FOREIGNTRADEUNIVERSITY

FACULTYOFBUSINESSENGLISH

SOCIALMEDIAUSEANDCOLLEGESTUDENTSCONCENTRATION
ONACADEMICTASKS
Instructor:
TranThiLanHuong
Students:
1.PhanThiMinhPhuong
2.NguyenThiAnhXao
3.NguyenThiThanhHuyen
4.NguyenThiThuyTrang
5.MaiThiCamGiang
6.PhanNgocTram

HNi,2015

TABLEOFCONTENTS

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER1.INTRODUCTION

CHAPTERII.LITERATUREREVIEW

1.

SocialMediaUse

2.

SocialMediaAsourceofDistraction

3.

SocialMediaandStudentLearning

CHAPTER3.DESCRIPTIONOFTHESURVEY

1.

Participants

2.

Procedures

CHAPTER4.FINDINGS

1.

SocialMediaUse

2.

ImpactofSocialMediaUseonConcentrationwhilestudying

CHAPTER5.DISCUSSION

1.

Discussion

2.

Limitations

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

ABSTRACT
Social media has integrated into todays students lives. Technological development
makes smartphones affordable evento students, whichbringssocialmediaascloseas
within their hand palm. The increased access to digital world leads to the growing
concern that students learning may be affected as social media has the potential to
distract students and compromise their attention and learning. Many researchers have
tried to determine the relationship between social media use and students academic
performance however, thefindings areconflicting.Usingsurveydatafromstudentsof
Faculty of Business English, Foreign Trade University, this research examines the
effectsofsocialmediaonstudentsconcentrationwhilestudying.

CHAPTER1.INTRODUCTION
Social mediais not new onthemarketanymore,but itis still hot.Personalcomputing
dictionary defines social media as the collective of online communications channels
dedicated to communitybased input, interaction, contentsharing and collaboration.
Websites and applications dedicated to
forums,
microblogging
,
social networking
,
social bookmarking
,
socialcuration
,and
wiki
s are amongthedifferent types of social
media.Today, people preferto spendtheir time ondigital world more thanin the real
world,andthebasicconceptofsocialmediaisinteractivecommunitysothepopularity
of socialmedia isnot surprising.Socialmedia isnoweverywhere onthe webs,which
can berecognizedbythesharingbuttononeverypageofnewsarticle,musicstreaming
pageor gamingsites.Peopleloveitbecauseitisapowerfultoolfordatacollectionand
communications. However,the use ofsocialmediahascausedpublicconcernaboutits
impactonpeopleslives.
This study will examine the impact of social media on students concentrationwhile
studying, with a hope of contributing to the growing body of knowledge regarding
identified linkages between the use of social media and students learning. Once the
problems are addressed, we hope to provide some recommendations to deal with
problems associated with the use of social media by college students, especially
determine whether using social media when learning affects college students
concentration.

The study aims to answer two research questions. The first one is: How do college
students use social media? The answers for the first question willbe the foundation
for the second research question: How does social media use affect students
concentration while studying? Data will be collected through questionnaire survey
andanalyzedusingbothqualitativeandquantitativeapproaches.

CHAPTERII.LITERATUREREVIEW
1. SocialMediaUse
The social media boom has caught attention of many scholars and researchers.
Although social media is not a new trend now, its popularity is still expanding. A
report by We are Social Singapore o
n Digital, Social and Mobilein 2015around the
world shows that social media continues to grow apace worldwide with active user
accounts now equating to roughly29%of the worlds population. In Vietnam, the
social medialandscape looksstunning with active social media making up40%ofthe
total population. The publicly available data suggest that Facebook is the countrys
most popular social platform. Young people arefound to bethe leading generation in
usingsocial media,specificallyfacebook. Among users 20to29yearsofage,45%are
actively engaged in this socialnetworking site comparedto 31% of users 1319years
old and only 17% of users 3039 years old. Meanwhile, research conducted
by
GlobalWebIndex
suggests that social media is capturing a significant share of
peoplestimeandactivitieswithanaverageusageof2hoursand25minutes

