SOCIAL MEDIA AND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: TRENDS AND EFFECTS STUDIES

Abstract

The trend of using social media among university students has increased widely and it has also affected their different areas of life; be it social, psychological or academic. A large number of studies have been conducted on a similar topic, but these have not specifically covered the university students of Bahawalpur region of Southern Punjab. The researcher has selected various social media platforms to conduct a quantitative study. Thus, the current study aimed to explore the trends of using social media, its effects on multiple areas whether positive or negative and to investigate which social media platform is largely surfed. These objectives achieved within the domain of university students of Bahawalpur by employing the survey research method. For this, questionnaire was prepared using 5-Point Likert Scale. The sample size consisted of 300 students and convenient sampling technique was adopted. After collecting and analysing data, the researcher concluded that the university students are highly addicted to social media and major trends are to extend their social circle, to freely express themselves, to escape from hectic routine, and to get academic-related information. Facebook and YouTube are largely used by the students to search their academic stuff which remarkably increases their performance while some of the students reported disturbed sleeping patterns, eating disorders, loss of eye-sight, procrastination, wastage of time and cyber-bullying. In this scenario, we cannot blame technology for good and bad in itself, it depends on us for what purpose we are using it. However, this study has outweighed advantages more than the disadvantages.

Keywords: Social Media, University Students, Trends, Effects.