Infant Jesus Learning Academy of Rodriguez, Rizal

Ph. 7 Blk. 2 Lt. 2 Eastwood Greenview Subd., San Isidro, Rodriguez, Rizal
Senior High School Department

THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ATTITUDE OF GRADE 7

AND 8 STUDENTS TOWARDS PEERS OF INFANT JESUS LEARNING
ACADEMY

A Thesis Submitted In
Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Track of
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

By
Zeanne Angel B. Flores
Jomar R. Laurio
Maria Angelica B. Pervera

2019
 I. Introduction

Social media is a computer-based technology that facilitates sharing of ideas,

information and thoughts through the building of virtual network and communities. The

power of social media is the ability for us to connect and share information with anyone

on Earth, or with many people simultaneously.

As we take a look back, decade ago, it was very difficult for us to find and connect

with people that you once knew in high school or college, even with the power of web.

But, with the help of social media sites, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

and etc. it makes our lives even much better and easier to find one another and connect.

These social media sites are a great way to see what is happening in the lives of our

friends and family. Also, social media is designed to meet new people who have similar

interests and thoughts to yours.

Our generation is often the most ready to adapt and learn to use new technologies,

and youth today’s generation are certainly at the forefront of social media of all types.

People who spend too much of their time on social media sites, or who take the abuses

of online bullies seriously could have some issues. So, it is important to parents to watch

their kids to make sure that social media sites shouldn’t take over the lives of their

children. Therefore, social media should be used properly and appropriately.

 For students, social media plays an important role on their daily lives. It helps the

students and teachers to connect with each other and make a good use of these platforms

for working of their education.

Social media might sometimes affect the way individuals relate to one another.

People who spend most of their time on social media might behave a little different on

some websites from how he/she acts in real life.

So, the purpose of our research is to explore the role that media play when

influencing our attitude.

We researchers are concerned with the growing influence of social media in the

lives of adolescents especially the Junior High School Students of Grade 7 & 8 in Infant

Jesus Learning Academy. With technology constantly changing, we consider that the

students’ attitude might change too due to exposure in social media. We also consider

the possible effects to those young people who used social media on their daily lives.

This study examines the correlation between the social media persona versus the

actual persona peer relationships. Data will be gathered from the Junior High School

Students of Grade 7 & 8 in Infant Jesus Learning Academy.

In this study, we used survey questionnaire as a tool or instrument in order for us

to gather data given from our chosen respondents. Students of Grade 7 & 8 will be given

each a survey questionnaire about their social media usage that asked what website/s do

they use, how often they use these websites, and how does social media change their

attitude toward peers.

 We researchers conclude that students who used social media has a greater

possibility that their attitude might change and act differently on some websites unlike

how they act on their real life. Therefore, social media has an impact on students attitude.
Significance of the study

This research will serve as help and guide to the following :

To Students:

This research will help students to understand the effect of excessive use of social media

and the effect of it on their attitude and socializing towards their peers. This will serve as

their guide on how using of social media affects them. And also to help them how to

manage their time on using social media.

To Teachers:

They will have sufficient knowledge about the reasons for changing the academic

performance of their students and thus guide and assist the students in the correct way

and right way of using social media. Along with student success is success as a good

teacher and guidance.

To Parents

Parents as their child's first teacher, Will get information and knowledge about the causes

and consequences of excessive use of social media with their children who are studying

along with guidance to the proper and good way to balance playing time and learning.

And the effects of it towards their attitude.

To Researchers

For us to know those significant effects neither negative or positive of social media

towards their attitude on peers. And also to gain knowledge or ideas to have a solution

on those effects by conducting some studies.

To Future Researchers

This findings of this study will serve as a reference and good source of information for

their future research related on our topic about, the effects of social media in the attitude

towards peers.
Statement of the Problem

The Internet is today the most important source of information and the growing

dimensions of the use of social media by students cannot be underestimated. Sometimes

the use of Social Media can affect the behaviour or attitude of a students.

This study aims to investigate the "The effects of Social Media in the Attitude of

Grade 7 and 8 Students Towards Peers of INFANT JESUS LEARNING ACADEMY".

