INTRODUCTION:
Life has become fast paced and time has become a most precious resource. People are finding means of saving time because of their fast paced life style. Everybody seems to be in a hurry to reach office or school or any other destination.
There seems to be no time for people to even pause and greet each other when they come across friends or acquaintances. People need interaction for fulfilling their social needs and social media has become a preferred medium for communication with the proliferation of digital and mobile technologies. Digitalization has reduced the face to face interaction of human beings or a personal communications. Even our children contact their friends in the neighbourhood through mobiles only.1
Children are the supreme assets of our country. India is home to the largest child population in the world. The development of children is the first priority on the country’s development agenda.2 Children become victims of the digital revolution and the lazy life styles they have been inflicted. The mobile phone has created a social situation whereby people are getting used to avoidance of person to person communication by switching over to mobile. Lack of time for individuals and families due to the need for husband and wife to be employed for meeting the needs of a satisfactory life style. Children don’t receive enough support and communication from their parents or friends; they spend more time on social media.2
Social media and social networking sites are computer based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts and information through the building of virtual networks and communities to interacts with real life friends, and meet other people based on shared interests and many students find it difficult to go about their normal life without making use of social media.3
Students are spending countless hours in social media, one of the most widely used social network site is Facebook. It can be accessed by various devices such as a computer, laptop, iPad, tablet, and mobile phone, which helps people to stay connected at all times. Worldwide, 829 million computers and 654 million mobile are daily active users.4 Some of the most popular social media websites, with over 100 million registered users are Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, YouTube, Instagram, Hike, MySpace, and LinkedIn.5
According to statistics in 2019, it is estimated that there are around 2.77 billion social media users around the globe, up from 2.46 billion in 2017.21 Nearly 64% of Indian respondents who were part of a global survey in 2018 owned a mobile phone and 24% owned a Smartphone.6 In 2019, it was estimated that there will be around 258.27 million social network users in India, up from close to 168 million in 2017. The most popular social networks in India are Facebook and YouTube, followed by social app WhatsApp. Facebook is projected to reach close to 319 million users in India by 2021.7
Facebook reports an estimated 2.4 billion monthly active users and 1.6 billion daily active users. Currently, YouTube has more than 1.9 billion logged-in visits every month. On average, 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute on YouTube. Daily active users on YouTube are over 149 million. Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users. Daily active users on Instagram are over 600 million. WhatsApp is estimated to have approximately 1.5 billion monthly active users. Daily active users on WhatsApp are over 1 billion.8
Studies say that the average person logs on to social media sites at least 12-36 times a day, and spends an hour to 3 hours on it. The smart phones are being used 24/7 without getting switched off for a single second.25 Indian college students check their phones at about 150 times a day on an average and spend 4-7 hours on their smartphones.9
Mobile phone emits electromagnetic radiation in the microwave range, which may be believed harmful to human health. Mobile phone use may represent a long-term health risk, classifying mobile phone radiation as a “carcinogenic hazard” and “possibly carcinogenic to humans”.27 Repetitive Internet use leading to abnormal behaviour which causes negative consequences to its users such as psychological, physiological, behavioural, sociological or other important functional impairments.10
A study reports that Facebook was the most widely accessed social network service (SNS), being used by 78.3% of the participants, with 134 (33.5%) using facebook alone for social networking. A majority of students 64% accessed SNS on a daily basis while 36% of them used weekly or monthly. Among the daily users, 29% logged in 2-5 times in a day, while almost an equal number 28.5% logged in 5-10 times; there were 6.5% who accessed SNS more than 10 times a day. Similarly, 39.5% said they used SNS for 1-2 hours, while 4% used it for more than 4 hours a day. The prevalence of visual problems, eyestrain, headache, appetite problems and postural pain were significantly high in daily social network service users.11
The increasing importance of Internet and online usage dramatically, is leading to a new kind of addiction called “Internet Addiction”. Several studies have reviewed the relationship among the Internet addiction and adolescents’ psychological characteristics including disappointment and social behaviour, loneliness, depressive mood and impulsiveness, reduction of self esteem etc.12 Teens that use Facebook more often show more narcissistic tendencies while youths who have a strong Facebook presence show more signs of other psychological disorders, including antisocial behaviours, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), mania and aggressive tendencies. Daily over use of media and technology has a negative effect on the health of all children, preteens and teenagers by making them more prone to anxiety, depression and other psychological disorders.13
Students do not take their meals on time and take proper rest. They take an excessive amount of coffee or tea to remain active and focused, which affects negatively on their health.14 Moreover, chronic users complain of back pain, eye problems, headache and gastrointestinal problems. Addiction can lead to the inability to communicate in the real world by depriving the addict of the daily practices involved with interpersonal communication.15 It exposes these teens to pornographic content being spread in some social groups online. This in turn leads to early pregnancies amongst young girls causing them to drop out of school. It can also lead to contraction of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV and this can lead to early deaths of our young generation. The morals of these teens are also tampered with as they now get access to immoral literature and videos.16
Even though social media sites seem to connect more people, it leads to isolation socially. It reduces the number of face-to-face interactions amongst the youths because they normally spend most of their time on these online social platforms.34 It also leads to misspelling of words and misuse of words and tenses through the use of short forms and abbreviations. This has a high negative impact more so on students because it affects their language capabilities directly and this leads to poor grades in languages.17
MATERIALS AND MEATHODS:
Study Design:
The research design used for the present study was pre-experimental: one group pre-test, post-test design. O1: Assessment of the knowledge of the subjects through structured knowledge questionnaire before administration of Competency based teaching. X: Administration of Competency based teaching regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance. O2: Assessment of the knowledge of the subjects through same structured knowledge questionnaire after the administration of Competency Based teaching.
