Impact of Social Media on Academic Engagement among Public Secondary School Students in Bomadi Educational Zone of Delta State, Nigeria

This study examined the impact of social media on the academic engagement of students in public secondary schools in Bomadi Educational Zone, Delta State. The article focused on two dimensions: daily social media usage patterns and social media use in relation to students’ study habits and academic focus. An ex post facto research design was adopted. The population comprised 10,524 senior secondary school students in public schools across Bomadi, Patani and Burutu Local Government Areas. A sample of 385 students was selected through multistage sampling. Data were collected using the Impact of Social Media Questionnaire and the Academic Engagement of Students Questionnaire, combined into one instrument. The instruments were validated by specialists and yielded Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.82 and 0.80, respectively. Of the 385 questionnaires administered, 367 were correctly completed and retrieved, representing a 95.3% response rate. Simple linear regression was used to analyse the data. Findings showed that daily social media usage patterns had a weak negative and statistically significant influence on academic engagement (R = −0.265, R² = 0.070, p < .05). Social media use in relation to study habits and academic focus also had a weak negative and statistically significant influence (R = −0.237, R² = 0.056, p < .05). The study concluded that frequent and poorly regulated social media use may undermine students’ academic engagement. It recommended digital literacy education, focused study routines and improved time-management guidance.