The IAFOR Research Archive
The Effects of Social Media Use on School Learning: Evidence From PISA 2018
James Alexander Gordon on 20th October 2022
It is shown that younger users are more active on social media (Colleen Mcclain, Emily A. Vogels, Andrew Perrin, 2021). The frequent use of social media is changing the manner in which a new generation of students communicate, learn, and think. As a result, the discussion on the impact of social media on learning achievement has taken on a new urgency. In this paper, we have employed data from OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 database to investigate the effect of using social media for school learning on academic performance. In order to eliminate selection bias and assess the causal effect of using social media on learning, this research used propensity score matching (PSM) as an approach. By running the analyses in each participating country, we were able to see whether the effect of social media use on school learning manifests itself differently in various social, cultural, and political contexts. According to the results measured based on test scores in the PISA assessment, more frequent use of social media as a tool of learning related to schoolwork is detrimental to academic performance in most countries. However, the results regarding the impact of social media on academic performance were highly varied, with some showing a positive relationship and others showing a negative relationship. Although it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss the causes behind the negative correlation between social media use and academic achievement in most cases, conclusions and limitations are cautiously presented.
This paper is part of the IICE2023 Conference Proceedings ( View ) Full Paper View / Download the full paper in a new tab/window