perday.
2. SocialMediaAsourceofDistraction
Due to socialmediasubiquity,thereisagrowingconcernaboutitsimpactonpeoples
lives. An evitable side effect of social media is that it provides users with a lot of
distraction. Research suggeststhattechnologycancause distractionfordigitallearners
both externally (sounds, flashes and notifications can distract students fromwhat they
are doingandredirecttheir attention to anothertask)andinternally(manypeoplekeep
thinkingabouttechnology,evenwhennotusingit)(Rosen,2010).
Our attention spans have shortened in the digital age. According to a survey by
Microsoft,prolonged focus iserodedasaresultofdigitallifestyles. 44%ofCanadians
surveyed claimed that they foundit hard tostay focused ona singletaskfor extended

periods of time, among which 67% are heavy social media users. This finding was
drawnfromonlinequantitativesurveyof2,000Canadianrespondents.
Since collegeage users dominate otherusersinsocialmediausage,theycannotescape
the distracting influence of social media. A study by Rosen et al (2012) reveals that
college studentsability to stay focused on onetask is limited and theirtaskswitching
happens as often as every 56 minutes due to the availability of technological
distraction. Furthermore, academic reading is an activity that requires a greatdealof
concentration so it is not surprised when researchers found that the amount of time
students spent on social networking sites was significantly related to more
distractibilityfortheirreadingactivity(Levineetal,2007).
3. SocialMediaandStudentLearning
A large number of researches have tried to determine the relationship betweensocial
media use and academicachievementsamongcollegestudents.However,theresultsof
these studies are not consistent, probably due to weakness of the selfreported
measures.
On the one hand, some studies supported the idea that social media were negatively
predicative of students outcomes. Jacobsen and Forste (2011) collected data from
1026 university freshmen using time diary and Internet survey and found that
electronic mediausehasanegative influenceon firstsemesterGPA.Anotherstudyof
Facebook usageandseftreported GPA among morethan250collegestudentsshowed
that grades of heavy or frequent Facebook users to be lower than that of light users
(ThuseethanandKuhanesan,2014).ThesimilarfindingwassharedbyastudyofJunco
with a sample of 1839 respondents employing hierarchical linear regression. On the
other hand, studies by Kolek & Saunders (2008) and Pasek et al. (2009) found no
correlationbetweensocialmediauseandcollegestudentsacademicperformance.

The mixed results of these studies may stem from the problem that it is not just a
questionof iforhowmuchstudentsengageinsocialmedia,butalsothewaysinwhich
students engage. Therefore, our research team decided to focus on only one aspect
how using social media while studying affects college students concentration. Since
concentration is a necessary ingredient for effective learning, the finding may reveal
somefactsabouttheimpactofsocialmediaonstudentsacademicoutcomes.

CHAPTER3.DESCRIPTIONOFTHESURVEY
1. Participants
The sample consists of 120 undergraduate students from Faculty Businessof English,
Foreign Trade University. Of all the participants, 41,5% are freshman, 17,1% are
sophomores, 39%are junior and 2,4% were senior.Fourth year studentsarebusywith
their graduation preparation so they are less willing to finish the questionnaire.
Participantsarecomposedof88,6%femalesand11,4%males.
2. Procedures
The questionnaire survey was distributed through facebook messages and delivered
directly to students in their classrooms. The paper survey and online survey are the
same in content. During break time of some classes in Faculty of Business English,
researchers distributed the questionnaire among all studentspresent. However, not all
the surveys werecompleted and somequestions wereleftunanswered.Theunfinished
surveysweresortedoutandnotcountedinthefinding.
Alldatawerestoredconfidentially,andparticipationwascompletelyvoluntary.
The survey was composed of 15 questions including yes/no questions, multiple
choice questions and individual questions. All items of the questionnaire were
designedby the researcher with an aim ofcollecting data aboutstudentssocialmedia
usage while studying. The survey was expected to take three to five minutes to
complete.
Bothqualitativeandquantitativeapproachesareusedindataanalysis.

