Contents

Dedication ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i
Acknowledgement ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ii
Abstract ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ iii
Table of Contents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ iv
Chapter 1
Introduction
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.

Background of the Study -------------------------------------------------------------- 1-3

Statement of the Problem ------------------------------------------------------------- 4
Objectives ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
Scope and Limitation ------------------------------------------------------------------ 6
Significance of the Study ------------------------------------------------------------- 7
Definition of Terms ------------------------------------------------------------------- 8
Framework of the Study -------------------------------------------------------------- 9-11

Chapter 2
Review of Related Literature ------------------------------------------------------------------ 12-15
Chapter 3
Methodology ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16-23
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.

Locale of the Study

Respondents of the Study
Material and Instruments
Hypothesis
Design/ Method
Sampling Technique

G. Statistical Analysis
H. Time Frame
I. Budget
Chapter 4
Results and Discussions --------------------------------------------------------------------- 24-29
Chapter 5
Recommendation and Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------- 30-32
A. Recommendation
B. Conclusion
Bibliography ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- v
Appendices ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ vi

Chapter 1: Introduction

A. Background of the Study

Social networking websites or the so called SNS is an online service for people who want social
relations to other people around the world. The netizens or the people who use the internet use SNS for
communicating to others by means of e-mail or instant message using their own account. SNS are widely
used nowadays in our developing country. Most SNS are to provide interactions of different people who
share the same interests, likes and even real-life connections.
According to Miles Walker(2011), Social networking site is said to have begun in 1978 with
Bulletin Board System or BBS. BBS was required to connect in a modem of that computer and can
exchange information through telephone pole and was the very first system that allows user to sign in and
interact with other people but it is slow since only one user can log at a time. The SNS system started
very slow, long time ago with the usage of telephone pole to connect to others. When they use the
telephone for calling, the internet dies out. They cant use both at the same time so its quite troublesome
in the late years. The very first version of instant messaging came about 1988 with Inter Relay Chat or
IRC, a Unix-based limiting access to most people that was used for link and file sharing and generally
keeping in touch with one another (Walker,2012). Using an instant messaging helps conserve time since
in the late years most people use letters to send their feelings to their loved ones in a faraway place.
Keeping in touch with others gave them the information if something is good for a celebration to happen.
The first copies of web browsers were distributed by the bulletin board Usenet that was created by Jan
Ellis and Truscott, which allows the user to post articles that were referred to as news (Walker, 2012).
Web browsers are the program needed to open a website. Examples of web browsers are Mozilla Firefox,
Internet Explorer, Opera Mini, Google Chrome etc. Users could type the website on the web browsers in
the upper part that is called web address.
According to an article in www.studymode.com, Nowadays, social networking sites such as
Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, MySpace and others are attracting millions of people around the world,
especially the students. Social networking sites had been the source of happiness for many students. SNS
have become a trending topic nowadays and viral among teenagers. Especially to the teenagers, many of

them are associated to SNS, since teenagers must always be in with what is popular nowadays. Even
education has been influenced by SNS with Elizabeth Power(2012), stating The potential for using SNS
to further the goal of education is immerse, and teachers are making faraway into the world of online
social networking for educational purposes. Since there are lots of SNS, what could be the most visited?
According to ebizma.com, the top 5 most visited sites are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and
MySpace.
SNS have a lot of uses like communicating with friends, sharing with the same interests to other
people, online games that take away the boredom, and as of now SNS is still upgrading and advancing to
make it more interesting. But, how can someone say that a website is an SNS? According to Ryan
Dube(www.socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com), an SNS consists of these characteristics- first is Userbased, meaning the information are built and created by users and not by any webmaster; second, it must
be Interactive, meaning it must not only be a collection of chat rooms and forums but there is also
network-based gaming application were you could play with others; third is Community Driven, meaning
just like communities and social groups around the world with the fact that the members hold common
beliefs; fourth, Relationship, the more relationships that you have within the network, the more
established you are toward the center of that network, and lastly is Emotion over content, meaning that
the social network actually provides users with emotional security and a sense that no matter what
happens even if it is divorce, break-up or any family crisis, are able to jump online and communicate
directly within the circle of friends. The researchers considered YouTube as a social networking site
because it is famous or in among teenagers like Facebook. Because of the advancement of SNS as days
pass, teenagers become addicted to it. According to Whitehouse (2011), there are many negative effects
of SNS, like; students may lose concentration in school. For instance, students always feel tired in class.
As a result, they do not understand what their teacher taught them. Thus, students could fail in their
examination. Whenever they go home, some students go directly to computers to be updated and be
consumed by SNS, forgetting their assignments. They even go all night long just to play a game in SNS

