Influence of Social Media Usage on Study Habits of Undergraduates in North Central Nigeria: Implications for Counselling

The study investigated the influence of social media usage on study habits of undergraduates in North Central Nigeria: Implications for counselling. Four objectives and research questions guided the study and four hypotheses were formulated. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design. The population for this study comprises 13,292, 400 level students from four Federal Universities in North Central Nigeria. The sample size for the study was 388 400 level students who were drawn using proportionate stratified and accidental sampling techniques. Two instruments, a structured questionnaire titled “Social Media and Study Habits Questionnaire†(SMSHQ) and a semi-structured interview were used for data collection). The instruments were validated by experts. The reliability of the questionnaire was established using Cronbach Alpha method which yielded a coefficient of 0.71. Data collected for the study were analyzed using Means and Standard Deviation to answer the research questions while Chi-Square Goodness of Fit was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that, Facebook usage, Twitter usage and Instagram usage have no significant influence on the study habits of undergraduates in North Central Nigeria. WhatsApp usage was however found to significantly influence the study habits of the undergraduates positively. The study concluded that except for WhatsApp platform, the usage of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram negatively affect the study habits of undergraduates in North Central Nigeria. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended that University management in collaboration with counsellors should make strict rules and regulations on the use of smart phones for accessing social media platforms during lecture hours and lecturers should be supported by the management to implement these rules and through counseling, undergraduates should be made to realize all the potential harm from excessive use of social platforms and responsibly approach the learning process.