1

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Reading is considered as indispensible to the overall development of human

being. It helps to develop the mind and personality, and enriches intellectual abilities of a

person. Moreover, reading is the ability to understand words contained in a document and

makes use of the knowledge for personal growth and development (Dadzie, 2008). This

means that reading is not just about reading a text and information; it is also about how to

use that knowledge in a practical application in every context of the life of everyone. This

will help them gain new experiences and access information that will also be the basis of

their knowledge acquisition. Once a person always engages in reading, it will become a

habit.

According to Shen (2006 as cited in Chettri & Rout, 2013), reading habits refer to

how often, how much, and what students read. It is the amount of materials being read,

the frequency of reading and the time spent on reading (Wagner, 2002 as cited in Chettri

& Rout, 2013). Reading habits are well-planned and deliberate pattern of study which can

be attained in a form of understanding academic subjects and passing at examinations on

the part of students (Larson & Owusu-Acheaw, 2014).

Moreover, Azikiwe (1998 as cited in Judilla & Gemora, 2015) describes that good

study and reading habits are advantageous to the learners because it helps the students to

gain mastery on their field of specialization for a consequent academic performance.

Thus, reading habit is an imperative aspect in crafting the literate society in this world.
 2

However, with the emergence of the technological advancement, especially the

popularity trend of social media on the web, mobile phones and other types of

entertainment, the traditional reading habit from paper-based is slowly shifted to internet-

based reading. Also, the reading habit of the people especially today’s generation is

decreasing (Chetty & Kishore, 2017). According to Small (2014), social media ranked as

the most popular content category in worldwide engagement. Some of these networks

that are being utilized as communication and educational tools that include Twitter,

Facebook, and Blogs. Social media are used for personal use to connect with old and new

friends, to build on existing relationships, and to gather information and community

knowledge.

Globally, there are many studies that concern about the impact of social media on

the reading habits. Yncierto and Gagani (2018) state that the use of social media does not

give a negative influence on the study habits of the students. Moreover, Olutola, Olatoye,

and Olatoye (2016) reveal that the more use of social media by the students, the better is

their study habits. They also inferred that the group of students who use social media

frequently are also the group that has better study habit. In contrast, Loan (2011) claims

that the students strongly agree that the internet decreases their reading of books. The

possible reasons for this are lack of awareness about online book collection, difficulty in

reading a book in a single attempt, unsuitable reading screen, and physical discomforts.

Moreover, Shehu and Shehu (2014) state that social networking distracts the reading

habits of the students.

In the Philippines, social media is so prevalent and widely used by the people. In

the article about “Philippines is world's top social media user” published by the ABS-CBN
 3

News in February 2018, Philippines emerged as the country that spent the most time on

social media. It is reported that an average Filipino social media user spends almost 4

hours on different platforms daily followed by Brazilians and Indonesians, respectively.

The commonly used social media such as Facebook continues to dominate the internet as

the top social media platform with over 2.17 billion users, followed by YouTube with 1.5

billion users, and messaging services WhatsApp and FB messenger with 1.3 billion users

each. Nowadays, these social media platforms made the young and adults connect, share,

and access ideas and information rapidly. According to Kaitlin (2010), students rely on

their “friends” on the sites to get some updates around the world rather than reading the

newspaper or watching the news on television. This current situation wherein social

media is widely used by the people especially the students should be given emphasis on

how it affects their reading habits.

In Southern Christian College, there may be a lot of students who are engaged and

exposed to social media. The reading habits of the students these days may be distracted

with the persistent use of social media. With this, the researchers would like to determine

the impact of social media to the reading habits of the students. This study will try to

answer the questions by looking on how social media are being used by Grade 12

students of SCC in order to identify the purpose of using social media and its impact on

the reading habit of the students.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to identify the impact of social media among Grade 12 students

of SCC. Specifically, it seeks answers to the following questions:

1. Why do Grade 12 students use social media?

 4

2. How do social media impact the reading habits of the Grade 12 students in SCC?

Significance of the Study

The findings of the study will be beneficial to the following:

Language Teachers. They may use the essential information to improve the

reading habit of the learners in relation to the involvement of students to social media.

Social Media Active Students. The result may provide basic data that may give

them guidance on the proper usage and may give them awareness on the impact of social

media on their reading habit.

Future Researchers. They may use the research findings as reference for their

future works and research related to this study.

Scope and Limitations

This study will focus on the impact of social media on the reading habits of the

Grade 12 students in Southern Christian College (SCC) in school year 2018-2019. The

Senior High School Department is composed of three strands under Academic Track

namely Accountancy and Business Management (ABM), Humanities and Social Sciences

(HUMSS), Science and Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Mathematics

(STEAM) and Technical-Vocational and Livelihood (TVL) Track. The students who

spend five (5) hours and above daily in social media will serve as participants. Snowball

sampling design will be applied. This study will utilize the qualitative research design.