or chat with friends. This kind of action will result to tardiness in school and might affect their focus in
the classes that leads to the dropping of their academic and physical performance. However, according to
the survey conducted by Reyjunko (2011), it stated that out of 2500 college students, most of them spend
only an hour and forty minutes on Facebook, which means that although they used SNS for a short time
they prioritize their study. All in all, it really depends on the person on whether hell choose the good
consequence or the bad one. Given the data, this study will find out the answer to what effect does SNS
have to the academic performance of high school students in St. Aloysius Gonzaga Integrated School.

B. Statement of the Problem

This study proposes to answer What are the effects of Social Networking Sites on the study
habits of students in SAGIS as its general objective. SNS has become viral in the society and even the
world. This has become teenagers way of killing boredom. Our system for school has been worsening

because there are many students or teenagers that are starting to lose focus on their studies. Their
tardiness is one of the reasons. Many students are saying that they are tired, they lack sleep and even start
sleeping in class. The researchers concluded that since teenagers always want to be in, social networking
could be the culprit. Hence, this study was conducted to know if such activity results to this.

C. Objectives

General objectives

To know the effects of social networking sites in the academic performance of students

Specific objectives
To know what social networking sites are most visited by the students
To determine what aspect or characteristic has social networking sites to encourage
students to visit
To know the disadvantages and advantages of SNS to the students
To know if Social Networking Sites affect the academic performance of the students

D. Scope and Limitation

This study investigates the effects of social networking websites in the study of students. The
study includes what social networking sites they visit. Furthermore, in this study it also contained the

aspects social networking sites (SNSs) have to encourage users to visit. This study also wrote about the
disadvantages and advantages of SNS in the academic excellence of the students. Besides, this study
would discuss if social networking sites affects the academic performance of the students. However, the
study would not cover their financial status like if they use money for several purposes. It will not also
include the effects of such websites to the emotional aspect of the students. Aside from that, the study
would not include how teenagers or students used social networking sites.

E. Significance of the Study

Social networking sites (SNS), are deemed to be one of the factors why students get interrupted
on their studies. As a matter of fact, SNS has a dual face that can bring to the students. It has advantages
and disadvantages for its users.
Nowadays, parents prioritize their children in terms of different aspects, particularly on their
studies. Because of this, this study aims to help them parents be aware on the possible effects that SNS
could give to their children. This study would give the parents knowledge on the probable academic
failure of their children students as a result of constant interaction with it. Moreover, this study is also
targeted to benefit other researchers or people who need facts and information about this topic. This study
is also seen to be beneficial to the students.
Furthermore, this study could give a probable explanation to the teachers who surmise why their
students' academic excellence are changing. Since this study focuses on the effects of SNS on the
students, it could also help DEPED to create a better system for the students who are struggling with bad
effects of social networking sites.

F. Definition of Terms

In order to understand the subject matter clearly, these are the following key concepts:

social networking sites (SNS)

are sites students use for non-academic and academic purposes in

several terms like communicating with their friends, playing games

(related in history, facts, information, and etc.), viewing their profiles
e.g. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Friendster
Profile - something to do with pictures of users and information about them
netizens - citizen in the Facebook society
Students - persons or users who use social networking sites particularly in SAGIS
Academic performance - skills or ability of the students in terms of their academic to pass in required
subjects especially on their weekly quizzes in 1 week on Math, Science
and English subjects
Extracurricular - activities that are not related in academic success e.g. parties, picnics and etc. which
sometimes distract the study habits of students
Personal account - an account of individuals which students or users used for visiting social networking
sites

