Impact of WhatsApp Messenger on the University Level Students:

A Psychological Study
ABSTRACT
WhatsApp is an amazing application, and with the help of it we can connect ourselves to the
society as well as whole world. It is an effective medium for the flow of information and ideas.
WhatsApp is one of the medium of such technology. Now-a-days it is becoming a popular word
among youth, which is available in the various electronic items such as I-Phone, Android,
windows phone and computer also. The present study is focused on the impact of WhatsApp on
the university level students, with reference to youth of Surat and Navsari, Gujarat. A quantitate
approach was used to conducted research, data were collected from 105 respondents with
structured questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of 25 items. The factor analysis was
extracted the four factor from the data i.e. negatively affected, helpful, psychological change and
essential. The outcome of study will reveal that WhatsApp is a medium of making
communication easier and faster thereby by enhancing effective flow of information, idea
sharing and connecting people easier. It is found that WhatsApp has also a profound negative
impact on youth and adversely affects their education, behaviour and routine lives.
Key words: Whatsapp, University Students, Psychological Change, Study Habit, Influence,

INTRODUCTION
WhatsApp messenger is cross-platform instant messaging service for smartphones; it is a
freeware service (Metz, 2016). It allows users to send text messages, phone contacts, videos,
images, GIF, documents, audio files, voice notes and user location by using standard cellular
mobile numbers through internet (Voice Calling, 2015). Information all are end-to-end
encrypted. It also include a feature known as status, that permits users to upload photos and
videos to a twenty four-hours-lifetime feed that, by default, are visible to all contacts, almost like
Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat (WhatsApp Voice Calling, 2015). Today WhatsApp
messenger is becomes a very standard and famous instant messaging app for smart phones that
used by millions of individuals in all over the world. The app develops at that time in a very less
amount of time and very rapid speed it becomes well known and most popular app. lots of people
in all over the globe are using this app in their phones. The reason behind the popularity of
WhatsApp messenger is individuals fell very simple and easy to use this app to send messages,
images, videos etc. to friends or to any other relatives easily. Therefore this shows that how
WhatsApp messenger is important in our present life style (Current Scenario of WhatsApp ,
2015).
The data shows a timeline that worldwide monthly active user of WhatsApp as of April 2017 to
July 2017. The app announced 200 billion monthly active users in April 2013, 500 billion
monthly active users in April 2014, 800 billion monthly active users in April 2015 and 1300
billion monthly active users in July 2017; it is over from 1 billion monthly active users in
February 2016. This is the best service provide in all over the world (2018).
In addition a daily active user of WhatsApp is one billion in all over the globe. Fifty five billion
messages transfer over on WhatsApp per day. Every day over one billion videos and 4.5 billion
Photos are shared on WhatsApp. WhatsApp has supports 60 languages globally. The
introduction of new features of WhatsApp which are video call, two-step verification security,
Status (Posts that automatically disappear after 24 hours), and a revamp in design has helped
WhatsApp to attract more users since last year when it had just one billion monthly active users (
Globally Active Users of WhatsApp, 2017). WhatsApp is very popular in markets outside the US
whereas facing robust competition from Asia-based social messenger apps like LINE, Kakaotalk,
and WeChat. WhatsApp quality in rising mobile markets is not only based on their low-cost
business model but on several of its new amazing features (Mishra, 2017).
Background of WhatsApp
WhatsApp was founded by Jan Koum and Brian Acton, Both former workers of Yahoo. They
both left yahoo and applied jobs at Facebook however both were rejected. At that point of time,
with very little direction on wherever his next career path would take him. In 2009, though, when
buying an iPhone, Jan Koum has the vision to envision that an entire business was closed to
mostly around mobile app. trying to exploit this business, Jan Koum began to explore the
possibility of creating an app which may let mobile user’s sensible move with their friends,
relatives, and business contacts. They both managed to influence five employees from Yahoo. To
invest in the app with $250,000, finally WhatsApp was launched in 2009. It had been a rocky
begins for WhatsApp. When various crashes (up) and failures (down), Koum grew pissed off
with the app’s development and reportedly thought-about giving up entire business. It had been
acton that inspired koum to stay it out. Fortuitously for the both of them, the pair did so stick it
out and saw the app through to its final success. After few months WhatsApp was boom in the
market. By Feb of 2013, WhatsApp boasted fifty staff members and two hundred million users.
In Feb 2014, social network Facebook acquired WhatsApp for nineteen billion U.S. dollars, a
staggering amount even for the social networking large. At that point, WhatsApp had regarding
450 million monthly active users and 315 million daily active users, in keeping with business
Insider (Bacground of Whatsapp , 2017).
WhatsApp messenger is one amongst the popular and flourishing messaging apps to date with an
amazing growth story that relied on very little promotion. In Oct 2009, WhatsApp accumulated
$250,000 funding ( Jan Koum Built WhatsApp Into Facebook, 2014). The app formally released
for the apple App Store and in few months later it was released for all major mobile application
systems. In 2011, it has become a high marketer on iPhone, android and Blackberry while not
abundant promoting. In April 2011 the company raised $8m from Sequoia Capital ( Jan Koum
Built WhatsApp Into Facebook, 2014). In Oct 2011, one billion messages were being sent every
day by its users. By Feb 2013, the app reached two hundred million active users. In Jan 2015
Sequoia again invested another $50m, valuing the company at $1.5bn. In same year it hit
600million active users and creating it the most well-known messaging app up to now, and rose
to 900million by Sept this year. In Feb 2014, the company was acquired by Facebook for $19bn
