A literature review of the effects of social networking sites on secondary school students’ academic achievement

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A literature review of the effects of social

networking sites on secondary school students’

academic achievement

Melese Astatke, Cathy Weng & Sufen Chen

To cite this article: Melese Astatke, Cathy Weng & Sufen Chen (2021): A literature review of the effects of social networking sites on secondary school students’ academic achievement, Interactive Learning Environments, DOI: 10.1080/10494820.2021.1875002

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REVIEW ARTICLE

A literature review of the e ﬀ ects of social networking sites on secondary school students ’ academic achievement

Melese Astatke â, Cathy Weng âand Sufen Chen â,b

aGraduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China;^bOptentia Research Focus Area, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

ABSTRACT

Due to COVID- 19 pandemic, schools all over the world have gone from full face-to-face to online lessons. This paper analyzed the inﬂuences of social networking sites (SNS) on secondary school students’ academic achievement. The original studies were extracted from the Web of Science database, and the review of the 27 selected journal articles revealed that the use of SNS is both positively and negatively related to secondary school students’ academic achievement. However, it was found that few studies have reported the positive impacts of SNS use on students’ academic achievement. On the contrary, several studies have shown that excessive usage of SNS, inappropriate SNS use, and usage of SNS for other recreational activities instead of educational purposes harmed students’ academic achievement. Factors that mediate (such as internet addiction, intention to cyberbully, and sexually explicit material use) and moderate (such as gender, sleep time, learning environment, time management skill and school day and non-school day behaviors) the SNS-academic achievement link are discussed. These ﬁndings have important implications for parents, teachers, educationalists, and counselors who should be aware of the potential for inappropriate and excessive use of SNS by students, and who should develop intervention mechanisms to address the problem.

ARTICLE HISTORY Received 3 July 2020 Accepted 27 November 2020 KEYWORDS

Academic achievement;

adolescent; secondary school; social networking sites; social media; review

Introduction

The rapid growth of communication technologies has allowed users to interact easily with groups of people from anywhere in the world via their computer or cell phone. Socio-technological networks are not only an important part of the entertainment industry, but are also being increasingly used for educational purposes (Siemens et al.,2015). There are a significant number of studies that provide empirical evidence regarding the influences of using social networking sites (SNS) on students’academic achievement, with some declaring that there are positive effects. According to Hrastinski (2008), students have the opportunity to use social networking (SN) platforms and to engage in social interaction on chat and discussion boards, in addition to online tutorials, online lectures, and downloading of educational content. Using SNS might help create SN and improve social engagement. Since social engagement is an important support for learning, SNS have a positive impact on academic achievement. SNS also facilitate constructivism for learning, whereby students and teachers collaborate on understanding a particular subject rather than an approach that focuses on personal contributions (Stevens, 2009). Thus, students can have a chance to become equal

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partners with their peers, teachers, and educators in the process of exchanging information to improve their academic achievement.

Contrary to the above study reports, some research has found the adoption of SNS to be proble- matic and negatively linked to academic achievement (Masood et al.,2020; Wu & Cheng, 2019).

The use of SNS reduces study time and the length of time students spend preparing for classes, which can negatively impact their Grade Point Average (GPA) (Junco,2012). The use of SNS risks loss of attention and diverting students’attention fromfinishing the course (Hurt et al.,2012), as well as non-educational and inappropriate acts such as pointless talking and haphazard searching (Kuppuswamy & Narayan,2010). The explanation for this may be that it can be difficult for students who devote more time to SN to reconcile its use with their academic preparation. Furthermore, as reported by Kuppuswamy and Narayan (2010), SNS are capturing students’ complete attention and focus, and diverting them from their studies. Although they may seem helpful for information development and sharing, SNS may also become an outlet for cyberbullying and abuse. This means that attitude and conduct rules related to those applied in the classroom should be used in setting criteria for social media (SM) use. Moreover, Arnold and Paulus (2010) reported that although SM are used for instructional activities, students integrate the technologies into their daily life in ways that might differ from the aspirations of the teacher. Based on the above argument, researchers may argue that students’academic achievement can be badly influenced by improper use of SNS.

