ACC303 Communication Research Practices

Introduction

Today, the use of Smartphone devices among university students is ubiquitous. These devices are used by students for a number of reasons including internet surfing and social interactions among themselves (Shruthi & Indiramma, 2019). It is almost difficult to find a college or university student not in possession of a smartphone device. University live involves a lot of research work, self-learning, browsing for available part-time job opportunities and interactions among peers (Morphitou, 2014). The main aim of this study was to know the internet usage among university students. The objectives of the study included; 1). To know smartphone usage among university student, 2). To find out the amount of time students spend on the internet, 3). To find out the amount of time students spend while on the internet to study, work or in recreation, and 4). To find out the websites visited and applications used by students while on the internet.

A survey design was used to collect data for the study. The sample population constituted students from various departments, who were required to complete a survey posted in their portal. Out of this, a sample size of 10 students was randomly selected for analysis. The findings of the study indicated the usage of a smartphone device by 100% of the students. The findings also indicated varied internet usage among students including usage in studying, work or entertainment.

Smartphone users have been increasing over the years, surpassing 3billion users in 2021 according to Statista.com (2021). According to a study by Atas and Celik (2019), college students use smartphones for a number of reasons including using them to text each other, checking social media, doing internet searches and doing shopping. This finding is similar to that of Han & Yi (2018), who found out that college students use smartphones as learning aids in learning and web-based learning. The use of these smartphones by college students have both positive and negative impacts on the student’s life as they affect their behavioural intentions (Han & Yi, 2018). A study by Alfawareh and Jusoh (2014) revealed that 54% of college students use smartphones to download reading materials. However, increased usage of smartphones among college students leads to health problems including neck strains and back pains (Singh & Samah, 2018).

The invention of the internet received increasing usage over the last decades. College students use the internet for a number of reasons, including seeking in formation to aid in their assignments, using it to access news and for self-learning. Institutions of learning have leveraged the use of the internet to provide web-based online learning (Hossain & Rahman, 2017). The internet has provided a platform through which students express their emotions in social groups, an aspect that has led to increased usage of social media applications by students (Atas & Celik, 2019).

Apart from using internet to learn and get information, students also use it to purchase goods online, including the purchase of mobile devices, laptops, and clothes among other commodities (Bashir & Farah, 2018). According to a study by Choudhury and Dey (2014), online shopping behaviour has become an important part of a student’s lifestyle. A significant relationship exists between online shopping with gender, online product price and information literacy (Choudhry & Dey, 2014). Other usages of the internet among college students include recreational activities and for doing work.

Methodology

Aim of Study: To find out smartphone and internet usage among university students.

Objectives of the Study:

The study was guided by four objectives as follows;

1. To know smartphone usage among university student,
2. To find out the amount of time students spend on the internet,
3. To find out the amount of time students spend while on the internet to study, work or in recreation, and
4. To find out the websites visited and applications used by students while on the internet.

To collect data for the study, quantitative approach was used. This involved the use of a survey design where a self-structured questionnaire was uploaded on the student portal and every student from various departments was required to fill in the questionnaire. 10 completed surveys were randomly chosen for analysis using excel software.

Data Analysis

To analyze the data, eight questions from self-structured questionnaire were adopted. Some questions were grouped into demographic profile of the respondents as shown in table 1below. Other tables were extracted from excel based on the variables as extracted from the survey results.

Discussion

The results show that there was a 50% of male and 50% of female respondents who participated in the survey study. The respondents’ age ranged from 19 years to 35 years in which 40% were of 23to24 years. 60% of the respondents are pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Communications, 20% from Business and 10% each from Finance and Commerce. 80% of respondents are in 3^rd year while 20% are in second year of their studies. All the respondents use smartphones in at least four activities contained in the survey. 20% of the respondents use internet for 1 to 3 hours daily, 50% for 4 to 6 hours and 30% for more than 7 hours. 30% of the respondents do not use internet for working, 50% spend 1-3hours working while those who spend 4-6hours and 7+hours are 10% each. This also shows that 70% of the respondents spend some hours on internet working. 100% of respondents use internet to study, 90% use it for entertainment while 10% do not use internet for entertainment at all. Among applications, 90% of respondents spent time on internet in Instagram and Faceboook, 50% on twitter and 30% each for Snapchat and TikTok.

Conclusion  

In this paper, the aim was successfully accomplished. The four objectives were achieved as presented in the Data analysis and Discussion sections. The aim of the proposal was derived by selecting the questions for which quantitative analysis was possible and from literature search, there was a research gap addressing internet usage among college students as existing works focused on smartphone usage as well as their effects on student academic lives. The sample size chosen made it possible to analyze the data closely and identify meaningful patterns that made inference easy. For larger sample size, it would bring a limitation of bias, and may lead to missing key variables for the study.

References

Alfawareh, H. M. & Jusoh, S., 2014. , 6(2).

Atas, H. & Celik, B., 2019. Smartphone Use of University Students: Patterns, Purposes, and Situations.

Bashir, J. A. & Farah, G. A., 2018. Online Shopping Behaviours among university Students. Organizational Learning Effectiveness.

Choudhry, D. & Dey, A., 2014. Online shopping attitude among the youth: A study on university students. Iternational Journal of Entrepreneurship and Development Studies, 2(1), pp. 23-32.

Han, S. & Yi, Y. J., 2018. How does the smartphone usage of college students affect academic performance?. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 35(1), pp. 13-22.

Hossain, M. & Rahman, M., 2017. Comparative study of internet usage among university students: A study. European Scientific Journal .

Morphitou, R. N., 2014. The use of smartphones among students in relation to their education and social life. 2014 International Conference on Interactive Mobile Communication Technologies and Learning (IMCL 2014), pp. 315-319.

O'Dea, S., 2021. Statista : Smartphone users worldwide 2016-2023. [Online]
Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/
[Accessed 1 May 2021].

Shruthi, C. & Indiramma, B., 2019. Smartphone Usage among College Students - A. Pramana Research Journa, pp. 1-6.

Singh, M. & Samah, N., 2018. Impact of smartphone: A review on positive and negative effects on students. Asian Social Sciences.

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