and creating it the biggest venture-backed exit throughout that year (Richter, 2015). In the line of
success citigroup has forecast that WhatsApp might generate revenue of $1bn by 2017 (Ray,
2015). Asian country and African nation are high markets for WhatsApp (whatsApp Messenger
most popular in India & Malaysia, 2014).
Effective Use of WhatsApp
It helps in lowering production costs and increasing the efficiency of internal business
operations, People use WhatsApp to interact with colleagues, supervisors, and/or other that saves
them time or increases productivity during the day. Improving customer service, the most
common reasons customers use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses includes, making or
confirming an appointment or reservation, placing an order or making a purchase, and asking for
information on products or services (e.g., price, inventory, return policy). By making
communication faster and more efficient, WhatsApp may enable businesses to lower their labour
costs and attract more customers. Lowering marketing costs, Affordable and fast communication
decreases costs for businesses, thus potentially increasing profits and contributing to growth.
Making communications with investors more efficient, WhatsApp users communicate with
business partners, investors, shareholders, or financial contributors. Rapid interactions and quick
updates may lead to higher investments for a firm or business, resulting in increased output and
long run growth. Improving public sector services, WhatsApp improves communications
between the public and the social sector.
Advantages of WhatsApp
WhatsApp is free: ‘Free’ is the biggest advantage of WhatsApp. It is easy to use; simply enter
the mobile number in the device into this app. WhatsApp is one of the most popular application
which emerges like the culture of MacDonald that create a new taste in social networking market
and majority of youth crazy for this. It enables users to have multimedia downloads text
messaging without having to pay short messages service (SMS). This is the feature that makes
WhatsApp quite popular among youth. With the help of this application, an Individual can chat
with family, friends beyond the limit of seas and creates familiar environment for it. It also helps
to keep contact to everybody at one time. No doubt, this amazing app is useful for us from many
ways. One instance can be given in respect of this; we are buying something and have confusion
about the item. Then to remove confusion we can take the picture of this and send it to our dear
one on WhatsApp to get suggestion ( Bhatt & Arshad, 2016).
OBJECTIVES
 To …….. the factor which affect the life of university level students by using WhatsApp.
 To identify the degree of positive or negative impact of using WhatsApp Messenger.
LITERATURE REVIEW
They find out the effect of WhatsApp messenger on youth. Information was collected from a
hundred samples of youth from Agra, India. Analysis shows that WhatsApp has positive as well
as negative impact on youth. It affects their education, behaviour and routine lives. It’s extremely
addictive in nature. Findings show that youths are spending more time on this application instead
of spending quality time with their family members (Bhatt & Arshad, 2016). (Yeboah & Ewur,
2014) They find out the impact of WhatsApp on educational performance of youth and
information was collected from five hundred and fifty students of institutions of Ghana. The
analysis shows that WhatsApp has negative impact on the study of youth. It also affects their
academic language like error of spellings and construction of sentences. So it's tough to balance
at the same time the online activities and educational performance with WhatsApp. (Appiah,
2016) Find out the effect of WhatsApp to the college students of Begum Rokeya University,
Rangpur, Bangladesh. Information was collected from two hundred students through
questionnaire. The study has disclosed that WhatsApp has negative effect on students and
adversely affects their education, behaviour and routine lives. It messes up abundant of study
time of students and distracts them from finishing their assignments. The study concludes that
time management is important for on-line activities. Students should give priority to their life
and career building rather than giving priority to the WhatsApp. (Sharma & Shukla, 2016) Find
out the effect of WhatsApp on students from Gwalior, India. Information was collected from a
hundred students through questionnaire. Research shows that WhatsApp has impact on the life
style of youth particularly in their studies. It affects their educational language and spoils their
writing skills and construction of sentences. They’ll get wrong information and concentration is a
lot of on gossips and even become wholly regarding on this to get information about around the
world. (Maheswari, 2014) Conducted a study to investigate the persistency of using WhatsApp
by under graduate students in Salem District, Tamil Nadu, It had been found from the study
majority of respondents using WhatsApp Messenger typically send pictures, videos and do group
chatting with minimum number of friends and long-time users usually send images, videos and
do group chatting with friends. The study explain that majority of respondents using WhatsApp
Messenger usually do chatting through WhatsApp messenger. It’s suggested that, awareness can
be created between all the individuals no matter their age, education, sex, profession etc. If this
might be done, not only the college going students however all the individuals may reap the
advantage of using WhatsApp Messenger. (Kumar & Sharma, 2016) Find out the usage and
effect of WhatsApp. Data was collected from 460 samples of youth from Northern, India.
Research shows that there is a significant impact of WhatsApp on its users. Users think
WhatsApp has improved their relationship with friends and it’s not harmful for them. (Shettigar
& Karinagannanavar, 2016) They find out the WhatsApp usage among the undergraduates at
University of Brunei, Darussalam. The study shows that a majority of the undergraduates use
WhatsApp for more than three hour per day. The study found that WhatsApp was very useful for
group discussions and interaction. Of the respondents opined that it was disruptive to their study.
The analysis shows that a majority of the undergraduates do tend to disseminate information only
if they believed it to be useful, relevant or true. (Sahajwani, 2016) Find out the Impact of
WhatsApp messenger on educational performance of students. Data was collected from 120