The present study focused on secondary school students. When students transit from primary to secondary school, they experience a new learning environment and growing course loading, while at the same time starting to use SNS and their own cell phones. In line with this, study ﬁndings have shown that secondary school students use SNS frequently for entertainment and educational purposes (Tenzin et al.,2019; Tezci &İçen,2017). This widespread use of SM might take an academic toll as students spend time texting, having conversations on mobile phones, and posting status updates on SNS. Furthermore, Trusov et al. (2009) suggested that explicit SNS are particularly dangerous for adolescents; SNs have become ubiquitous and well-recognized.

Such unsettled transition could be attributed to disruptions of SNS, both with peers and with teachers, resulting in negative academic achievement. To manage students’SNS use and direct them to use SNS efficiently, and also to develop successful strategies to counter the negative effects, it is crucial to investigate the effects and mechanisms of how SNS affect students’academic achievement. Hence, this review analyzes the impacts of SNS on secondary school students’academic achievement.

Literature review

Brass et al. (1998) described that social networking is an aspect of the conventional social media network used by people to create social connections. SNS include a variety of online platforms, including forums, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, instant messaging, video conferencing, semantic websites, and virtual worlds (Latif et al., 2019). Social networking groups are seen as groups of target users of various sizes that connect to the Internet on a regular and coordinated basis via a convenient area or method for achieving the private and common ambitions of their members (Dho- lakia et al.,2004).

Existing literature reviews have approached the usage of SNS in learning and teaching from various angles. Greenhow and Askari (2017) conducted a systematic review of 24 empirical studies published between 2004 and 2014 to analyze how teachers and students at the K-12 level interpret and use SNS platforms, and what effect they have on students’learning and on teachers’ pedagogy. They considered studies that determined the effectiveness of technology in terms of enhancing student learning, examined approaches for implementation, tracked social influence, and commented on specific uses for influencing the course of the field. The authors found that among the studies, the research on common uses was the most prevalent form of study undertaken.

Moreover, Zachos et al. (2018) reviewed 77 studies published from 2010 to 2018 focusing on the

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usage of SN in higher education, and the potential inﬂuence SNS have on students’cognitive behavior and personality. They indicated that teachers have not yet been strongly integrated into their practices towards faster use of SNS.

The above-mentioned literature reviews have contributed to our understanding of the trends in thefield of SNS as they relate to teaching and learning. However, students’academic achievement received very little attention in these reviews. If SNS are to achieve their full potential as instructional platforms both in and outside the classroom, there is a need to understand their effect on students’ academic achievement. In other words, a further review of the literature is desirable to shed light on the influences of SNS usage on students’academic achievement. Also, the prior literature reviews conducted in this area primarily focused on higher education. Particularly, there is a scarcity of literature reviews on secondary school students’SNS usage and its effect on their academic achievement.

This study, therefore, analyzed the eﬀects of SNS usage on secondary school students’academic outcomes. Hence this review addresses the question: What kinds of eﬀect does the usage of SNS have on secondary school students’academic achievement? and how?

Method

This literature review was carried out based on Moher et al.’s (2015) suggested preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA).Figure 1shows the PRISMA method used to collect and analyze data.

Search

The researchers searched for papers related to the eﬀects of SNS on secondary school students’academic achievement, published in the Web of Science database (WoS). This work searched for the his- torical and authoritative source, the Web of Science (WoS) because it is the only database covering all scientiﬁc sources (Aghaei Chadegani et al.,2013). Due to the short life span of this stream of research,

Figure 1.WoS database searching steps.

