Abstract
This study examined the relationship between social media usage and study habits among senior secondary school students in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State. Three objectives, three research questions and three null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The research adopted a correlational research design to investigate statistical relationships among variables. The study population comprised students from all the public senior secondary schools within the metropolis totaling 35,682 students. And multi-stage sampling technique was employed to ensure proportional representation across school types and class levels (SSS2–SSS3). A sample of 790 students was determined using Taro Yamane’s formula to ensure statistical reliability and manageability. Data were collected using researcher structured questionnaires. The instruments were given to three experts including two in Guidance and Counselling and one in Measurement and Evaluation, Faculty of Education, Rivers State University for validation. Cronbach’s Alpha formula was adopted to establish the reliability of various clusters which yielded the indices of 0.76, 0.84 and 0.78 with overall indices of 0.78 and 0.81. The data gathered were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation to determine the strength and direction of relationships among variables. The results revealed that the relationships between social media usage and study habits were generally weak and mixed. In other words, social media usage has no significant relationship with the students study habits. Consequently, the study recommends that: students should be encouraged to follow educational handles and subject-related content on Twitter that promote academic awareness and critical thinking and students should be advised to use Instagram for educational visuals, such as science demonstrations, tutorials, and infographic-based learning not to focused on content that negatively affects concentration.