students of Sagar Group of Institution Bhopal. Research shows that Students spent more than one
hour time on the use of WhatsApp but are efficient enough for their studies; they do not face any
difficulty in meeting their studies requirements, assignment submission. (Veena & Lokesha ,
2016) Find out the effect of WhatsApp usage among students. Information was collected from
two hundred students from Mangalore University through questionnaire. Analysis shows that
majority of users familiar with WhatsApp and use WhatsApp for educational purpose. (Sarker,
2015) Find out the effect of WhatsApp on the university level students. This empirical study has
been conducted upon two hundred respondents with a questionnaire that was used as a tool of
information collection for the survey. The analysis shows that WhatsApp has a profound
negative impact on students and adversely affects their education, behaviour and routine lives. It
messes up most of study time of students and distracts them from finishing their assignments.
This app has been found to be extremely addictive. (Sudharani & Nagaraju, 2016) The Study
conducted on WhatsApp usage by engineering students at SVU College of Engineering, Tirupati,
and Chittor district in Andhra Pradesh. Findings of the study clearly proved that all the
respondents are using WhatsApp. The study report shows that students spend less time in using
the WhatsApp, which is positive aspect. (Shanmugapriya & Priya, 2016) They identify the using
WhatsApp faced on reduction stress. The results discovered that WhatsApp is a great application
that provides various benefits to the customer and also conclude that social media application
must improve their services to satisfy all types of users. (Ashiyan, 2016) The study was to
investigate the use and effect of mobile applications such as WhatsApp on school work and out
of school work. Analysis shows that WhatsApp as a learning platform used the teams so as to
enhance the accessibility of learning materials and therefore the performance of learning
activities. (Abaido & El-Messiry, 2016) they investigate the level of usage of this social
networking application (WhatsApp messenger) and identify the impact of WhatsApp messenger
on the quality of education through improving the interaction of instructor-student
communication, and student-student communication in which they can create, share and/or
exchange information and ideas in an e-learning environment. Results show strong positive
indicators that there are distinct differences between the face to face formal teaching method and
the e-learning method applied via WhatsApp. (Sayan, 2016) Find out the effects of students’
usage of WhatsApp İnstant messaging for learning and improves students’ achievement (exam
performance). The results shows that use of WhatsApp for improvement of achievement of the
course goals had a significant support of the teacher candidates. (Ahad & Ariff Lim, 2014) They
examine the domestication of WhatsApp among young people, specifically the undergraduates at
University Brunei Darussalam. Results showed that young people perceive WhatsApp as a
‘convenient ‘communication application in their everyday lives. (Shahkat Ali & Kootbodien,
2017) They identify the perceptions and trends of Abu Dhabi university students, considering
WhatsApp as an effective interpersonal communication medium. The analysis shows a positive
reaction from the students. Study also concludes that WhatsApp will be considered an effective
interpersonal communication medium. (Ta'amneh, 2017) Find out the frequency of using social
media particularly WhatsApp usage among college students. Data was collected from 40 first
year university students in Salem District. The analysis shows that they believe that used a
combination method (WhatsApp and traditional) was better than the learned through the
traditional method (face to face). Study also concludes that usage of WhatsApp among college
students of Salem District is growing very fast. (Altaany, 2015) Find out the uses of WhatsApp
for student of Irbid National University at Jordan from their perspective and impact of WhatsApp
on academic performance of students. The results indicate that uses WhatsApp for students at
Irbid National University in Jordan there were a statistically significant relationship between the
WhatsApp and academic performance of student and there is no a statistically significant
relationship between (audio, call)with academic performance. (Kamboj & Dayal, 2014) They
explore that why youth use and what motivates them to use Instant Messaging Applications (IM)
applications on their digital devices with specific relevance to WhatsApp. The analysis shows
that respondents are actively using WhatsApp for his or her Economic, Communication, Pastime,
Diversion, Affection, Fashion, Sharing Problem and sociality motives that results in fulfilment of
their expectations.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research deals with mixed research which is partially quantitative and partially qualitative to
find out in depth. The research has made the use of survey method. Survey was conducted
among randomly selected WhatsApp user in Surat city and Navsari city along with sample size
of 105 students between the age group of 17 to 25 years, who were college going students. This
age group of youth (17-25years) who has chosen for the survey are the heavy users of social
media and early adopters of advanced technological application. The survey was conducted
through a structured questionnaire. Data has been collected through primary source. Two
universities were chosen for the survey comprising of one private (Auro University) and one
public which is VNSGU (Veer Narmad South Gujarat University) and. The field data were
analysed using statistical package for social science (SPSS version 21) and Microsoft excel for
drawing of charts.
This research has been done by factor analysis. Factor analysis is a method of data reduction.
Factor analysis includes, KMO and Bartlett's Test measure of sampling adequacy, Total variance
explained, Screen plot, and Rotated component matrix. Sampling adequacy determines if the
responses given with sample are adequate or not. Total variance explained the initial eigenvalues
which is measure of explained variance. Screen plot is a visual representation of how much these
variance explained the factors. It is useful for determining how many factor to retain. Rotated
component matrix helps to determine what are the components represent.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Table 1, Demographic Information