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the researchers did not deﬁne or limit the time of the search. The combination of words and phrases used to search for articles in the Web of Science database included the keywords ((“social networking*”OR“SNS”OR“social media”OR“Facebook”OR“Google plus”OR“Linked in”OR“Skype”OR

“Twitter”OR“YouTube”) AND (“academic achievement”OR“academic performance”OR“academic outcomes”OR“GPA”OR“Grade Point Average”OR“Grades”) AND (“secondary school”OR“high school”OR“adolescent*”)) to search for titles and abstracts.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria were English language journal publications focused on SNS and secondary school students’academic achievement. Other types of documents, such as unpublished studies, confer- ence abstracts/posters, literature reviews, editorials, letters, and conceptual papers were excluded.

Furthermore, articles that emphasized the general use of SNS for other functions, rather than focusing on students’academic achievement and studies that did not adopt any SNS were excluded.

Besides, studies which focused on higher education (college or university) and primary school were excluded. Eventually, 27 journal articles were retained.

Data distribution

After content-coding and analyzing the 27 articles, the researchers categorized them based on their publication year. InFigure 2, it can be seen that the papers were published from 2012 to April 2020, showing a gradual increment. It can be inferred that research regarding the inﬂuences of SNS on secondary school students’academic outcomes was rare before 2012.

Descriptive information

Theﬁndings of the descriptive statistics are clarifying in terms of research design, author country sample size, and SNS platforms adopted. Of the 27 papers reviewed, the majority (n= 25) adopted a quantitative design, and only two adopted qualitative and mixed designs, respectively.

Studies were implemented in the United States (n= 6), Canada (n= 2), China (n= 2), Israel (n= 2), Spain (n= 2), Turkey (n= 2), and one study in each of the following countries: Australia, Belgium, Greece, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (in alphabetical order). The studies’sample sizes varied from 104 to 40,389, showing a wide distribution. In terms of SN platforms adopted, general SNS, with a total of 62.96% were domi- nant in the studies reviewed, followed by Facebook, with a total of 29.63%. It was noted that other

Figure 2.Published papers on the eﬀects of SNS on secondary school students’academic achievement up to 2020.

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SNS platforms, such as YouTube, Twitter, MySpace, and Instagram have also received attention in recent years (seeFigure 3).

Coding and analysis

In-depth reading and analysis of each of the 27 articles retained after the screening was carried out.

The content of the papers was coded for data concerning the research design, participant profile, data sources, methods, analysis, mediator or moderator variables, and major findings/outcomes (see Appendix). The major objective of this review was to analyze the influences of SNS on secondary school students’academic achievement. Particular attention was paid to the ways in which SNS affect secondary school students’academic achievement. The data coded for how SNS affect students’academic achievement were organized by thefindings, mediating, moderating, and additional variables.

Descriptive analyses were performed to identify the descriptive information for each study.

Findings

Measurement of SNS and academic achievement

There was a considerable amount of irregularity in how researchers evaluated the usage of SNS, such as frequency of SM use (SM week daily and SM weekend) (e.g. Dubuc et al.,2020); the total hours per day students typically spent using SM (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Instagram) either posting or browsing (e.g. Qahri-Saremi & Turel, 2016); the number of hours each week spent on SNS for texting and chatting activities (e.g. Tang & Patrick, 2018); time spent on SN (e.g. Tsitsika et al., 2014); time spent on YouTube (e.g. Bergdahl et al., 2020); and use of the Internet for SN (e.g.

Tenzin et al.,2019). Across the studies, a self-reported scale of time spent and frequency of SNS usage was the most widely used measurement technique for SNS use. Using self-reported SNS usage seems reasonable and practical despite the problems collecting user data on actual use. Quan- tifying SNS usage using a scale of SNS and/or time spent on SNS is, however, essentially insufficient in that these metrics do not take into consideration how users adopt SNS (i.e. the behaviors they take part in). A few studies have adopted different measurement methods from self-reports. For example, Rosen et al. (2013) incorporated participants’ observations into their study and examined the respondents’ different SNS platform usage and their activities. Another study used pre-test and

Figure 3.Classiﬁcation of adopted SN platforms by study year.

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post-test items for log-in frequencies, log-in times, and intensity of sharing on SNS (Çimen & Yılmaz, 2017).