10

CHAPTER4.FINDINGS
1. SocialMediaUse
The following data will answer the first research question:How do college students
usesocialmedia?
Question1:Whatkindsofsocialmediadoyouuse?
Figure1.

Fromfigure 1, 97.5%of the respondents sampledusedsocial networking, 81.7%used

multimedia, 47.5% used social knowledge and only 25.8% used blogging and other
typesofsocialmedia.Thismeansthatmajorityoftherespondentsused3maintypesof
social media: social networking, multimedia and social knowledge and almost all of
themusedsocialnetworking(97.5%).
Question2:Howmanyhoursadayonaveragedoyouspendonsocialmedia?

11

Table1
Option

No.ofRespondents

Percentage(%)

Lessthan1hour

1.6

12hours

16

13.4

24hours

51

42.5

Morethan4hours

51

42.5

Total

120

100

It could be observed from table 1 that only 1.6% of therespondents agreed that they
spend less than 1 houron social mediaa day,13.6%spend between12hours,42.5%
spend between 24 hoursandthisalsois the percentage of the respondents whospend
morethan4hours.
The analysisshows that majorityof the respondents spendmore than2hoursadayon
socialmedia(85%)andhalfofthemusesocialmediainmorethan4hours.
Question3:Whatdoyouusesocialmediafor?
Figure2

12

From figure 2, 85% of the respondents use the social media for the purpose of
communication, 83.3% for studying, 90.8% for entertainment and 6.6% for other
purposes.
Itcanbe concluded that majorityoftherespondentsusethesocialmediaforall3main
purposes: communication,studying and entertainmentandalmostall of them use it to
entertain(90.8%).
Question 4: What purpose above do you spend most time on when using social
media?
Table2
Option

No.ofRespondents

Percentage(%)

Communication

34

28.3

Studying

22

18.3

Entertainment

60

50

Other

3.4

Total

120

100

Table 2 shows that 28.3% of the respondents spend most of their time using social
mediatocommunicate,18.3%tostudy,50%toentertainand3.4%forotherpurposes.
Thisresult reveals that most of therespondentstimeforsocialmediaisdevotedtothe
purposeofentertainment(50%),farfollowedbycommunicationandstudying.
Question5:Whichisyourmostvisitedsocialmediasite?

13

Table3
Option

No.ofRespondents

Percentage(%)

Facebook

85

70.8

YouTube

24

20

Other

11

9.2

Total

120

100

Fromtable 3, 70.8% of therespondents preferredFacebookastheirmostvisitedsocial

mediasite,20%preferYouTubeand9.2%preferothersites.
Clearly, Facebook dominates the respondents interest when using social media.You
TubealsogainsmuchinterestbutitpalesascomparedtoFacebook(lessthan1/3).
To sum up, basing on the results above, we can find out the answer for the first
researchquestion:Howdothestudentsusethesocialmedia?:
Majority of the students used the social mediain both typesof socialnetworking and
multimedia. It should be streamlined that almost all of the students use social
networking (question 1). We can also see that majority of them use social media
simultaneously for three main purposes: communication, studyingandentertainment.
Among them, entertainment is the one that more than 90% of the students use the
social media for (question3) and 50% spend most of their time on (question 4).
Moreover,a large numberof the students spendmorethan2hoursadayonthesocial
media,even half ofthesestudentsspenduptomorethan4hours(question2).Themost
visitedsocialmediasiteofthestudentspreferisFacebook.

14

2. ImpactofSocialMediaUseonConcentrationwhilestudying
The second research question read: How does social media use affect the students
concentration asdoing academictasks?As mentioned earlier,therelevantanswersto
the above question will be presented as responded to by the respondents in tables
below:
Question6:Doyouusesocialmediawhendoingacademictasks?
Table4
Option

No.ofRespondents

Percentage(%)

Yes

102

85

No

18

15

Total

120

100

From table 4, 85% of the respondents agree that they use social media when doing
academic tasks, while15%donot.Therefore,mostoftherespondentsusesocialmedia
astheystudy.