Specifically, it sought answer to the following questions

1. To determine the amount of social media awareness and immersion of Grade 7

and 8.

2. Correlation of social media persona versus actual persona peer relationships.

3. This study aims to investigate the effects on students’ attitude due to excessive

use of social media towards parents and school regulations.

 II. Literature Review

Local Related Literature

Roselyn Grace P. Santos (2015) study entitled “The Effects of Social Media on

Filipino Culture and Behavior” aims to inform and aware of the changes happening in our

culture and our own behavior. Filipinos spend a lot of time socializing with others using

their phones and computers. It connects distant relatives, old friends, business partners

and the like but sometimes we get too engrossed in the limitless possibilities of socializing

with our gadgets that we sometimes ignore what's in front of us. Our senses sometimes

narrow down to that bright screen that we forget to socialize and spend quality time with

the people that are with us. In recent years, many changes in technology has happened

and one of the greatest changes that affected Filipino culture and behavior is social

media. It has changed how we talk to each other, how we conduct business and even

how we see our country and fellowmen. This study will show the positive and negative

effects of social media to Filipino culture and behavior. As a result Filipino readers may

be more informed regarding the changes happening in and around them. There may be

good things about it that we aren't utilizing and dangers that should make us lessen our

reliance on it if not change how we use and see social media.

Filipinos are very social by nature. With the current advances in technology,

socialization has become highly technological and internet based. Many Filipinos know
and use Facebook along with other less favoured social networking sites and applications

like Twitter, Instagram, Viber and WhatsApp. Aside from socialization, all sorts of

organizations also utilize social media in the Philippines. Government, non-government,

educational and business organizations now have their own Facebook and twitter

accounts. Politicians and celebrities also have accounts that Filipino people now follow

closely more than the local news. Stores and independent sellers create Facebook

accounts to sell and advertise their merchandise.

Filipino culture is beautiful; we should cherish and nurture it. With the advent of

social media and the ever growing part of it in our culture, we should be responsible in

using it so it doesn't affect our way of life negatively. With the recent reliance of Filipinos

on technology and social media, this paper should give an outside perspective of how it

affects our behavior. A. Social media has changed Filipino culture. Filipinos have become

more sociable even with strangers. Filipinos have adapted more western culture since

the rise of social media. Social media has changed Filipinos' behavior. It has changed

how they change their spare time. It has changed how they react to change and cultural

differences.

Social media has changed Filipino culture and behavior in both positive and

negative ways, we should know these changes so that it won't cause problems for us and

the people around us. The social media websites has effected youth in a way that it is

considered to be a great source for professionals. They can be used as a source to start

a new business or any profession. For example if a friend is looking to get hired for a job

and he posted a status on his profile, so any other friend who know any job related to him,

he can send him couple of messages on his profile and that’s how it benefit people. They
are many other positive aspects of these social networking websites. It may help in

strengthening the relationships between the young generations.

There are lots of people who don’t see their friends for so long. These social

websites are a way where they can be connected again. They can connect with the friends

no matter they are how long away from them. It has reduced distances. Just by one click

and there you go. Send friend request, on the other end your friend will accept it and start

chatting. Social networking sites has helped people in connecting people who are too far

away and with whom it is impossible to meet personally, and keeping them informed about

your life and the events happening in your life.

There are negative impacts of social media on youth as well. One of the negative

impacts is cyber bullying, which is very common now a days on internet. This is commonly

occurs on the sites of social media. Cyber bulling is basically an electronic base

communication to tyrant a person, most often by sending threatening messages. There

are also videos on social networking websites that shows violence, these videos could

lead to affect the behavior of teens. By watching violence they became more aggressive,

their behavior with their family changes and their minds become assertive, this could

ultimately affect their living in the society. Another negative impact of social networking

sites on younger generation is that these sites don’t have strict privacy, many of the

personal information has been shared publically. Many of the youth don’t know about the

privacy policy of any blog and they don’t actually know that this information will be

disclosed to the other persons like advertisements.