Academic achievement was evaluated mainly by self-reported GPA (e.g. Qahri-Saremi & Turel, 2016; Rosen et al.,2013), the academic score obtained from school records (Arora et al.,2018), stan- dardized measures of an IQ test (e.g. Alloway et al.,2013), and subject-speciﬁc academic achievement scores (such as English, Mathematics, Chinese, Geography, and science) (e.g. Lee, 2014;

Leung & Lee, 2012; Reychav et al.,2018). Overwhelmingly, the reviewed studies objected to the usage of perceived academic achievement and/or self-reported GPA as compared to real GPA col- lected from the student records or registrar. This undoubtedly relates to the challenge of collecting real GPA data, accompanied by the ease that metrics such as perceived achievement and self- reported GPAs oﬀer in data collection. Studies employing such representations, therefore, experience drawbacks integral to such usage. In certain cases, the contradicting results in the published works can illustrate the variations in how the constructs are measured.

Measurement of SNS–academic achievement link

In this study, many of the reviewed studies measured the direct link of SNS-academic achievement without the influence of other mediating and/or moderating variables. In this regard, the influences of either moderators and/or mediators on the SNS-academic achievement association is an issue that the studies have scarcely considered. However, few studies have indicated looking at possible influences on this relation from contextual factors and other variables, such as: cyberbullying (Alotaibi, 2019); gender (Arora et al.,2018; Dubuc et al.,2020); sleep time (Arora et al.,2018); learning environment (Çimen & Yılmaz,2017); learning characteristics and group assessment (Reychav et al.,2018);

internet addiction (Tenzin et al.,2019); time management skill (Tsai & Liu,2015); and school day and non-school day behavior (Yan et al., 2017). Researchers such as Sampasa-Kanyinga et al. (2019) included control variables, like gender, age, ethnicity, subjective economic status, and substance use. The eﬀects of these demographic and personality characteristic factors have been considered in very few studies. Another study included a control variable, such as father’s and mother’s education (Šević et al.,2020). There might be other pertinent variables in this context which merit consideration.

The positive inﬂuence of SNS on academic achievement

The reviewfindings indicated that inconsistent data points on the relationship between SNS usage and academic achievement resulted from the available evidence (see Appendix). In this regard, some reviewed studies reported the positive effect of SNS (Bardakcı,2019; Çimen & Yılmaz,2017; Gazibara et al.,2020; Kasperski & Blau,2020; Leung & Lee,2012; Reychav et al.,2018; Tomé-Fernández et al., 2020). According to thefindings of Bardakcı(2019), the usage of YouTube had a positive association with students’academic outcomes. Bardakcısuggested that it may be due to students’perception of using YouTube as a convenient platform for academic functions. Consistent with this, Gazibara et al. (2020) reported that the use of YouTube could help adolescents improve their GPA. Similarly, Alloway et al. (2013) noted that the length of engagement with SNS had a positive influence on students’academic outcomes. Theirfinding shows that students who use Facebook frequently scored better on tests of working memory, spelling, and verbal skill than low-level Facebook users. The authors explained that this may be the effect of training, leading to mutual cognitive influence.

According to Kasperski and Blau’s (2020) study, interactions on SM strengthened associations, improved the classroom atmosphere, and increased active participation in the learning process, which could lead to better academic performance. Besides, Reychav et al. (2018) found that highly linked learners are more likely to be sources of knowledge, which leads to better academic outcomes, especially when students are evaluated independently. Students who are accountable for their achievement tend to communicate with those most likely to help them in order toﬁnd

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out the information required. Perhaps because of contact with experienced others, or because they had to rely on their assessment guided by peer-gathered information, they achieved higher academic results (Reychav et al.,2018). Likewise, students who scored better grades were more likely to be involved in class-related FB teamwork, and FB class-related academic collaboration was signiﬁ- cantly predicted by the actual number of FB friends (Khan et al.,2014).

