Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of Social Media on Academic
Performance of students in Holeta Polytechnic College. Five Research questions and five
Research hypotheses guided the study. To achieve this study, the descriptive and
explanatory research design was adopted. The study focused on Holeta Polytechnic
College hence, population consists of all the 159 regular undergraduate students. A four
point Likert Scale Questionnaire titled Social Media and Academic Performance of
Students Questionnaire (SMAAPOS) were used to collect data from the participants. The
descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentage were used to analyze the
demographic data while inferential statistics of Chi-square(X2) was used in testing the
research hypotheses. Research findings showed that a great number of students in Holeta
Polytechnic College are addicted to social media. To this end, the study recommended
that social media should be used for educational purposes as well as Social Networking
Sites should be expanded and new pages should be created to enhance academic activities
and avoid setbacks in the students’ academic performance and Students should be
monitored by teachers and parents on how they use these sites This is to create a balance
between social media and academic activities of students to avoid setbacks in the
academic performance of the students