G. Framework of the Study

Our research study The effects of social networking site to the academic performance of
students tried to answer the question What will happen to the academic performance of student with
their habitual interaction to SNS? The research study of Nayzabekov (2012) claimed that SNS will affect
it in a bad way, with the statement, the idea of multitasking which could perform different years of action

while visiting SNS would affect the concentration of students, because for example a student has a lot of
assignments and works on different subjects instead of doing it on time and early, he/she visits first the
SNS. According to this statement, SNS will affect the concentration of a student that we presume would
lead to the bending of focus of student from studying to usage of SNS. This is supported by the statement
of Ellis and Knaus which sees it as, a failure to initiate or complete a task or activity by determined
time. In other words, he sees SNS-related activities as non academic activities that will result in
postponing the completion of academic task.
However, the study of Elizabeth Power (2012) stated that SNS has a good effect, with the
statement, the potential for using SNS to further the goal of education is immerse, and teachers are
making the faraway into the world of online social networking site for educational purposes. As the
statement said, there is a lot of potential in furthering the education using SNS since teachers would be
able to support the students even if the school period ends.
EFFECT OF SNS TO THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Power (2012) sees SNS as a coin that have two sides, meaning that there are dual effects of
SNS. The researchers decided to use this theory together with the integration of Power and Ellis and
Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Tumblr, Friendster, etc
Knaus as the framework
of the study.
(SNS)
Aloysians

BAD EFFECT
GOOD EFFECT
Nayzabekov, 2012
Elizabeth Power, 2012
-Multitasking could affect badly to the concentration of a student
-SNS has a lot of potential in furthering the goal of education
Ellis and Knaus
-doing non-academic activities resulting in postponing of comp

Diagram 1.1. Showing the connection of the different studies.

In this diagram, the connection of the different studies are shown. We could see that SNS such as
Facebook, Twitter, Myspace,Friendster, Tumblr seems to have dual effect in the academic performance of
Aloysian students. The study of Nayzabekov(2012) and Ellis and Knaus stated that SNS is one of the
things that students do and causes multitasking that leads to postponing of the things that must be done
that can be considered as a bad effect. However SNS is considered to be a coin that have dual effect as
the study of Elizabeth Power(2012) stated. According to this study, there is a lot of potential in SNS for
furthering the goal of education which is considered to be good effect.
These studies helped the researchers to have some information regarding their research paper. It will
also be the researchers guide in finding out the answer to their paper. By using this as a basis for the
paper, the researchers could have comparison with the studies and the researchers papers and if both of
the studies ended with the same conclusion or different from one another.

Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature

Nayzabekov (2012), in his study entitled, "Negative Impacts of Social Networking Sites on the
Academic Excellence of the Students", identifies the idea of multitasking, which students could perform
different types of actions while visiting SNS to include texting, instant messaging, playing games and

searching information online. The author pointed out that multitasking skills or actions could affect the
concentration of students. Performing different types of action could affect ones performance not only in
academic but also in the everyday task of students. For example, a student who has a lot of assignments
and works on different subjects instead of doing it on time and early, visits SNS Facebook which seemed
to be popular among teenagers nowadays. It also identifies the procrastination 1-related problems that
might evolve as a possible outcome of SNS usage of the students. In this paper, he cited the idea of Ellis
and Knaus, which defines the term as a failure to initiate or complete a task or activity by predetermined
time. In other words, it can be described as a specific behavioral pattern that is dedicated for doing any
non-academic tasks. There was a survey conducted by de Villiers, 2010, p. 175, and was cited in the same
study of Nayzabekov(2012), that theres a significant number of students (9 out of 200) who studying at
the University of South Africa claimed that they were using Facebook for academic purposes. Although,
more than a half of the respondents had a Facebook account (105 students), only 5% of them are involved
in the learning process with the help of SNS. According to the study, they did not do their academic
requirements involved in the learning process with the help of social networking sites and it could
possibly involve in the negative attitude towards their work. For instances, lack of parents' attention could
possibly affect the motivation of students or their children to do work. Instead of doing their work, they
visited their personal accounts in particular social networking sites (SNS). Hence, this study also pointed
out the users of SNS did not pay attention on their works or academic requirements. It also treated the
internet as a big temptation on the students which they didn't refuse. According to Whitehouse (2011),
there are many negative effects of SNS, like; students may lose concentration in school. For instance,
students always feel tired in class. As a result, they do not understand what their teacher taught them.
Thus, students can fail examination. Whenever they go home, some students go directly to computers to
be updated and be consumed by SNS, forgetting their assignments. They even go all night long just to
play a game in SNS or chat with friends. This kind of action will result to tardiness in school and
1Procrastination, the act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off or delaying,
especially something requiring immediate attention.