Setting and Sample:
In present study, 50 samples (25 students from 9th and 25 students from 10th standard) studying at KLES’ M. R. Sakhare English Medium School, Hubballi. Samples were selected through Probability; Simple Random sampling technique.
Measurement:
The subjects were given Socio-demographic sheet and the structured knowledge questionnaire. This part consists of 40 items for obtaining level of knowledge regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance among school children. Each correct answer carries 1 mark and incorrect answer carries 0 mark. The tool was validated by experts in the field of Medical Surgical Nursing and other health care professionals and by the members of research committee of KLES’ Institute of Nursing Sciences, Hubballi. The tool was tested reliability by using Split half Method and applying Karl Person’s Coeffient formula. The reliability of Structured knowledge questionnaire was r=0.89.
Data Collection:
The research investigator had taken formal permission from the Principal of KLE’S M R Sakhare English Medium school, Hubballi. The investigator introduced herself and explained the purpose of the study written consent was obtained from the participants. The pre-test was conducted by using structured knowledge questionnaire to assess the knowledge regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance among school children followed by administration of Competency based teaching. The post-test was carried out 1 week later using same tool which was used for pre-test. The collected data was tabulated and analysed.
Data Analysis:
The data obtained ware analysed in terms of the objectives of the study using descriptive and inferential statistics. Tabulation of data in terms of frequency, percentage, mean, median, mode, standard deviation and range to describe the data. Classification of knowledge scores (level of knowledge) were as follows:
·
Good Knowledge =
(
+ SD) and above
·
Average knowledge =
( – SD) to (+ SD)
·
Poor knowledge =(– SD)and below
[Note:
=Mean, SD=
Standard deviation]
Results:
Level of Knowledge score n=50
Graph 1 :The column graph represents percentage distribution of subjects
According to their level of knowledge scores in pre-test and post-test.
level of knowledge of school children regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance during pre-test and post-test. Most of the subjects in the pre-test 31(62%) had average knowledge, 09(18%) had good knowledge and 10(20%) had poor knowledge. Whereas, in post-test after CBT, 40 (80%) had good knowledge and 10(20%) had average knowledge.
The calculated paired‘t’ value (tcal=29.16*) was greater than the tabulated value (ttab= 2.009). Hence, H1 was accepted. This indicates that the gain in knowledge scores was statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, the Competency Based Teaching was effective to improve the knowledge of subjects.
With regard to statically association between pre-test knowledge scores and selected sociodemographic variables, there was no association between the knowledge scores and socio-demographic variables. Hence H3 was rejected.
DISCUSSION:
The present study has been undertaken with the aim to assess the knowledge regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance among school children of selected school of Hubballi.
The overall pre-test knowledge scores revealed that majority of the subjects 31(62%) had average knowledge, 09(18%) had good knowledge and 10(20%) had poor knowledge. Whereas, in post-test majority of the subjects 40(80%) had good knowledge and 10(20%) had average knowledge scores regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance. These findings were supported through a study conducted by Karthi R, Porselvi M, Menaga Gandhi B, Tamilvanan K and Thiruvengadam P, who observed that majority of the subjectsin pre-test, 33(66%) of adolescents had inadequate knowledge, 17(34%) of adolescents had moderately adequate knowledge and none of them had adequate knowledge. Whereas, in post-test 43(86%) of adolescents had adequate knowledge, 07 (14%) of adolescents had moderately adequate knowledge and none of them had inadequate knowledge regarding adverse effects of electronic gadgets among adolescents.
The calculated paired‘t’ value (tcal=29.16*) was greater than the tabulated value (ttab= 2.009). Hence, H1 was accepted. This indicates that the gain in knowledge scores was statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance. Therefore, the Competency Based Teaching was effective to improve the knowledge of subjects.
These findings were supported by a study conducted by Karthi R, Porselvi M, Menaga Gandhi B, Tamilvanan K and Thiruvengadam P in which the calculated ‘t’ value (tcal= 25.03*) was greater than the table value (ttab= 23.69) at 0.05 level of significance. Hence, it is statistically interpretedthatCompetency Based Teaching was effective in improving knowledge regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance.
The calculated chi-square test revealed that there was statistical association between type of family and knowledge scores. Hence, H2.4 was accepted. This finding was supported through a study conducted by BabitaKayastha, AshmitaGurung and RashmiChawal who observed thatthere was statistical association between type of family and knowledge scores. Hence, null hypothesis was accepted.
CONCLUSION:
Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn:
1. The overall pre-test knowledge scores of school children were average.
2. The post-test knowledge scores of the subjects after administration of the Competency Based Teaching was significantly higher than the pre-test knowledge scores. Hence, CBT was effective in improving knowledge regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance.
3. There was statistical association between type of family and knowledge scores whereas, no association between the knowledge scores and other socio-demographic variables such as age, gender, standard, place of stay, education of father, education of mother, family income per month, availability of Smartphone/Laptop/Tablet at home, use of Social Networking Sites and duration of SNS usage per day.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Keeping in the view the findings of the present study, the following recommendations were made:
1. A similar study that can be done on larger sample size would be more pertinent in making broad generalization.
2. A comparative study can be conducted regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance among urban and rural school children and the findings can be compared.
3. A descriptive study can be conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance.
4. An observational study can be conducted regarding effects of social media addiction on health and academic performance.
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Received on 02.09.2022 Modified on 24.09.2022
Accepted on 17.10.2022 © A&V Publications all right reserved
Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2023; 11(1):41-45.
DOI: 10.52711/2454-2660.2023.00009