The negative inﬂuence of SNS on academic achievement

Contrary to positive outcomes, several studies revealed an adverse relationship between SNS and academic outcome (Alotaibi, 2019; Arora et al., 2018; Bergdahl et al., 2020; Lee, 2014; Molla- Esparza et al.,2020; Pedersen et al.,2018; Qahri-Saremi & Turel,2016; Rosen et al.,2013; Sampasa- Kanyinga et al.,2019;Šević et al., 2020; Tenzin et al., 2019; Tsai & Liu, 2015; Tsitsika et al., 2014;

Van Den Eijnden et al.,2018; Yan et al.,2017). These studies reported that excessive usage of SNS, inappropriate use of SNS, using them for purposes other than education, and the inﬂuences of mediator and/or moderator variables harmed students’academic achievement.

Excessive SNS usage

Some of the reviewed studies reported that heavy usage of SNS harmed students’academic achievement. Adolescents who were frequently involved in SNS scored significantly lower in academic achievement compared to those who used SNS moderately (Tsitsika et al., 2014). Similarly, Lee (2014) found that frequent usage of Facebook activities harmed students’mathematics grades. It has been mentioned that teachers and parents should follow up on the amount of time teens spend on Facebook activities. Also, according to the findings of Leung and Lee’s (2012) study, dimensions of internet addiction were negatively correlated to the overall grades, with the signs of adverse life effects and obsession with the Internet being significant predictors of prejudiced academic success. The authors suggested that due to the excessive use of SN, adolescents skipped social activities, and missed class. They also indicated that this practice harms their academic achievement, which has an important message to parents and teachers to inform adolescents to moitor their online activities. The excessive time spent using SNS was more troublesome for the academic outcomes of male adolescents (Ševićet al.,2020). Furthermore, Sampasa-Kanyinga et al. (2019) acknowl- edged the need for tailor-made educational intervention programs to encourage adolescents, especially secondary school teens, to restrict their usage of SM to 2 h per day. Therefore, heavy SM use can displace conventional learning practices, including doing homework, studying, or reading that might result in poor academic outcomes.

Inappropriate use of SNS and using them for purposes other than education

Some review studies have indicated that inappropriate use of SNS and using them for purposes other than education harmed students’ academic outcomes. For example, as Leung and Lee’s (2012) findings showed, excessive usage of SNS for recreational purposes was greatly associated with prejudiced academic achievement, mainly for those using synchronous interactive applications such as discussion rooms. Tenzin et al. (2019) interviewed respondent students and confirmed that there were instances of delays in sending school assignments, and low performance due to inappropriate usage of the Internet. Their respondents mentioned that the students’urge to use the Internet caused boredom. They also reported the Internet as one of their coping strategies for boredom. Similarly, Bergdahl et al. (2020) reported a significant adverse link between students’ grades and frequent use of YouTube for purposes other than education. Likewise, Facebook- based inter-personal skills and academic achievement were adversely interrelated, perhaps because students did not communicate with each other for learning functions, but only for societal interaction while using Facebook (Tsai & Liu,2015). Also, time-management skills moderated the association between interpersonal skills and the academic outcome. Adolescents who more often used SM were 2.12 times more willing to sext. Besides, those who repeated a grade were 1.70

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times more likely than those who had never repeated a grade to sext (Molla-Esparza et al.,2020).

Moreover, Pedersen et al. (2018) documented a negative relationship between grades and SM use. The authors mentioned that when students participate in diﬀerent political activities through SM, they waste their study time, which results in poor grades.

Inﬂuences of mediator and/or moderator variables

A few review studies demonstrated the negative inﬂuences of SNS on the academic outcome due to the inﬂuences of mediator and moderator factors (seeFigure 4).

Mediator variables. One study explained the mediating function of cyberbullying in the link between the usage of SM and academic achievement (Alotaibi, 2019). The usage of SM had a direct impact on cyberbullying intentions, and cyberbullying had a direct negative impact on academic achievement. Internet addiction was found to have signiﬁcant mediating power in the link between SM usage and academic achievement (Tenzin et al., 2019). Since SNS are available on mobile devices, many participants noted their usage as part of everyday life. Furthermore, according toŠević et al.’s (2020) study, the SNS use- academic achievement link was mediated by sexually explicit materials (SEM). In their study, the use of SNS was positively correlated with SEM, and there was also an adverse correlation between the use of SEM and early adolescent boys’academic performance.