affecting their focus in the classes that leads to the dropping of their academic and physical performance.
This study also covered the possible good effects of SNS on the study habits of students. A significant
number of students (9 out of 200) showed their leadership skills not only on the internet, but inside the
classroom as well. In fact, they were organizing almost all extracurricular activities such as parties,
picnics and sport competitions besides 5% of them are involved with the learning process with the help of
SNS. It is also said that, the more students are involved in the academic tasks, the more chances that they
will develop a positive attitude towards their works.
In a 2012 news article of The Irish Times entitled, "Facebook can impact study habits" it pointed out that
Facebook can impact study habits of students. This application is getting in through the phone, the iPad,
the desktop and WIFI (Wireless Fidelity) connection where you can connect everywhere. In those
technological products, students can easily access or connect on different social networking sites (SNSs).
As a matter of fact, there are many students who use iPads which means that students can update their
Facebook status while theyre supposed to be reading textbooks. After in their school, they go home and
spend hours in SNS, checking-in compulsively all through a study period, and never staying on task for
more than a few minutes at a time. As a result of this phenomenon, social networking sites could affect
their study habits by SNS particularly Facebook. As mentioned, students can easily access or connected in
different SNS because of gadgets like cell phone which have many applications nowadays. This modern
world gives people a lot of advantages and disadvantages in terms of many gadgets that are now in or
famous particularly in teenagers and generally participation in online SNS has a negative connection to
the student achievement.
Social networking sites (SNS) seemed to have advantages and disadvantages not only on students
but to everyone who use it. In the group study of Kimberly Banquilet.al(2009), entitled, " Social
Networking Sites Affect Ones Academic Adversely", it stated the disadvantages of SNS. It pointed out
that, theres a lot of cyber-bullying in social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Friendster and Myspace. Sharing
and posting of any kind of media - a form of work where it is free to show different media such as photos,

music, videos and even text especially sharing of their status online. This activity may lead in cyber
bullying or any type of disrespectful doings to other people. Thus, it appears that SNS can give
disadvantages in the users especially to the young ages.
Power (2012) on her research paper entitled The effects of social networking sites in the study of
students, caution that a coin has two sides and negative side of SNS usage, such as distraction to the
users has been cited on her study. She means that SNS (as a coin) has dual effects on the people who used
it. She stated that, the potential for using SNS to further the goal of education is immense, and teachers
are making the faraway into the world of online social networking for educational purposes. This paper
also reviews the available literature on the relationship and impacts of online SNS have on student
engagement and achievement. Online SNS are plentiful, varied and easily accessible to students and
teachers alike. This paper reviewed literature which has reported positive impacts of SNS on student
engagement and achievement. Generally, participation in online social networking sites has a positive
connection to student engagement. Specifically, a favourable aspect of SNS is their ability to connect
people of seemingly different culture, background and living location despite the glaring distance in
between, promoting intercultural relations and stronger ties. It also increases the chance of single
individuals to find their potential partners and with such a vast array to choose from, nonetheless. Internet
users post different forms of media (pictures, videos, music, etc.) In this form of work, it shows the
freedom of the users to post different media like posting his/her status, following their favourite artists or
idols adding friends, people and etc., sharing information, chatting and everything. The use of SNS could
improve the self-esteem and development of the whole person, which can ultimately lead to performance
proficiency and future success. 2 It also pointed out the neutral effects of the SNS to the students. It was
reported on her study on the relationship between SNS usage and educational performance of the student
user, that the internet or SNS usage is not significant enough to affect the academic performance

2 E. Power, 2012

adversely. As well, no association was found between grade point averages of student Facebook users and
non-users cited by this study.

Chapter 3: Methodology

A. Locale of the study

The school where the researchers gathered and conducted experiment is St. Aloysius Gonzaga Integrated
School. This school derived its name from St. Aloysius Gonzaga who is the patron of youth. This school
was established 14 years ago (1998). The school covers approximately 370 sq. m area of land.

