SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC RELATIONSHIP AMONG STUDENTS OF AKWA IBOMS STATE POLYTECHNIC

The study is covers social media and academic relationship among students of Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic. The objectives of the study were to: identify the social media network that the students are more exposed to in Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, ascertain the level of social media usage among students academies, find out the perception Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic students on social media usage and determine the influence of social media usage has on students academic performance. A survey research method was utilized for this study. 380 respondents was selected through a simple random technique. Data was gotten through the questionnaire. Findings from this study show that the social media network that the students are more exposed to in Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic are Facebook and WhatsApp and the level students of Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic use social media on their academics is very high as they spend more than six hours on social media. Findings also revealed that students of Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic perceived that the use of social media on their academics is useful and they have perceived it to have a great impact on their academic performance. Findings also revealed that social network sites has significant impact such as, access to educational materials and sharing of relevance information on their academic performance. The study however recommended that students should practice time management to minimize the negative impact of social media on academic performance. And also social media platforms should offer academic tools like: laptops, WIFI, e-learning platform etc. to further support students' learning.