***Questions belowareanswered by 102 students who usesocialmediawhendoing

academictasks.

Question7:Howoftendoyouchecksocialmediawhiledoingacademictasks?
Table5
Option

No.ofRespondents

Percentage(%)

15

Every15minute

18

17.6

Every30minute

41

40.0

Every1hour

27

26.5

Rarely

16

15.9

Total

102

100

As clearly shownin table5,it could be observedthat17.6%of the respondentscheck

social media about every 15minutes, 40% every 30 minutes, 26.5% every hour and
15.9%rarelydothatwhenstudying.
Hence, the most popular answer is every 30 minutes. Besides, a large numberof the
respondents often check the social media after 1 hour of studying (26.5%), yet the
percentageofstudentswhoseoptionisevery15minuteisonly15.9%.
Question8:Choosetheoptionthatbestdescribesyourlearningexperience
Table6:
Option
Igetcompletelydistractedbysocialmediausewhile
doingacademictasks
I get distracted but not much by social media use
whiledoingacademictasks
I get distracted a little by social media use while
doingacademictasks.
Idon'tget distracted atallbysocialmediausewhile
doingacademictasks

No.of

Percentage

Respondents

(%)

18

17.6

31

30.4

45

44.1

7.9

16

Total

102

100

From table 6, 17.6% of the respondents have the answer that they get completely
distracted by social media while doing academic tasks, 30.4% get distracted but not
much,44.1%getdistractedalittleand7.9%donotgetdistracted.
It can be concluded that majority of the respondents get distracted by social media
whenstudyinghowever,themainlevelofdistractionisonlyalittle.
Question9:Whydoyouthinkyoucannotconcentratelongonacademictasks?
Table7
No.of

Percentage

Respondents

(%)

Becausemyacademictasksareboring

17

16.7

Becausemyacademictasksaredifficult

15

14.9

Ivegotintothehabitofcheckingsocialmediaregularly 62

60.7

Option

Ihave noproblemofconcentratingonacademictasksin

5.8

Other

1.9

Total

102

100

alongtime

Table 7 shows that 16.7% of the respondents cannot concentrate long on academic
tasks because they think the tasks are boring, 14.9% think they are difficult, 60.7%
have got into the habit of checking social media regularly, and 1.9% have other
reasons,while5.8%havenoproblemofconcentration.

17

Therefore,majority ofthe respondentsare distractedbysocialmediawhenstudyingas

checkingsocialmediabecametheirhabit.
Question 10:Inwhichwaydoesyourdistractionfromsocialmediauseaffectyour
learning?
Table8
Option
Becauseofsocialmediause,Idomyacademictasksbadly

No.of

Percentag

Respondentse(%)
5

4.9

37

36.3

32

31.4

Mysocialmediausedoesnotaffectqualityofmylearning

22

21.6

Other

5.8

Total

102

100

Because of social media use, I have to spend more time on

academictasks
Becauseof socialmedia use, I cannot finishmy academic tasks at
all

We can see fromthetable8that36.3%oftherespondentshavetospendmoretimeon

academic tasks and 31.4% cannot finish them at all so we can conclude that using
socialmediamakethestudentscannotcompletetheirtasksasschedule.
The second researchquestionisansweredbyfivesurveyquestionsabove.Themajority
of the students often use social media when they do academic tasks and check them
every 1 hour or less than 30 minutes (question 6 and question 7). As a result, the
majority of these studentsgetdistracted by socialmedia whenstudying however, the
impact is not significant (question 8). Two main reasons for the distraction are
habitual social media browsing and challenging academic tasks. Finally, reduced

18

concentrationabilityresultingfromdistractingsocialmediareducesstudentsstudying
efficiency(question10).