Variables No. of Respondents (N=105) Percent (%=100)

Gender (N=105) (%=100)

Male 85 81%
Female 20 19%
Age (N=105) (%=100)
17-19 13 12.4%
20-22 44 41.9%
23-25 48 45.7%
Source: Field survey, 2018
From Table 1, the gender of the respondents was explored, majority 81% were males and the rest
were females 19%. The total percentage represents the two institutions that the questionnaires
were administered too. These institutions include; VNSGU and Auro University. This result
implies that male use the WhatsApp more often than their female counterpart. Also it was
revealed that most of the male students preferred using the application for communication,
especially for group discussions on specific current event in rather than to meet their group
members personally than the female.
The average age group of the respondents was obtained from 23-25 years. This belong to the
majority 45.7% age group 23-25, 41.9% were age group between 20-22 years, finally age group
between 17-19 years 12.4% were constitute the least group. This implies that the WhatsApp
population is youth centric.
Respondent Who Use Whatsapp
The collection of data revealed that 100% college going students use whatsapp. The samples
clearly make strong view that they use whatsapp for being in touch with family, friends, and
acquaintances because of its cheap cost which reduce the calling & sms expenditure.( Source:
Field survey, 2018)
 Figure 1, Frequently Use Whatsapp Application

100
87
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20 13
10 3 2
0
Regularly 2-4 times a Day Very less Often

Source: Field survey, 2018

The output of the data shows that most of the respondents 87 (82.9%) regularly use the
WhatsApp application, 13 (12.4%) respondents use WhatsApp 2-4 times a day, 3 (2.9%)
respondents use the WhatsApp very less, 2 (1.9%) respondents often use the WhatsApp
application. This implies that the WhatsApp application use ability among is very high among
university level students. They check frequently their cell-phone on the every beep of whatsapp
in spite of engaging in studying, eating or doing some-thing important.
Figure 2, How Long Using Whatsapp Application