B. Respondents and Subjects of the study

The study has a prospective respondent throughout this school. It focused on the effects of social
networking sites on the academic excellence of the high school students who served as respondents and
subjects of this study. All the students are respondents of this study which means that they voluntary
answered the questionnaires that the researchers gave them. Moreover, the respondents covered the 1 st
year until the 4th year students who actively participated in the study. However, the experimental
procedure conducted by the researchers did not include all the high school students. In order to become
clear it would be discussed under the sampling technique used by the researchers.

C. Material/ Instrument

In this study, the researchers used different materials and instruments. These are the following
materials used in the study: papers for surveys (respondents) interview questions (teacher and

psychologist), pen, notes, folders, an electronic study for different references such as facts, information
about social networking sites that researchers needed for this study.

D. Hypothesis

In this study, the researchers identified the Null hypothesis (Ho)to be tested as:

Ho

1. The social networking sites (SNS) have no significant effects to the academic excellence of the

high school students of SAGIS.

E. Design / Method

Experimental Design

This study used the experimental research design. It discusses about the effects of social
networking sites to the students academic performance. This study also conducts an experiment on the
high school students throughout the school of SAGIS.
The study aims to find out the effects of social networking sites on the academic performance of
students as a general objective. It also aims to answer what aspect of SNS has to encourage users and
what social networking sites are used mostly by the students. Lastly, it aims to answer the disadvantages
and advantages of using social networking sites.

The researcher asked 30 students to participate. The students were divided by half. The first half
was called set A which served as the control group and the remaining half was called set B and served as
the experimental group. The set A surrendered their personal accounts in any social networking sites to
ensure that they would not visit social networking sites. (See appendix, E) The experimental group was
obliged to go online for one week in their houses with a minimum of 1 hour per usage. The experimental
group had their freedom to visit SNS such as Facebook were they could actually visit for a long time.
Also, in the experiment, the researchers handed out the experimental group online fee (money) and made
them decide when and where they would go online using the mentioned SNS. This measurement was
done since the researcher couldnt find any computer shop where 15 computers that could be available at
the same time within a certain period of a week. To ensure that the experimental group was online for
1hour or more, the researchers themselves made sure to be online to properly check them and would chat
to them time to time.
To determine if social networking sites affect the academic excellence of the students, after a
week of procedure the two sets were given a surprise quiz by the researchers. The surprise quiz was all
about by their past lessons in Mathematics, Science and English subjects which the researchers asked
from their different subject teachers. The scores of the control group were compared to the experimental
group to measure effects of social networking sites (SNS) on the academic excellence of students. (See
appendix, C)

F. Sampling Technique

In this study, the researchers used 2 types of sampling technique. The first technique is simple
random sampling (SRS). Since the high school students are 48 and the researchers needed only 30
subjects for experimental procedure the researchers did draw lots to get the 30 high school students. The

30 students were equally divided into two groups, the first group called as control and the other group
called as experimental. The second technique is purposive sampling, since the researchers aimed to
answer the effects of social networking sites on the academic excellence of high school students in
SAGIS, which that means the researchers would conduct an experiment on Aloysians. The selected
Aloysians high school students drawn for each group have a large discrepancy on their intelligence
quotient (as determined by their academic standing) so honor students that filled one group were
distributed to the other group.
For example, the 6 honor students or above average students were divided into halves and the 3
above average students are included under the control and the other 3 above average students are included
in the experimental group. On the other hand, the average students as well as the below average students
were also divided into halves.

G. Statistical Analysis

The researchers used the two tailed test. As defined by investopedia, it is a statistical test in
which the critical area of a distribution is two sided and tests whether a sample is either greater than or

less than a certain range of values. If the sample that is being tested falls into either of the critical areas,
the alternative hypothesis will be accepted instead of the null hypothesis. The two-tailed test gets its name
from testing the area under both of the tails (sides) of a normal distribution. Although the test can be used
in other non-normal distributions, the researchers considered the fact that null hypothesis to be tested
involved difference from alternative. Aside from that the two-tailed test considered the 2 different
treatments which the researchers applied on the students. The control group scores (Xi) in each students
on three subjects were added then divided by three to get the average of the score each of the students.
Similarly, the experimental group scores (Xj) were also added then divided by three to get the average of
each student. After that, the researchers added all the results scores for both control and experimental
group. Then, the sum of control group was divided by the mean which is 15, and this also applies to the
experimental group. (For solving the equation see appendix, H)
After solving the scores of the subjects, the decision was that the null hypothesis should be
rejected which the researchers tested and that the alternative hypothesis should be accepted which
means that SNS can affect the academic excellence of the students.

