The Impact of Social Media on Undergraduate Academic Activities and Educational Tools at the Tertiary Level

Shaneille Samuels^1, , Tricia Morris¹, Dennis Xavier¹, Stacey Franklin¹ and Vanessa Dillon¹

¹School of Mathematics & Statistics, Faculty of Science & Sport, University of Technology, Papine Campus, St. Andrew, Jamaica

Cite this paper:
Shaneille Samuels, Tricia Morris, Dennis Xavier, Stacey Franklin and Vanessa Dillon. The Impact of Social Media on Undergraduate Academic Activities and Educational Tools at the Tertiary Level. American Journal of Educational Research. 2026; 14(6):179-204. doi: 10.12691/education-14-6-4

Abstract

There has been a rapidly evolving education landscape and digital technologies, where social media, especially platforms like TikTok and Instagram, have become a feature of the lives of our university students. These platforms have influenced students’ access to information (notes), collaboration, and how they manage their academic study habits. The study examined the relationship between students’ social media use and their academic achievement, as well as identifying the implications for institutional teaching strategies. The study employed a mixed-methods approach adopting a convergent parallel research design involving a sample of 63 educators and 1000 students at the tertiary level through questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews. The simultaneous collection and analysis ensured triangulation and, through merger, facilitate richer insights into the phenomenon. The findings revealed that there is no significant association between overall social media distraction levels and GPA (p > 0.05). This suggests that examining the frequency of social media use was found to be a weak predictor of academic performance. However, through further analyses, now including educational content and entertainment-oriented activities, particularly watching videos, messaging friends, and browsing feeds revealed there exist statistical differences between these activities (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the findings support structured educational integration of social media within Jamaican higher education. These results indicated that for successful integration there is need for digital literacy training, structured, integrated adaptive strategies, and developing clear policy frameworks. Additionally, infrastructural developments are necessary for the teaching and learning process, especially for social media integration. Also, this study is relevant to other tertiary institutions in the Caribbean to optimally leverage digital tools to ensure inclusivity and sustainability in higher education.

Keywords:
Jamaican tertiary institutions social media study habits academic performance undergraduate activities

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