The influence of social media on academic achievement among University students in Dar es Salaam

This study investigated the influence of social media on academic achievement among University students’ in Dar es Salaam region. Specifically, the study examined the factors influencing university students’ use of social media, the impact of social media usage on students’ academic performance, to evaluate the lecturers or tutors attitudes toward social media usage as a tool of enhancing students’ academic achievement and level of addiction to social media between genders. Mixed approach and cross sectional survey design was employed in the study. Two universities in Dar es Salaam region were involved, namely: University of Dar Es Salaam and Open University of Tanzania. Purposive and random sampling techniques procedures were used to select 270 students and twenty lecturers as respondents of the study. Questionnaires, Focus Group Discussions and semi structured interviews were used in data collection. The study reveals that academic work, keeping in touch with other people, gathering friends under the same roof, relevant materials available in social media, entertainment and refreshment and the improvement of electronic devices such smart phones were among the factors which influenced students to join social media. Furthermore, social media provided students an opportunity to share academic issues with their friends. It also provided both students and lecturers the flexibility of accessing the learning materials from different sources. Moreover, the finding of the study noted that most of students were in risk group of addiction to social media. There is no statistically significant difference in level of addiction between males and females were observed. The study concluded that integration of social media in high learning education is so important since it would contribute towards meeting the current demands of the digital generation and globalization, it would also eliminates gaps of the digital divide among students. The study recommended that University administrators and education stakeholders have to start considering the important of social media in education