80
67
60

40 28
20 9
1
0
Less than 6 months 6 month-1 year 1 yr-5 years More than 5 years

Source: Field survey, 2018

The results of the data revealed that most of the respondents 67 (63.8%) use the WhatsApp
application 1-5 years, 28 (26.7%) respondents use WhatsApp application more than 5 years, 9
(8.6%) respondents use WhatsApp between 6 months-1 year, 1 (1%) respondents use WhatsApp
less than 6 months. The reason behind the popularity of WhatsApp messenger is individuals fell
very simple and easy to use this app to send messages, images, videos etc. to friends or to any
other relatives easily. Most of the respondents belong to the age group of 23-25 years.
 Figure 3, How Many Hours Using Whatsapp Daily

45
39 37
40
35
30
25
20 15 14
15
10
5
0
1-2 hours 2-5 hours 5-8 hours More than 8 hours

Source: Field survey, 2018

The output revealed that most of the respondents 39 (37.1%) spend between 1-2 hours every day,
37 (35.2%) spend between 2-5 hours a day, 15 (14.3%) respondents spend between 5-8 hours a
day, and 14 (13.3%) respondents spend more than 8 hours a day. This implies that they use
WhatsApp in any times a day. Study also able to discover that there is an inverse relationship
between two factors which is, the more time a student spends using whatsapp, the less time he or
she has to attend to academic matters such as class work, assignments, preparation for class test,
mid-semester exams and end of the semester’s examination which account for the student’s
lower or poor grade Points.
Figure 4, Why Students Use Whatsapp

40 37
29
30 23
20 16

10
0
Socialize and make Remain updated Collaborate with As a source of
new friends about what is fellow students and recreation
trending study andrelaxation

Source: Field survey, 2018

The results explore that most of the respondents 37 (35.2%) use WhatsApp Collaborate with
fellow students and study, 29 (27.6%) respondents use WhatsApp as a source of recreation and
relaxation, 23 (21.9%) use WhatsApp remain updated about what is trending and 16 (15.2%)
respondents use WhatsApp socialize and make new friends. This implies that WhatsApp play a
major role in academic performance of the students. Also data found that most of the students
preferred using the application for communication, especially for group discussions on specific
assignment given in class than to meet their group members personally.
Figure 5, Advantages of Using Whatsapp

80 70
60
40
21
20 10
4
0
Sharing Meeting new people Learning technology Keeping in touch with
information/work can help you socialize becomes easier friends is convenient
quickly

Source: Field survey, 2018

The output indicate that most of the respondents 70 (66.7%) response that WhatsApp is useful
for sharing information and quickly work, 21 (20%) response that it is useful for keeping in
touch with friends is convenient, 21 (9.5%) response that it’s useful for learning technology
becomes easier, and 4 (3.8%) response that it is useful for meeting new people can help you
socialize. User can interact among people freely and can share, exchange and discuss the
Information, ideas, personal message and other content between each-other such as using a
multimedia messages, personal words, pictures, video and audio & utilizes online platform by
connecting to the Internet.
Figure 6, Disadvantages of Using Whatsapp

45 42
40 37
35
30
25
20 17
15 9
10
5
0
Reduced focus on Lesser physical Decreases/destroys There is no concept of
studies and affects activity results in social skills privacy
academic health problems
performance

Source: Field survey, 2018

The results shows that most of the respondents 42(40%) response that WhatsApp Reduced their
focus on studies and affects academic performance, 37(35.2%) response that it’s effect their
physical activity results in health problems, 17(16.2%) response that it’s decreases/destroys
social skills, and 9(3.8%) response that there is no concept of privacy. Whatsapp takes lots of
time of their study and could not be able to complete their assignment. Many times, they strive to
control themselves to view whatsapp messages but they do not get satisfied until they check their
app.
Reliability Test
Table 2, Reliability Statistics

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

0.821 15
Source: Field survey, 2018
In this output have coefficient called Cronbach's Alpha which should be closer to one it is never
more than one but it should be very close to one. Generally a coefficient of more than or equal to
0.1 is quite acceptable and it is consider very good crowd and if a scale has that coefficient that
Cronbach’s Alpha that means the scale is reliable enough. This table shows that the Cronbach's
Alpha is o.821, which is close to one that means this scale is very good so it’s kind of very
reliable because the Cronbach's Alpha is near to one.
Table 3, Scale Statistics

