Chapter I

THE PROBLEM

Introduction

“Social Media exploded as a category of online discourse

which enables people to create contents, share them, bookmark
them and network at a prodigious rate.” (Jha and Bhardwaj,
2012)
Nowadays, people use social media to communicate with
others. Teenagers use social networking sites such as facebook,
twitter, instagram and youtube. These social networking sites are
more likely used in modern days. Today, the social media
website containing largest number of subscribers is Facebook. It
was launched by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. The second most
famous social media website is Twitter which was created by
Jack Dorset, Biz Stone, Noah Glass and Evan Williams. Twitter
has more than 500 million subscribers. There has been a massive
increase in the use of social networking media in the recent
years, as illustrated by the fact that facebook had grown to 800
million users in eight years (The Irish Times, 2012). This just
shows that social media had become convenient to others in
terms of socializing and communicating with others.
Teenagers use most of their time in using social networking
sites. Sometimes, these can affect the way they communicate
with people. These days, people now have their own internet
connection because it’s more convenient. People now use
electronic devices such as cellphones, laptops and tablets so they
can have much easier access to social media. “By giving the
people the power to share, we’re making the world more
transparent.” (Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook) People
use social networking sites, such as facebook, to connect with
each other. They use this to share news, socialize and interact
with each other, communicate and even for entertainment. The
main purpose of social media is to give access to clients and
users. The more people use social networking sites to
communicate with each other, the less they communicate and
interact with each other in person. This study aims to know the
impact of social media to student’s communication skills. This
study will also focus on how social media affects the daily lives
of students and how it affects their communication skills.

Definition of Terms

Social Media – websites and applications that enable users to

create and share content or to participate in social networking.

Communication – is the process by which information is

exchanged between individuals.
Theoretical Framework

Social Media Theory

June Ahn, “teenagers are among the most prolific users of social
network sites. Emerging studies find that youth spend a
considerable portion on their daily life interacting through social
media.”
Communication Theory
S. F. Scudder (1980) “All living beings existing on the planet
communicate although the way of communication is different.”

Conceptual Framework

INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT
 J
SOCIAL MEDIA u
o
FACEBOOK e

TWITTER
A INTRAPERSONAL
h
n COMMUNICATION
INSTAGRAM ,
“
YOUTUBE t
e
e
n
a
g
e
r
s
a
r
e
Statement of the Problem

1. What are the profiles of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Name (optional)
1.2 Sex
1.3 Age
2. Does social media have an impact on student’s
communication skills?
3. What are the impact of social media to student’s
communication skills?
4. How does social media affect the communication skills of
students?

Scope and Delimitations

The study covers the Grade 8 and 9 students of NLCSC

covering 20 female and 20 male students. The researchers
focused on the impact of social media (Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and Youtube) to the communication skills of Grade 8
and 9 students in NLCSC.
Hypothesis

The hypothesis is stated in its null form. There is no significant

relationship between social media and the communication skills
of students.

Significance of the Study

This study will help understand the impact of social media to the
communication skills of students. Moreover, the researchers will
emphasize the beneficial/detrimental effects of this study to the
students because it will help them know the impact of social
media to their communication skills and be aware of it, to the
teachers so they can advise and guide the students, to the school
administrators so they can talk to the teachers and advise them
to guide and also advise their students, and to the future
researchers so this study will serve as they’re guide to their
future research paper.
 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

I. Far-Reaching Effects of social media includes cyber

bullying. Nicholas David Bowman, PhD, an assistant
professor of communication studies in the Beverly
College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia
University, says actions that trigger a bad online
relationship likely are the same ones that trigger a bad
relationship in real life—only the modality has changed.
“For example, cyber bullying has largely the same
antecedents and behavioral, emotional, and affective
consequences as does a non-cyber bullying,” Bowman
says. “Yet the difference is the ‘more’—that is, social
media allows for more contact, more communication,
and in a more public manner.” In a bullying event, often
the person being bullied can remove himself or herself
from the environment, at least temporarily. For example,
a child being bullied at school can escape the playground
when he or she goes home each night. “However, cyber
bullying is marked by its persistence,” Bowman says.
“The bullying messages don’t stay in a particular space,
such as a playground, but can follow the child home. If
we consider that bullying effects on an individual can
build over time, then there is a real concern that
increasing contact between bullies and their targets in
 persistent and digital interactions might exacerbate the
problem.”

II. In Emily Drago’s [3] article, it was discovered that the

rapid expansion of technology could immerse people
into the digital world keeping them away from the real
world. Los Angeles restaurants have banned the use of
mobile devices to ensure customers enjoy both their meal
and their company (Forbes, 2013). People who had
conversations in the absence of mobile devices reported
higher levels of empathetic concern, while those
conversing in the presence of a mobile device reported
lower levels of empathy (Misra, Cheng, Genevie, &
Yuan, 2014).

III. Study conducted by Sunitha Kuppuswamy and P. B.

Shankar Narayan in 2010 clarified that the using social
media networking takes most of the time of students and
redirects it towards non-constructive, often non-ethical,
deceptive and improper activities, for example, texting
and chatting with friends for most of the time of the day,
time killing by searching for peoples’ private life and
avoiding their real jobs and studies. Youth especially
students for the most part utilize social media for time
killing and purpose of happiness however it has been
found out that web use for academic reasons and
assignments including online instructional exercises,
 online classes and training material downloading is a
positive step. However, utilization of web especially
social media for just informal communication is just a
wastage of time and futile.

IV. The survey result in Velga Vevere’s [2] article, among

240 Latvian students, demonstrates that although
students are aware of the impact of social media on their
daily communication patterns, they perceive it as a new
natural environment of communication. Majority of the
students surveyed admit that their online behaviour
affects their everyday communication and that they more
and more extensively use the abbreviation, contractions,
and specific symbols (Velga Vevere, 2015, p.134).

V. In another research, (Kristen Tarantino, Jessica

McDonough, Ma Hua, 2013), the authors reviewed
various studies. The research has discussed the relation
between students’ involvement in social media and their
learning. They also discussed how it can affect peer
connections, collaborations and information creation.
Instructors who need to utilize social media in their
courses to enhance students learning ability ought to be
arranged to encourage students and be dynamic members
in the communitarian learning group. The notion that
students definitely know how to utilize social media
might act as an obstacle for those students who might
require closer supervision and direction. The authors
claimed that since females utilize social media more than
males, gender might has a great influence to the extent to
 which students are occupied with academic efforts
through social media, in this way influencing their
overall learning process.

VI. Siddiqui et al.’s [1] summary article covers all aspects of

social media with its positive and negative effects
focusing on business, education, society and youth.
Social media is the best tool used for branding,
promotion of any products or business. As media act as
the fourth estate in our society linking the general public
and government, political affairs can be easily carried
out with the public through social media. Anyone can
bring to light the social issues prevailing in our society
by publishing articles, public service ads or campaigns
through social networking sites. Due to the easy access
and cost effectiveness of social media, education sector
also finds it effortless to reach every candidate who is in
thirst of acquiring knowledge. Nowadays shopping and
payment of bills can be done within no time clicking
through the online sites. Siddiqui et al. (2016) finds
social media risky when it comes to the matter of
privacy. There are many hackers who can misuse our
online profile or credit card passwords to meet their
selfish needs. Negative comments by anyone on the
updates of a business group, or of government, or even
of an individual can affect their reputation. Students get
addicted to social networking sites and thus get diverted
from their studies. The present generation with over
dependence on online communication, lose ability for
face to face communication.