The Impact Of Social Networking: A Study Of The Influence Of Smartphones On College Students

Abstract

The use of social networking by college students has become increasingly relevant to their academic lives. Smartphones have added great potential by enabling an increase in the use of social networking and in the number of hours spent on such sites. Being online for a long time and being able to access different information from different sources at the same time could cause information overload. Students could face problems in filtering the information they receive and they might find it difficult to decide which sources they can trust and, therefore, which to select. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of social networking on college students. To achieve this aim, the research employs various methodologies which include descriptive/interpretive studies of the literature and previous studies carried out by academics and industrial institutions. It also utilizes surveys taken among university students. A questionnaire was distributed among 179 students at different universities and higher education institutes in the Sultanate of Oman in order to explore the influence on college students of social networking using their smartphones. There are three main findings: 1) college students spend a long time on social networking sites, 2) college students are facing problems in trusting, filtering, and selecting all the different information accessed from social networking sites, and 3) social networks affect students in both positive and negative ways.

Problematic and extensive YouTube use: first hand reports

“…These categories overlap to some degree and there are apparent inconsistencies. Some authors have found that problematic use is correlated with extensive use (Al-Harrasi and Al-Badi, 2014;Leung and Lee, 2012), but there is no evidence that extensive use is necessarily problematic. This generic literature provides a background for research specific to YouTube.…”

Sleeping with the frenemy: How restricting ‘bedroom use’ of smartphones impacts happiness and wellbeing

“…A study on the impact of smartphones and social media on students reported that 75% of students spend between 1 and 5 h per day on social networking sites. 85% of students surveyed described social networking sites as 'very time-consuming' and said that the time could be better used (Al-Harrasi & Al-Badi, 2014). Another study found that median time spent on social media for nineteen to thirty-two year olds was 61 min (Levenson, Shensa, Sidani, Colditz, & Primack, 2016).…”

“…Ofcom has reported that 87% of young adults (18e29 years) use their smartphones to visit social media sites (Orzech, Grandner, Roane, & Carskadon, 2016) and that 76% of all internet users in the UK have at least one social media profile (Adults' media use and attitudes, 2018). It is clear that much of the time spent on smartphones is dedicated to 'social media', a term which refers to sharing, scrolling, posting, gaming and consuming online content, as well as chatting to contacts (Al-Harrasi & Al-Badi, 2014). Smart Insights' global social media research report found Facebook to be the run-away leader of social networking sites, with an astonishing 1870 million active users worldwide; approximately 870 million more users than its closest competitor, Whatsapp ("|Top Social Network sites by number of active users 2017 | Smart Insights, 2018).…”

Utilizing Social Media to Encourage Domestic Tourism in Oman

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