Scale Statistics
Mean Variance Std. Deviation N of Items
52.99 61.718 7.8561 15
Source: Field survey, 2018
This table shows the scale statistics which includes mean, variance, std.deviation and number of
items. The mean for all the items in scale is 52.99. The variance in the number of items is 61.718
and standard deviation is 7.8561.
Factor Analysis (Dimension of Reduction)
Table 4, KMO and Bartlett's Test

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .700
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 526.893
df 105
Sig. .000
Source: Field survey, 2018
 Here important parts of the output: the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy and
Bartlett's test of sphericity. The KMO statistic varies between 0 and 1. A value of 0 indicates that
the sum of partial correlations is large relative to the sum of correlations, indicating diffusion in
the pattern of correlations (hence, factor analysis is likely to be inappropriate). A value close to 1
indicates that patterns of correlations are relatively compact and so factor analysis should yield
distinct and reliable factors. Kaiser (1974) recommends accepting values greater than 0.5 as
acceptable. Furthermore, values between 0.5 and 0.7 are mediocre, values between 0.7 and 0.8
are good, values between 0.8 and 0.9 are great and values above 0.9 are superb. For these data
the value is 0.700, which falls into the range of being good: so, that factor analysis is appropriate
for these data (Field, 2005).
Bartlett's measure tests the null hypothesis that the original correlation matrix is an identity
matrix. For factor analysis to work need some relationships between variables and if the R-
matrix were an identity matrix then all correlation coefficients would be zero. Therefore, this test
to be significant (i.e. have a significance value less than 0.05). A significant test tells us that the
R-matrix is not an identity matrix; therefore, there are some relationships between the variables.
For these data, Bartlett's test is highly significant (p < 0.001), and therefore factor analysis is
appropriate (Field, 2005).
Table 5, Total Variance Explained

Total Variance Explained

Component Initial Eigenvalues Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings
Total % of Cumulative % Total % of Cumulative %
Variance Variance
1 4.414 29.428 29.428 3.143 20.952 20.952
2 1.925 12.836 42.264 2.091 13.940 34.893
3 1.368 9.123 51.387 2.075 13.833 48.726
4 1.308 8.721 60.108 1.707 11.382 60.108
5 1.047 6.982 67.090
6 .932 6.213 73.303
7 .789 5.262 78.565
8 .620 4.133 82.698
9 .584 3.894 86.591
10 .525 3.501 90.092
11 .409 2.729 92.821
12 .331 2.206 95.027
13 .314 2.093 97.120
 14 .223 1.488 98.609
15 .209 1.391 100.000
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.
Source: Field survey, 2018
SPSS Output lists the eigenvalues associated with each linear component (factor) before
extraction, and after rotation. Before extraction, SPSS has identified 23 linear components within
the data set. The eigenvalues associated with each factor represent the variance explained by that
particular linear component and SPSS also displays the eigenvalue in terms of the percentage of
variance explained (so, factor 1 explains 29.428% of total variance). It should be clear that the
first few factors explain relatively large amounts of variance (especially factor 1) whereas
subsequent factors explain only small amounts of variance. SPSS then extracts all factors with
eigenvalues greater than 1, which leaves us with four factors. The eigenvalues associated with
these factors are again displayed (and the percentage of variance explained) in the columns
labelled Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings. The values in this part of the table are the same
as the values before extraction, except that the values for the discarded factors are ignored
(hence, the table is blank after the fourth factor). In the final part of the table (labelled Rotation
Sums of Squared Loadings), the eigenvalues of the factors after rotation are displayed. Rotation
has the effect of optimizing the factor structure and one consequence for these data is that the
relative importance of the four factors is equalized. Before rotation, factor 1 accounted for
considerably more variance than the remaining three (29.428% compared to 12.836, 9.123, and
8.721), however after extraction it accounts for only 20.952% of variance (compared to 13.940,
13.833and 11.382% respectively). Between these four factors, they explained almost 60% of the
cumulative variance in the data set (Field, 2005).
Table 6, Rotated Component Matrix of Factors