H. Time Frame

Month(s)

Action(s)

-1st month (November)

* chapter 1 of the research paper, including the

following parts:

title

preliminaries

dedication

acknowledgement

abstract

table of contents and figures and list

of tables

* Introduction

statement of the problem

objectives

scope and limitations

significance of the study

definition of terms

* Review of Related Literature

- 2nd month (December)

framework of the study

* continuation of Review of Related Literature

* Theoretical framework
* Methodology
* doing of surveys, questionnaires and
interviews
* doing of permission letter for our subjects

- 3rd month (January)

* conducting experiment
* Result and discussion
* Summary and discussion

- 4th month (February)

* Recommendation and implication
* Appendices
* Bibliography

- 5th month (March)

- First Defense
- Second Defense

I. Budget

This study spent this amount of money (though it is not exact) for the following expenses:
Printing purposes

P500

Typing job

P200

Papers

P100

Personal Computer rental

P750

Transportation for several purposes

P 500
________

TOTAL

P2, 500

Chapter 4: Results and Discussion

A. Aloysians most visited sites

Social Networking Sites are the public sites where you can bond through internet with your
friends as defined by Mrs. Fatima Panong, an elementary teacher for almost ten years. Similarly, Rachel
Arellano, a psychologist, said that, these are the sites where you can freely share whats on your mind.
Since SNS is becoming a trending topic, most of the people are using SNS that has been created and
became popular such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Friendster and etc. According to
socialmediatoday.com, the top 5 most visited sites are Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and Bebo.
Similarly, ebizma.com ranked that the top 5 most visited sites are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest
and MySpace among the students. Because of these viral sites among the students, the researchers
decided to know what the most visited site is. After the survey was conducted, the researchers found out
that these sites were the most visited sites among the Aloysians.

1ST RANKED BY THE STUDENTS

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

1ST RANKED

Fig. 1 A graph showing the first most visited site by Aloysians.

The previous graph, shows that, Facebook is the most visited site among the
Aloysian high school student which got 38 votes.

2nd RANKED BY THE STUDENTS

25
20
15
10
5
0

2nd Ranked

Fig. 2 A graph showing the second most visited

site.

3rd RANKED BY THE STUDENTS

14
12
10
8
6

3rd Ranked

4
2
0

Fig. 3 A graph showing the third most visited

site.

Aside from that, the second and third graph showed that, the second most visited site among the
students is YouTube which got 23 votes. The researchers considered YouTube as a social networking
because like Facebook it is easy to use, it is public which means that anyone could use it, you can have
your accounts by signing-up their form like the other sites and you can socialize through comment and
sharing those videos which you are or theyre talking about. And lastly, the 3 rd most visited site among
the students is Twitter which got 12 votes. According to Mrs. Panong and Ms. Arellano, Facebook,

Twitter and YouTube are the most visited sited among the students and this was similarly shown by the
survey conducted among the interviewed students.

B. Hey, whats with SNS? ( Aspects of SNS that make it appealing to students)
Even though, these sites were the most visited among the Aloysians, the researchers werent
contented with their answers so the researchers wanted to know what are the aspects do social networking
sites have that encourage students to visit them. According to their answers, these were the following
characteristics that encourage them. Firstly, students used SNS for communication through their friends,
classmates, relatives, and others. The researchers defined the situation as a form of "socialization". The
communication of students with different people are through chatting, video calling, voice calling,
messaging, group messaging commenting on different media as well on the friends' wall. According to
Pew Internet, a study entitled, Social Media and Mobile Internet use among Teens and Young Adults",
86% of the teenagers activities are commenting on a friend's page or wall. Aside from that, it encourages
the students because it is easy to use and communicate too. In fact, all of the students had Facebook
accounts. Moreover, some social networking sites (SNS) offer entertaining games and some games gave
facts, trivia and information around the world particularly Facebook which has a lot of games and
applications and the researchers considered that this characteristic can attract the students to encourage
and visit always. Thus, this characteristics may lead the students used it for long hours and may affect the
students.