Moderator variables. One study showed that gender was found to moderate the relationship between SNS and academic achievement (Arora et al.,2018). Arora et al.’sfindings showed that girls who engaged in SN had substantially lower English achievement. On the other hand, boys who participated in SNS before bedtime had substantially decreased achievement in English, but not in other subjects. Another study indicated that the learning environment moderates the association of SNS and academic outcome. The positive impact of SN settings where teacher supervision is low is seen to result in comparatively lower student academic performance compared to SN settings where teacher management is provided and activities are assessed (Çimen & Yılmaz,2017). This informs us that the effects of SNS on academic outcome depends on the learning environment, in which teachers’scaffolding is necessary for students’effective use of SNS for better academic

Figure 4.Summary of the inﬂuences of the moderator and mediator variables on the SNS usage-academic achievement link.

Note:“+”positive effect;“−”negative effect;“±”mixed effect.

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achievement. Besides, another researchfinding showed that sleep time affected adolescents’academic achievement, although not significantly (Arora et al.,2018). The use of SNS before bedtime was found to reduce academic achievement; however, the adverse effect of proximate bedtime usage of SNS on academic achievement was small. Tsai and Liu (2015) claimed that due to their successful time-management skills, chatting less with friends on Facebook for social purposes may contribute to adolescents’academic achievement. This shows that time management skill can moderate the link between adolescents’SNS use and their academic outcome. Furthermore, school day and non-school day behaviors were found to moderate the relationship between SNS and students’academic performance. For example, Yan et al. (2017) reported that more than 4 h spent on SNS on both school and non-school days was adversely related with academic performance.

Discussion

This review analyzed the impacts of SNS use on secondary school students’academic achievement.

The researchers found that the reviewed studies showed a remarkably different result. Previous researchers have not yet reached a consensus in this workstream, and that might be a result of the complex nature of this phenomenon and a variety of characteristics of the studies, such as variable measurement, moderator, and/or mediator variables. Wohn and LaRose (2014) noted that any firm conclusions about SNS usage and academic achievement are difficult to draw from the literature. In the present review, some reviewed studies reported a positive link between SNS and academic achievement. Adolescents who are able to search for, browse and view various data resources through SNS, and those who are aware of the sense in which the data were produced performed better in their academic performance (Leung & Lee,2012). Likewise, Alloway et al. (2013) reported a positive association between using Facebook for a long time and academic test scores of verbal skills, working memory, and spelling. Students behaving as bridges between those on the network attained better academic results (Reychav et al., 2018). Similar to other previous researchfindings (e.g. Hrastinski,2008; Stevens,2009), this study’sfindings imply that SNS can be valuable for enhancing the academic achievement of students, if planned and adapted to the particular educational needs of each student. Similarly, other previous studies reported a positive impact of SNS on students’academic achievement. For example, Al-dheleai et al. (2020) indicated that SNS are a useful tool to help students’sense of social presence, which leads to improved learning and academic achievement. The resources of the SNS, enabled by their social existence, accom- modate social presence and social learning interaction at levels that help create a sense of closeness among students, thereby improving their academic performance (Al-dheleai et al.,2020; AL-Rahmi et al.,2017; Baisley-Nodine et al.,2018).

