THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES TO THE STUDIES OF GRADE 8

MORNING SESSION STUDENTS OF BALIBAGO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Citra, Alan Patrick C.

Galguerra, Georgette F.
Lustre, Lhorie Jane C.
Moore, Maricriss N.

Chapter 1: Introduction
A. Background of the Study
Social networking sites or the so called SNS is an online service for people
who want social relations to other people around the world. The netizens or the
people who use the internet use SNS for communicating to others by means of email or instant message using their own account. SNS are widely used nowadays in
our developing country. Most SNS are to provide interactions of different people who
share the same interests, likes and even real-life connections.
According to Miles Walker (2011), Social networking site is said to have
begun in 1978 with Bulletin Board System or BBS. BBS was required to connect in a
modem of that computer and can exchange information through telephone pole and
was the very first system that allows user to sign in and interact with other people
but it is slow since only one user can log at a time. The SNS system started very
slow, long time ago with the usage of telephone pole to connect to others. When
they use the telephone for calling, the internet dies out. They cant use both at the
same time so its quite troublesome in the late years. The very first version of instant
messaging came about 1988 with Inter Relay Chat or IRC, a Unix-based limiting
access to most people that was used for link and file sharing and generally keeping
in touch with one another (Walker, 2012). Using an instant messaging helps
conserve time since in the late years most people use letters to send their feelings to
their loved ones in a faraway place. Keeping in touch with others gave them the
information if something is good for a celebration to happen. The first copies of web
browsers were distributed by the bulletin board Usenet that was created by Jan Ellis
and Truscott, which allows the user to post articles that were referred to as news
(Walker, 2012). Web browsers are the program needed to open a website. Examples
of web browsers are Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera Mini, Google Chrome
etc. Users could type the website on the web browsers in the upper part that is
called web address.
According to an article in www.studymode.com, Nowadays, social networking
sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, MySpace and others are attracting millions
of people around the world, especially the students. Social networking sites had
been the source of happiness for many students. SNS have become a trending
topic nowadays and viral among teenagers. Especially to the teenagers, many of
them are associated to SNS, since teenagers must always be in with what is popular
nowadays. Even education has been influenced by SNS with Elizabeth
Power(2012), stating The potential for using SNS to further the goal of education is

immerse, and teachers are making faraway into the world of online social networking
for educational purposes. Since there are lots of SNS, what could be the most
visited? According to ebizma.com, the top 5 most visited sites are Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Pinterest and MySpace. Given the data, this study will find out the answer
to what effect does SNS have to the studies of GRADE 8 Morning Session Students
of Balibago National High School.

B. Theoretical Framework
Our research study The effects of social networking site to the studies of
Grade 8 Morning Session students of Balibago National High School tried to
answer the question What will happen to the school performance of student with
their habitual interaction to SNS? The research study of Nayzabekov (2012)
claimed that SNS will affect it in a bad way, with the statement, the idea of
multitasking which could perform different years of action while visiting SNS
would affect the concentration of students, because for example a student has a
lot of assignments and works on different subjects instead of doing it on time and
early, he/she visits first the SNS. According to this statement, SNS will affect the
concentration of a student that we presume would lead to the bending of focus of
student from studying to usage of SNS. This is supported by the statement of
Ellis and Knaus which sees it as, a failure to initiate or complete a task or activity
by determined time. In other words, he sees SNS-related activities as non
academic activities that will result in postponing the completion of academic task.
However, the study of Elizabeth Power (2012) stated that SNS has a good
effect, with the statement, the potential for using SNS to further the goal of
education is immerse, and teachers are making the faraway into the world of
online social networking site for educational purposes. As the statement said,
there is a lot of potential in furthering the education using SNS since teachers
would be able to support the students even if the school period ends.
Power (2012) sees SNS as a coin that have two sides, meaning that there
are dual effects of SNS. The researchers decided to use this theory together with

C. Conceptual Framework

INPUT

Profile of
the Grade 8
Students

PROCESS

Survey

OUTPUT

To know the
effects of
Social
Networking
Sites

EFFECTS
D. Statement of the Problem
This study proposes to answer What are the effects of Social Networking
Sites on the studies of Grade 8 Morning Session of Balibago National High
School as its general objective. SNS has become viral in the society and even
the world. This has become teenagers way of killing boredom. Our system for
school has been worsening because there are many students or teenagers that
are starting to lose focus on their studies. Thus, the objective of this research is
to explore the advantages and disadvantages of social networking to the studies
of students The main purpose is to expand on previous research explore the
relationship of social networking sites and students study efficiency and
determine if Social media is interfering with their academic lives.

E. Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study investigates the effects of social networking websites in the study
of students. The study includes what social networking sites they visit.
Furthermore, in this study it also contained the aspects social networking sites
(SNSs) have to encourage users to visit. This study also wrote about the
disadvantages and advantages of SNS in the academic excellence of the
students. Besides, this study would discuss if social networking sites affects the
academic performance of the students. However, the study would not cover their
financial status like if they use money for several purposes. It will not also include
the effects of such websites to the emotional aspect of the students. Aside from
that, the study would not include how teenagers or students used social
networking sites.
F. Significance of the Study
Social networking sites (SNS), are deemed to be one of the factors why
students get interrupted on their studies. As a matter of fact, SNS has a dual face
that can bring to the students. It has advantages and disadvantages for its users.
Nowadays, parents prioritize their children in terms of different aspects,
particularly on their studies. Because of this, this study aims to help them parents be
aware on the possible effects that SNS could give to their children. This study would
give the parents knowledge on the probable academic failure of their children
students as a result of constant interaction with it. Moreover, this study is also
targeted to benefit other researchers or people who need facts and information
about this topic. This study is also seen to be beneficial to the students.
Furthermore, this study could give a probable explanation to the teachers who
surmise why their students' academic excellence and school performance are
changing. Since this study focuses on the effects of SNS on the students, it could
also help DEPED to create a better system for the students who are struggling with
bad effects of social networking sites.

G. Definition of Terms

In order to understand the subject matter clearly, these are the following key concepts:

social networking sites (SNS)

- are sites students use for non-academic and
academic purposes in several terms like communicating with their friends,
playing games (related in history, facts, information, and etc.), viewing their
profiles e.g. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Friendster
Profile - something to do with pictures of users and information about them
netizens - citizen in the Facebook society
Students - persons or users who use social networking sites particularly in
SAGIS
Academic performance - skills or ability of the students in terms of their
academic to pass in required subjects especially on their weekly quizzes in 1
week on Math, Science and English subjects
Extracurricular - activities that are not related in academic success e.g. parties,
picnics and etc. which sometimes distract the study habits of students
Personal account - an account of individuals which students or users used for
visiting social networking sites