Items 1 2 3 4
Do you believe using WhatsApp is posing negative effects on your .743
studies by any means?
Does WhatsApp affect your social life? .757
Do you agree usage of WhatsApp has any negative effects on your life? .724
Does WhatsApp occupying your privacy? .679
Is your Academic score reduced upon WhatsApp usage? .638
Does WhatsApp have affected your rest time? .640
Do you agree using WhatsApp helps you in your studies by any means? .749
Do you think usage of WhatsApp has any positive effects on your life? .515
Do you believe WhatsApp is beneficial in terms of learning? .757
Do you believe the friends made through WhatsApp are trustworthy? .581
Have you been addict of WhatsApp? .544
Have you ever regretted any information that you shared/posted over .802
WhatsApp?
Do you feel psychological changes in yourself because of WhatsApp? .709
Do you agree using WhatsApp is essential for today’s life? .808
Are your parents aware of your WhatsApp activities? .843
Source: Field survey, 2018
Factor One: Six items loaded into Factor one. This was labelled, “Negatively affected”.
WhatsApp has negatively affect student life. Whatsapp takes lots of time of their study and could
not be able to complete their assignment. It has adverse impacts on the performance of students.
It destroys student’s grammar and spellings, leads to lack of concentration during lectures and
difficulty in balancing online activities and academic preparation.
Factor Two: The four items that load into a second factor, this was labelled, “Helpful”.
WhatsApp is beneficial in terms of learning. Whatsapp affects their study positively because
through this app they can connect to their faculty and classmates and get immediate responses of
their quarry. They can also share notes and purposive information through it.
Factor Three: Three items load into a third factor. This was labelled, “Psychological Change”.
WhatsApp has impact on student psychology Many times, they strive to control themselves to
view whatsapp messages but they do not get satisfied until they check their app.
Factor Four: The two items that load onto Factor four, this was labelled, “Essential”. WhatsApp
is essential for today’s life. Whatsapp is much quicker and more convenient way to interact with
people who enhance the effective flow of massages and ideas among youth.
Table 7, Regression Analysis

Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .502a .252 .230 2.13846
a. Predictors: (Constant), factor4, factor1, factor2
Model summary table interpret the R (correlation coefficient) between 2 variables. R is the
correlation and it measures how two variable moves in relation to each other, so here R value is
point zero two. R square is the amount of change in dependent variable. With this model have
three predictor variables and the one dependent variable. R squared or the coefficient of
determination or the covariance is the proportion of variability in Y that is explained by the
independent variable the X that is explained by the dependent variable; so in this table the X
variable was the psychological change and the Y variable were the negative affect, helpful and
essential, so that result explore that the value of r square is 0.230 this tells that 23% of the
variance in the dependent variable is explained by the independent variables.
Table 8, ANOVAa
Model df Sum of Squares Mean Square F Sig.
Regression 3 154.085 51.362 11.231 .000b
1
Residual 100 457.300 4.573
 Total 103 611.385
a. Dependent Variable: factor3
b. Predictors: (Constant), factor4, factor1, factor2
Here is the table of analysis of variance statistics or ANOVA. ANOVA table indicating
significant relationship between variables, this table shows the regression statics, residual
statistic and then just the total. The first column is degree of freedom which affects t-tests F test
and adjusted r-squared it takes into a count sample size adjusting normal distributions with lower
sample size to have fatter tails which increases the statistical probability of so-called black swan
or unlikely event. Next column is the sums of squares in mean squares and those are essentially
use just to calculate more F test and T test and stuff like that but F test or F value is to determine
if the regression analysis is significant the p level takes into account the F value and the P level is
the probability that the result occurred randomly and in this table shows that there is extremely
low probability that these results occurred randomly. The key things here is the F statistic, F
value is 11.231.

Table 9, Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig.

B Std. Error Beta

(Constant) 1.993 1.593 1.251 .214
Helpful .155 .100 .146 1.548 .125
Negatively affected .200 .049 .375 4.112 .000
Essential .225 .135 .152 1.672 .098
a. Dependent Variable: factor3
Coefficients table gives us a summary of each of the predictor variables contribution in
regression model so variable here is helpful, negative affected, essential then there
unstandardized coefficients than the standardized coefficients and then the T test examining how
well each of these predictors predicts the outcome variable so is that in the unstandardized
coefficients the values vary significantly however compare these values with each other
standardized ones whichever one is the largest is going to have the biggest influence however
others could have a significant influence if these values here are significant but in this case the
standardized beta coefficients for variables helpful and essential are quite small so we have a
standardized coefficient for helpful of 0.155 and for essential 0.225, their significant values these
are not smaller than point zero 5 so therefore variables helpful and essential don’t actually have
any real influence on the dependent variable negative affect however has a very significant
relationship and have a value of 0.375 here and this as a significant positive relationship given
the positive value .
 Table 10, Rank of Factors by Mean Value
N Mean Sum Rank
Factors
Negatively affected 104 20.0673 2087.00 1
Helpful 104 15.2308 1584.00 2
Psychological Change 104 10.0769 1048.00 3
Essential 104 7.6154 792.00 4