On the contrary, the researchers found that several studies have identified the adverse impacts of SNS use on academic achievement. Concerning this, the researchers examined the ways in which these negative relationships emerged and how SNS influenced academic achievement. The studies reported that inappropriate and excessive usage of SNS harmed students’academic achievement. This result supports thefindings of other previous studies (e.g. Kubey et al.,2001; Masood et al.,2020; Tamal et al.,2019). Excessive use of SNS creates cognitive distractions among students, impacting their academic achievement (Masood et al.,2020). Likewise, Tamal et al.’s (2019) study report indicated that there was an adverse association between students spending time on SM and their educational outcomes. Kubey et al. reported that excessive Internet usage for entertainment was strongly linked to prejudiced academic outcomes, especially for those using synchronous interactive technologies such as chat rooms. Also, using SNS for purposes other than education was found to harm students’academic outcomes. The results of this study also support Rodríguez-Hoyos et al.’s (2015) studyfinding that students prefer using SNS for recreational and/or social purposes in general. Few studies have demonstrated the adverse influences of SNS on academic outcomes due to the influences of other mediator and moderator variables (such as gender, sleep time, learning environment, internet addiction, time management skill, etc.). One important implication which

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emerged from theseﬁndings is that parents, teachers, and educationalists should be more sensitive to and remain aware of the potential for inappropriate and excessive use of SNS by students. Also, counselors need to develop eﬀective school-based preventative measures, education, and intervention programs to address problem-stricken students’use of SNS for a better academic outcome.

Conclusion, limitations, and future directions

This review intended to address the question ofwhat kind of effect does the usage of SNS have on secondary school students’academic achievement? and how? Thefindings showed mixed results regarding the influences of SNS use on academic achievement. However, it was found that few studies have reported the positive impacts of SNS use on students’ academic achievement.

Several studies found that excessive usage of SNS, inappropriate use of SNS and usage of SNS for recreational activities other than those for educational purposes harmed students’academic achievement. Although there are studies that explored moderating and mediating variables which can contribute to the proposed link, there are still several under-investigated moderators and mediators which may clarify the path of this link. Also, if one starts from the premise that SNS have a detrimental influence on academic achievement, the consequences can be interpreted in certain respects by taking into account the multiple positive benefits given to students to improve their academic achievement. Through this review, the researchers believe that this study’sfindings contribute to the existing literature by addressing the gaps and emphasizing the significance of the phenomenon of the academic achievement influence of SNS use on secondary school students.

Some limitations exist in this study. Firstly, many of the reviewed studies have typically focused on a cross-sectional design that, although helpful, allowed only static descriptions of associations.

Second, most studies did not mention the number of SNS memberships the students had or the dur- ation of their involvement. Third, our limited selection criterion of using only journal papers restricts the representativeness of the study results. Other publications might need to focus on expanding the study tent to gain a wider view of this issue. Therefore, the researchers advise readers to be aware of a vital point linked to the present work that stresses the representative, rather than com- prehensive, essence of the undertaking, before condensing any diﬃcult perspectives from the review.

The researchers see some opportunities for future work in this review which are being addressed now. From the aforementioned discussion, suggestions for future studies are as follows:

(1) Although the adverse stance in the available evidence of this analysis relates in several respects to the wider research investigating the correlation between wide-ranging usage of SNS and academic achievement (e.g. Wu & Cheng,2019), more rigorous reports are warranted in the light of the mixed data. Maxwell et al. (2015) noted that the literature would always require several replication studies to address apparent inconsistencies.

(2) Potential explorations should adopt longitudinal designs, often ignored in the research, to better understand the basic correlation of the two variables and if any, the causal inﬂuences of SNS overtime usage.

(3) The researchers understand that various SNS have distinctive aspects and are used in diﬀerent ways. Hence, future studies should explore the connection between SNS and academic achievement for speciﬁc platforms.

(4) Some studies measured only the direct link between the use of SNS and students’academic achievement. The researchers propose that further work can explore whether an examination of mediator and/or moderator variables may help to better explain the mechanisms inﬂuencing this link.

(5) The current review focuses solely on empirical studies and thus results from the dearth of cor- responding perspectives on the contexts and qualiﬁcations that qualitative reports oﬀer are

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lacking. Hence, future review initiatives could beneﬁt from numerous eyes and viewpoints to validate this research rigor.