C. The Pros and Cons of SNS

In this modern day, SNS are becoming viral especially to the students. Mrs. Panong and Ms.
Arellano said that, students used social networking[Type
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physical effects such as dizziness and eye visions may affect. Mrs. Panong also said that, using SNS
should be limited because it can lead to trouble. The researchers also considered that since social
networking sites (SNS) give freedom to expose or express your feelings through different media such as
photos, videos, music, text and anything where the students are encouraged to visits it could affect the
emotional, mental, and social of the users because some posts are rude and disrespectful to others. In the
study of Kimberly Banquilet. al., entitled, "Social Networking Sites Affect Ones Academic Adversely ",
there are lots of cyber-bullying through the social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, and MySpace.
This activity may lead in any type of disrespectful doings to the other people and seemingly tends that
social networking sites (SNS) can give disadvantages in the users especially to the young ages since the
younger ages or the teenagers are easily attracted to SNS. With that said, cyber-bullying would be
considered as disadvantages, since having bullied in the SNS would be the same as bullying in the school
and if a student would be bullied, his academic performance would dramatically fall or affected in a bad
way. Ms. Arellano also stated that, SNS can affect the students negatively since they can be addicted She
explained that it consumes their time instead of doing something related to their studies, forgetting their
assignments, becomes lazy and irresponsible with their things and loss of concentration. The researchers
asked the students if they are addicted to social networking sites.
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
YES

NO

Fig. 4 A graph showing the number of addicted and not addicted.

Out of 44 students, 15 of them said that they are addicted to SNS and 29 of them said that they are not
addicted. According to the Aloysians, SNS can lead them to lose on focus on their studies and may start to
forget their responsibilities such as doing their assignments, projects and even forgetting what they're
learned in school. For example, visiting social networking sites eats their time" as stated by some
Aloysians. According to Zharlet Monteagudo, a 4 th year respondent of the survey, she couldnt focus on
her studies and quickly forgets the lessons that she learned for the day. The tendency was they didn't
prioritize their homework. This is one of the negative effects of social networking sites on the students.
On the other hand, social networking sites (SNS) have the advantages on the students. Based
on them, SNS could help them to communicate with their classmates as well as the teachers who are now
visiting SNS. Through SNS, communicating to their classmates became easier. Asking what the topics are
discussed, what their assignments and projects and etc. could also be done. With the statement of Korina
Nares, a 3rd year respondent of the survey, saying that SNS can help her to communicate with her friends
on their current lessons, topics and discussions, the power of online community has been clearly
identified.

D. Does SNS affect the academic performance of a student?

The researchers proved that, SNS can affect students. In the surveys that the researchers gave
to the respondents it showed that, social networking sites could affect them in neutral ways. Similarly,
based on the experimental procedure conducted by the researcher, it showed that social networking sites
have a significant effect on the academic excellence of the students since the result of the two-test is
1.701. According to statistical rules, if the obtained result is lower than 1.33, the Null Hypothesis (Ho)
would be accepted and if it is higher, the Null Hypothesis would be rejected, thus accepting the

Alternative Hypothesis (Ha) was the decision. SNS could affect students either in positive or negative
effects. Based on the students there are lots of disadvantages of SNS to the students over the benefits.
The opinions given by Mrs. Panong and Ms. Arellano stated that, there are more negative effects of SNS
on the academic excellence of the students rather than positive effects. In this paper, the gathered scores
of the control group are higher, unlike the experimental group who used social networking sites for a
week. This validates Mrs. Panongs statement that those students who didnt use SNS get high grades
other than who used social networking sites for long hours. With that said, in the survey the researchers
conducted, the researchers questioned them how long do they use SNS. According to them most of them
use SNS for 1-2 hours a day. The researchers concluded that using SNS for 1-2 hours a day is long
enough.
The researchers found out that, social networking sites can affect the academic excellence of
the students. In a 2012 news article of The Irish Times entitled, "Facebook can impact study habits" it
pointed out that Facebook can impact study habits of students. The news article pointed out that because
of the modernization of the society nowadays students are now visiting social networking sites in any
gadgets which are easily to connect, use and communicate to their friends. The researchers proved that,
SNS can affect the academic excellence of the Aloysian students.

