The digital dilemma: the influence of social media on students’ productivity

Abstract

Social media is a relatively new technology, therefore, it’s still hard to define whether its consequences have a good or a bad connotation. The results of implementing such platforms are being reflected, especially, in students when we talk about their academic performance. This study aims to determine the impact of social media on students’ productivity. This is a study based on a survey. Students 18 to 24 years of age, who study Software “Engineering” at the Faculty of Computers, Informatics, and Microelectronics at the Technical University of Moldova were eligible for participation. The respondents were stratified according to gender and year of study of Bachelor's degree. The results were rated using a scale from 1 to 5 or percentage analyses. After analyzing the results, we deduced that while social media offers a lot of opportunities such as platforms for education combined with networking, we can’t ignore the fact that those same platforms might be a source of distraction, lack of sleep, and tiredness which might evolve to decreased concentration, and in consequence might affect directly productivity.