FINDINGS
Findings shows that age group between 20 to 25 years are highly users of WhatsApp application.
Most of the respondents 82.9% regularly use the WhatsApp application, which means they are
highly addictive of WhatsApp. The intensity of usage of WhatsApp is high in Surat city. The
student use WhatsApp 2 to 5 hours in a day. According to the survey most of the respondents
35.2% use WhatsApp Collaborate with fellow students and study, 27.6% respondents use
WhatsApp as a source of recreation and relaxation, 21.9% use WhatsApp remain updated about
what is trending and 15.2% respondents use WhatsApp socialize and make new friends. This
implies that WhatsApp play a major role in academic performance of the students. 66.7% shows
that WhatsApp is useful for sharing information and doing quickly work. WhatsApp instead of
making communication easier and faster thereby enhancing effective flow of information and
idea sharing among students, 58% students strongly agree that WhatsApp helps in their studies
and beneficial in terms of learning. The study has revealed that WhatsApp has a profound
negative impact on students and adversely affects their education, behaviour and routine lives. It
messes up much of study time of students and distracts them from completing their assignments.
This app has been found to be highly addictive. 40% shows that WhatsApp Reduced their focus
on studies and affects academic performance and responsible for a lot of grammatical mistake,
lack of concentration while lecturing. 35% strongly agree that because of using WhatsApp their
academic score reduce. Thus it has negative effect on the study. 36% respondent state that
WhatsApp affect their social life, 37% students admitted that WhatsApp affect their rest time.
25% admitted that, they have become addicted of WhatsApp. 40% respondents believe that
friends made through WhatsApp are trustworthy.
CONCLUSION
This paper investigates the impact of WhatsApp on the university level students; therefore this
study reveals considerable facts regarding students and WhatsApp. However WhatsApp is much
quicker and more convenient way to interact with people who enhance the effective flow of
massages and ideas among youth. Indeed intensity of WhatsApp is very high among students.
The main goal of this paper is to find out impact of WhatsApp on students. WhatsApp is
beneficial from many ways like to keep in touch from their friends, especially when they live far
from their home. It is very helpful even for those people who feel shyness in social interaction.
As every invention has its pros and cons in its own sense, similarly WhatsApp has also, the
greater drawback for its highly addictive nature. There is a very narrow line between the
favourite pass time and the addition of WhatsApp on youth. They delete WhatsApp but after
couple of days, they again launch it. It is the major reason for having negative impact on youth’s
psychology. Most of the time, youth seems stick with their cell-phones for knowing each and
every moment of other person’s personal life. The result shows that WhatsApp is a negative
impact on students’ academic performance and it reduced focus on studies.it affect the students
rest time. However, if used negatively it has adverse impacts on the performance of students.
Among the negative impacts include the following: it takes much of the students studies time,
results in procrastination related problems, destroys students grammar and spellings, leads to
lack of concentration during lectures and difficulty in balancing online activities and academic
preparation. The study further concludes that, the purpose of Whatsapping varies from person to
person and in some cases from group to group. The purpose depend on the user and his/her
intentions. Most frequent uses include; studying, group for discussion, networking, reading
contents (news, videos and photos), to kill loneliness and establishing romantic relationship.
Therefore WhatsApp is like a sharp knife if you do not know the way of using it, you can cut
yourself. Hence students must be careful while using WhatsApp.
LIMITATION
Limited time for the study, this make difficult to make study in depth, there is limited literature
review available in Indian context, with relation to WhatsApp usage. Several studies were done
on foreign context than in India. The study should have included other apps like Hike, Instagram,
Snapchat messenger which is gaining popularity in today’s scenario. The study focused on only
two out of the numerous tertiary institutions in Surat. Additional studies on other tertiary
institutions should provide further insights into the impact of WhatsApp on the university level
students. Although, framed within an academic context, the research can be utilized to
investigate the use of Whatsapp not only at colleges, but also at home, workplace, and various
other settings, and for a variety of different audiences such as teenagers, young adults, the
elderly, or families.
RECOMMENDATION
Time management is essential for students. They do not waste their most time with this
application. Time management should be incorporated into the curriculum of institutions.
Students should give the priority of their studies. They should do not think, that WhatsApp is a
priority. Unannounced quizzes should be conducted frequently by lecturers to compel students to
sit-up. Cell phones should either be forbidden in lecture halls or switched off if allowed in,
instead of the prevailing practice of allowing them in but must be put on mute. This allows the
students to chat during lectures.

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