Influence of social media on the academic performance of nursing students of Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria

It is a generalized belief that social media use reduces students’ academic performance. This study was justified by the need to find out if social media was the major issue or if other academic strategies needed to be enhanced. This research was carried out to determine the influence of social media on the academic performance of nursing students of Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria. One hundred and fifty (150) students were included in this study using a purposive sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire which was pilot tested for its validity and reliability. Relevant literatures were reviewed in accordance with the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and represented in frequency tables, pie charts and bar charts using Microsoft Excel 2021. The findings showed that a good proportion of the participants use social media to get vital information, a larger population (65.33%) believes that the effect social media has on their academics is a positive one. Despite the fact that a large proportion of students reported using social media for purposes other than academics, the study supports a positive influence of social media on academic performance when harnessed properly.