Determining the Impacts of Social Media on Mood, Time Management and Academic Activities of Students and the Relationship with their Academic Performance

The number of social media sites have increased exponentially with new ones cashing in on the weaknesses of older ones and others going beyond community guidelines by offering uncensored content. The vendors of these platforms in order to have a wider reach do not place restrictions on viewing age, promises young people with fame, and other such attractive offers that make the youths addicted to the site. The possibility of hacking into accounts of users and using same for fraud is another rave among Nigerian youths with desire for quick riches. The crash in prices of data, smart phones, and related digital devices have increased availability and access thereby closing digital divide and widening its adverse effects on the youths morals and academic pursuits. It is important that the Nigerian government understand factors that contribute to the dwindling performance level of students in government owned institutions to put in place policies and infrastructure that would help combat the challenges. This study investigated the effects of social media on students academic activities, mood and time management abilities. The result indicated that association between social media and academic activities is statistically significant. However, a negative association exists between them which implies that the high the level of social media activity, the lower academic activities participation. Similar association was observed on the effects of social media on students time management ability.