19

CHAPTER5.DISCUSSION
1. Discussion
It can be concluded from the findingsthatsocial mediausenegatively affects college
studentsconcentrationwhilestudying.
A large number of students agreed that their distraction from studying results from
challenging or boring tasks. This reveals the fact of education system nowadays.
Becausetoday students are immersedin adigital world full of sensorystimulations, it
isnotsurprised they cannot endure theboredom. Therefore, itis highlyrecommended
that subjectsor curriculum bemoreinterestingwithstories,humor,andsensorydetails
toattractstudentsattention.
Social media or any Internetbased system is addictive to young people so it is
worrying that the majority of students claimed to grow the habit of browsing social
media regularly. This habitual social media checking does not only affect their
concentration ability, but also their studying in the long run. To avoid becoming too
immersed into socialmedia, it isimportant for college students to spend theirtime on
offline world like conversing with their friends or participating in extracurricular
activities.
Social media can be used for many purposes including studying,communication and
entertainment but entertainment is the most preferred activity amongstudents.Social
media can bea powerfuleducationaltoolifusedappropriately.Aconsiderablenumber
of websites are designed and dedicated to promote students knowledge. Moreover,
group chat is an ideal environment to share knowledge among friends or experts..
Distant learning is another benefit of social media. Facebook allows peopleto create
groupswherepeoplecanpostmaterialsordiscusstheirproblemswithothers.

20

The negativeimpactsocial mediausehasonstudentsconcentrationmaybeexplained

by two ideas. Firstly,social mediacandistractstudents internallyandexternallywhen
theyare trying to focus ontheirtasks(Rosen,2010).Thestudyfoundthatthemajority
of students (40%)browsesocialmediaevery30minutes,evenwhentheyarestudying.
Secondly, the use of social media and other digital technology get students into the
habit of task switching. Tasks switching is a quick and constant switch between
multipletasks,which results inContinuousPartial Attention CPA (Rosen,2010).As
students use social media while studying, they are multitasking. They are doing two
things at the sametime: studying andbeingonline,whichmeansthattheyhavetosplit
their attention among those tasks. Consequently, they cannot focus on one thing
studying.
In a word, itis shownfrom the study thatsocialmediausenegativelyaffectsstudents
concentration while studying. Students should be taught how to be aware of their
mental processes, understand the importance of avoiding tasks switching when
studying. It is important to limitthe amount of time spenton social mediaby usinga
timerto set breakwhen studentscompleteonetask(toavoidmultitasking)andturnoff
unnecessary notifications. Social media is beneficial to studying if college students
knowhowtotakeadvantageofit.
2. Limitations
However, the study still has some limitations. Firstly, the population of the study is
relatively small and only includes students from Faculty of Business English, FTU.
Therefore, generalization to a larger population may not be true. Secondly, the study
employs selfreported measure, so the results depend on the respondents honesty.
Thirdly, data analysis is simple and does not make use of professional data analysis
measures.

21

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the study suggests that the use of social mediacannegatively affected
college studentsconcentration while learning.Thisshouldbealarmingtoeducatorsas
social media is becoming more integrated into students lives. The negativeeffect of
social media can lead to decreased learning efficiency and reduced academic
performance of college students. We recommend that educators and teacher should
trainstudentshow to use social mediaeffectivelyandtakeadvantage of itsbenefitsto
promotetheirlearningoutcomes.

22

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3.Kolek,E.,Saunders,D.(2008).OnlineDisclosure:AnEmpiricalExaminationof
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,45.
4. Rosen, L. (2010). Welcome to the iGeneration!
Education Digest: Essential
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5.Gausby,A.(2015).AttentionSpan.MicrosoftCanada.
6. Levine, L., Waite, B. & Bowman, L. (2007), Electronic Media Use, Reading, and
Academic Distractibility in College Youth,
CyberPsychology & Behavior 10 (4).
doi:10.1089/cpb.2007.9990.
7. Pasek,J.& Hargittai, E. (2009).FacebookandAcademicPerformance:Reconciling
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8. Rosen, L., Carrier, L., Cheever, N. (2012), Facebook and texting made me do it:
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Computers in Human Behavior29 (3),
948958.doi:10.1016/j.chb.2012.12.001
9. Thuseethan, S., Kuhanesan, S. (2014), Influence of Facebook in Academic
PerformanceofSriLankanUniversityStudents.

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