Relationship between Social Media Usage and Mathematical Achievement among Junior Secondary School Students in Minna Metropolis, Niger State

Abstract

The increasing use of social media among students has generated concerns and opportunities regarding its impact on academic performance, particularly in Mathematics. This study therefore investigated the influence of social media usage on mathematical achievement among junior secondary school students in Minna Metropolis, Niger State, Nigeria. The study adopted an ex-post facto research design because the variables under investigation could not be manipulated. The population comprised junior secondary school students, while a sample of 50 students was purposefully selected and used for the study. Data were collected using a structured Social Media and Mathematics Questionnaire (SMMQ) and students’ cumulative mathematics achievement records. The instrument measured students’ social media platform preference, frequency of use, time spent, and social media usage behaviours. Descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentages were used to answer the research questions, while Pearson Product Moment Correlation, one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and simple linear regression were used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that Facebook (42%) and WhatsApp (36%) were the most commonly used social media platforms among the students. The majority of the students (78%) used social media daily, while 46% spent between one and two hours on social media per day. The study further revealed a significant positive relationship between social media usage and mathematics achievement (r = .33, p < .05). Regression analysis showed that social media usage significantly predicted mathematics achievement, accounting for 10.8% of the variance (R² = .108, p < .05). However, frequency of usage and time spent on social media had no significant influence on students’ mathematics achievement. The study concluded that social media usage has a significant positive influence on students’ mathematical achievement when used purposefully for academic engagement. It was recommended that mathematics teachers, parents, and school administrators should guide students toward productive and educational use of social media to enhance academic performance.