Social Media Use and Its Association With Academic Performance Among School Students of Kirtipur Municipality, Kathmandu, Nepal

IntroductionSocial media is a form of electronic communication through which users create online communities.The main purpose of social media platforms is to share, learn, and value creation, and participation and tend to break the barrier of geographical diversity and connect citizens who are not even connected by roads.Similarly, Academic performance is the measurement of student achievement across various academic subjects.Teachers and education officials typically measure achievement using classroom performance, graduation rates, and results from standardized tests.This study is to assess the use of social media and its association with academic performance among school students of Kirtipur Municipality, Kathmandu, Nepal MethodologyAn Inferential Cross-Sectional descriptive Study was carried out at the secondary level school students in Kirtipur Municipality, Kathmandu schools from July to September 2023.A total of 280 students were selected from three schools constituting the study's sample size.The selection was based on stratified random sampling, where each school was considered a stratum.A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data by using a self-administered questionnaire distributed to students who met the inclusion criteria with clear instructions of the researcher. ResultThe mean age of the total respondents was 15.13 years where 51.8% were male and 48.2% female.There were positive aspects of social media 51.8% compared to the negative aspects of social media which was 48.2%.where TikTok was the most used social media by the respondents which was 74.8% followed by Facebook and Instagram which were 68.7% and 41.4% respectively.There was no association between sociodemographic characteristics and academic performance of the school students.Frequent social media use (4-7 times a day) was linked to good academic performance, as was moderate use (1-4 hours daily).Students were using social media for a good purpose and this could be the reason that there was a positive aspect of social media on academic performance. ConclusionThe findings suggest that students are utilizing social media for positive and constructive purposes, which may explain the observed positive impact on their academic performance.The study suggests that the amount of time spent on social media influences educational performance, indicating that educators and policymakers should consider these patterns in efforts to improve student outcomes.