Chapter 5: Recommendation and Conclusion

A. Recommendation

Social networking sites (SNS) are popular among teenagers. The researchers conducted the study
about SNS to determine the effects of social networking sites to the academic excellence performance of
the students. By doing so, the researchers would give information regarding the effects of social
networking sites to the students especially to the future researchers who would use this study for
reference or would repeat the same study as like this.
The researchers would like to recommend some things to the future researchers who would have
the same idea, for the study to be improved. Firstly, their sampling size must be bigger or wider sampling
size for more accurate results. Secondly, since this study used the experimental research design, the
researchers must give clear instructions to the participants especially the subjects of the experiment, so
that the process or procedure would be smooth and easier. Thirdly, the researchers must issue an
appointment letter earlier, so that the researchers would not run of time. Fourthly, the researchers
recommend that the future researchers should change their measurements from essay/ open questions to
close ended questions particularly in measuring the disadvantages and advantages of social networking
sites to the academic excellence of the students. This would make it easier for the respondents, panellists
and the readers too to understand it. Lastly, the researchers must think of a better way of securing their
subjects in following the instruction, for reliability.

Furthermore, the researchers would like to recommend the findings of this study to the DEPED
by giving information regarding the effects of social networking sites to academic performance of the
students and preparing counter measures on the effects that would harm or damage their academic
performance. By doing this recommended idea, the DEPED could make a better educational system that
would put in the effects of social networking sites into the advantages of students.

B. Conclusion

SNS have become popular in the modern days. Most of the people especially teenagers and
students have been attached to SNS. SNS has become the source of a way to kill boredom where people
could spend their spare time in use for entertainment and educational purposes. Thus the researchers
conducted this study to find out more about the effect of SNS.
The researchers found out that, social networking sites can affect the academic excellence of the
high school students when the alternative hypothesis of the researchers was accepted and the null
hypothesis was rejected. According to the data gathered by the researchers, the effects of SNS to the
students were neutral. There are advantages of SNS were they could use it for educational purposes.
There are games in the SNS that are educational such as quiz game, trivia game and etc. These games
could improve the knowledge of students while playing. There are also some groups that are related to
education or pages that is about furthering the education. Since SNS are popular almost for all people
even the teachers have one. Students could communicate with their teachers regarding their lessons that
are hard to understand even after the school hours.
However, there are also disadvantages of SNS where students prioritize SNS before their studies.
Based on the data gathered by the researchers, students often use SNS and after school hours most of
them use SNS before studying their lessons. This kind of act would lead to dropping of their academic

performance. Moreover, there are lots of entertainment that could attract the students like Tetris,
Farmville, Triviador and Are you smarter than a fifth grader? These games could make the students lose
focus on what they are supposed to do and would unintentionally or unconsciously forget their
assignments or things that must be done on time. These could result in postponement of things that must
be passed and would also lead to dropping of their academic performance which was pointed out by
Nayzabekov (2012).
SNS has dual effects to the academic performance of the students. Students action would
guarantee one of the results since it will be up to them to decide what they will do. If the students see SNS
as a mere site that should not be put lot of attention on, it would not be bad since it will not become
addiction. However if the students seen SNS as a thing that needs lot of attention it could lead to
addiction and could be bad for their academic performance.
The study of E. Power and S. Nayzabekov which the researchers used as the reference for
conceptual framework are proven correct. Power (2012), concluded that, SNS has a positive effects to the
students achievement and engagement to their studies. In contrast, Nayzabekov (2012) concluded that,
SNS has negative effects to the academic excellence of the students. Based on the surveys which were
mentioned before, students think that social networking sites can affect them in neutral ways. However, as
they also said, there is more negative impact on their academic performance rather than positive effects.
Aside from that, Ms. Panong, a teacher and Ms. Arellano, a psychologist, both said that there are lots of
negative effects that social networking sites can bring to the academic excellence of the students.

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