Disclosure statement

No potential conﬂict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Melese Astatkeis currently a PhD candidate at the Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. He has Master’s degree in Educational Psychology. His current themes of research include Educational psychology, social media & information sharing, and digital learning strategies. Email:

[email protected]

Cathy Wengis currently an associate professor of the Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Her current themes of research include social media & information sharing, interactive storybooks and learning, digital reading & storytelling and digital language learning. Dr.

Weng has published inOnline Information Review,Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Journal of Educational Comput- ing Research, Computers & Education, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, Turkish Online Journal of Edu- cational Technology, British Journal of Educational Technology, Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, among others.

Sufen Chenis distinguished professor in the Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST), Taiwan, and extraordinary professor in the Optentia Research Focus Area at North-West University, South Africa. She received her BS and MS in physics from National Taiwan University and PhD in science education from Indiana University-Bloomington. Her research interests are in the area of science education, technology-enhanced learning, metacognition, achievement emotions, and social media. Dr. Chen has published inJournal of Research in Science Teaching, Computers & Education,Science Education, Physical Review Physics Edu- cation Research, New Media & Society, Computers in Human Behavior, International Journal of Information Management, andJournal of Computer Assisted Learning, among others. Email: [email protected]

ORCID

Melese Astatke http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6422-9803 Cathy Weng http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8095-8494 Sufen Chen http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8453-0225

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No.StudyParticipantproﬁleMeasuresofSNSandacademic achievementDatasourcesMethodsand analysis

Moderator, mediator,and additionalvariablesMajorﬁndings/outcomes 1Gazibaraetal. (2020)702highschoolstudents, aged15–19yearsSNSmeasure:FrequencyofYouTube use Academicachievementmeasure: Gradepointaverage-selfreported

QuestionnaireMultinomial regression

•

Studentswhohadlower-gradepoint averageusedYouTubeasanonline platformofchoice.

•

SNScouldhelpadolescentsimprove healtheducation. 2Tomé- Fernández etal.(2020)

624individualsAged between8and17yearsSNSmeasure:Communicationand socialinteractiononSNSQuestionnaireDescriptive statisticsANOVA

•

SNshaveasigniﬁcantandfavorable impactonlearningperformance. Academicachievementmeasure:self- reportedlearningperformance 3Kasperskiand Blau(2020)10high-schoolstudents, aged15–18,incentral Israel.

Measure:ThecontributionofSNsto learningprocessesSemi-structured interviewsQualitative research paradigm

•

InteractionsonSMstrengthened relationships,improvedtheclassroom atmosphere,andincreasedactive participationinthelearningprocess. 4Bergdahletal. (2020)410uppersecondaryschool studentsSNSmeasure:TimeusedonSM TimeusedonYouTube Academicachievementmeasure: Grade-selfreported Survey questionnaireBivariate correlation One-wayANOVA Posthoctest

•

Signiﬁcantrelationshipsbetweentimes spentonSMandlowgrades. 5Dubucetal. (2020)187grade7–9thstudents Mage12–14yearsSNSmeasure:SMusagefrequency (SMweekdailyandSMweekend)QuestionnairePearson’spartial correlationsModerator:Gender

•

Bothnegativeandpositivelinks betweenSMusageandacademic outcome Academicachievementmeasure: Gradesinscience,mathematics, language(French)andtheoverall averageofeachstudent,in percentage

Hierarchical regression analysis 6Ševićetal. (2020)355Croatianmale adolescentsSNSmeasure:Lengthofhoursusing SNS Academicachievementmeasure:Self- reportedaverageﬁnalgrade

Survey questionnairePathanalysisControlvariables: Father’sand mother’s education

•

AnegativerelationshipbetweenSNS andaveragegrade Mediator:Sexually explicitmaterials (SEM) 7Wakeﬁeldand Frawley (2020)

505highschoolstudentsSNSmeasure:Timespentintotalon FacebookQuestionnaireDescriptive statistics

•

GreateruseofFacebookputsstudentsat riskofloweracademicachievement.

Appendix:Variablesoftheselectedpapers