THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KALAMA SUB-COUNTY, MACHAKOS COUNTY, KENYA

The study sought to examine the effects of social media use on students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Kalama Sub-County. The students’ academic performance remains a top priority for educators in the Sub-County. The objectives of the study were to; determine the effect of time spend on social media by students on their academic performance and find out the effect of people’s connections with students on socialmedia and students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Kalama Sub-County. The study adopted General Systems Theory by Ludwig Von Bertalanffy. The study used descriptive survey research design. The target population was 33 secondary schools, 33 guidance and counselling teachers and 1710 form two students. Proportional stratified technique was used to sample 330 students. 10 teachers were randomly sampled from each of the schools from the entire number of schools. Questionnaires and interview guides were used as the research instruments. The data was analyzed and interpreted both qualitatively and quantitatively using descriptive survey research design. The descriptive statistics included the mean, frequency tally and percentages while inferential statistics included the Pearson’s chi-square at 5% level of significance. Analysis of data was conducted with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. The study further established that majority (52%) of the respondents indicated that social media enhances learning and the frequency of use of social media has effect on student academic performance. The study further established that majority of the teachers face challenges when using social media in teaching due to uncontrolled number of people they connect to. The study recommends that use of social networks by students should focus on the academic relevance of those sites instead of using them for negative purposes. The Ministry of Education should ensure that the education accessible contests are controlled.