Social Media and Students' Academic Performance: A Case Study of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi

The use of social media nowadays amongst students to efficiently share information has become worrisome, especially in their academic pursuits. Most often students are involved in using social media on campus, most common during assignments, reading, practicals and lectures. These activities tend to affect them negatively in their studies. Social media refers to the use of applications and websites to share resources effectively in real-time. This paper assesses students’ usage of social media and its effects on their academic performance at Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Questionnaires were distributed to students of the Polytechnic. The data collected were analysed and presented. Out of one thousand 1000 copies of the questionnaires distributed among students of various departments across the different Schools (Faculties), only nine hundred and fifty-eight 958 were retrieved which represented a response rate of 95.8 %. The study shows that majority of the respondents have mobile phones with internet access which enables them to have access to many social media sites that they are conversant with. The results of this study revealed that most students access these sites throughout the day. On average a student spent between one to three and half hours a day. The results indicate that the use of social media has affected students’ concentration in their studies thus negatively affecting their performance. It is recommended that students should be discouraged from using phones during academic activities to access social media as it affects concentration even though phones could be helpful with assignments and studies, they should be used when necessary.