Foreign Related Literature

Bryanna Favor (2015) study entitled “ADOLESCENT ATTITUDES TOWARD

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM” aims to find out about the influence and effect of

social media on the students attitude in the classroom.

Researchers around the world have been fascinated by social media and its effects

on adolescents. However, researchers are not just concerned with the correlation

between students' writing and their social media usage; they are concerned with social

media's effects on student behavior, attitudes, self-esteem, and relationships (O’Keeffe

and Clarke-Pearson 2013; Barker 2009; Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, and Zickuhr 2010;

Jelenchick, Eickhoff, and Moreno 2013). Researchers have not concluded a definitive

answer about how students are affected psychologically by social media. Some say social

media raises adolescents’ self-esteem, while other claim this new media is diminishing

their self-esteem. For example, Gwenn O'Keeffe and Kathleen Clarke-Pearson claim that

social media is affecting students in a negative fashion. They claim adolescents are

suffering from emotional distress such as "Facebook Depression" and cyber bullying

(O’Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson 2011). On the other hand, some researchers claim that

because adolescents receive "likes" and positive feedback from their peers on these

websites, social media can be a positive tool. Michael Doly-Cohen and Azv Barack

discovered that social media allows students to relieve stress. In their experiment, they

found that instant messaging made some adolescents feel a sense of belonging and

emotional relief (Doly-Cohen and Barack 2012). If social media affects students’ moods

and self-esteem in some way, then this could impact the way students write. If a student

does not feel adequate and feels badly about himself/herself, he/she may not write to the
best of his/her ability. Social media could impact writing by impacting students’ self-

esteem. Understanding how social media affects adolescents’ moods is also an important

consideration. For instance, if adolescents are using these websites for "emotional relief,"

this might cause their writing styles to be more expressive. Adolescence is a time of great

change, especially emotionally. If a teenager is very emotional because of conversations

occurring on social media, this inner turmoil can affect his/her academically. In order to

understand adolescent social media use, it is vital to discover how these websites impact

adolescents' self-esteem.

While social media affects students psychologically, adolescents also speak

differently on social media than they do in real life. For example, students writing online

might use “text speak” and/or break grammar rules. They may not capitalize proper nouns

or use punctuation (Baron 2009; Livingstone 2008; Cingel and Sundar 2012; Van

Cleemput 2010). For instance, Naomi Baron discovered that adolescents' use of social

media and other technologies are changing the way that students are talking. Baron

mentions that the “text speak” students use when interacting on social media and when

texting each other is resulting in a more relaxed attitude about grammatical structures in

the classroom (Baron 2009). “Text speak” refers to the way some adolescents speak to

each other while texting, such as substituting “u” for “you” and “cuz” for “because.”

However, Cynthia Lewis and Bettina Fabos’ research yielded a different result; they found

that many students often correct and watch for spelling errors when instant messaging

with their friends. These researchers claim that students say they are cautious of using

proper spelling and grammar because they do not want their peers to think less of them.

These adolescents want to appear intelligent and do not want their friends to lose trust in
them, so they are cautious of spelling (Lewis and Fabos 2005). If these teenagers made

a spelling error, many of them admitted to sending a new message with an asterisk next

to the word they misspelled with the correct spelling (Lewis and Fabos 2005). Although

Lewis and Fabos had very different results from Baron, Baron's article came out in 2009,

four years after Lewis and Fabos’. Therefore, by 2009, perhaps social media sites

became more popular and there is a possibility that students became more casual about

how they presented themselves on these websites. It can become time-consuming to

constantly check one's spelling, and with the growing popularity of social media, students’

attitudes may have shifted. Therefore, this raises the question of whether or not students’

attitudes have shifted yet again in the six years since Baron’s article. Adolescents’

attitudes may continue to shift as social media develops. It is possible that students’

casual attitudes towards writing online may turn into more relaxed attitudes towards

writing in general. Another consideration is how many students are actually using social

media and how they are using it. The 2010 Pew data research shows that “73% of wired

teenagers are now using social networking websites” (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, and

Zickuhr 2010, 1). In a more recent research study facilitated by Piper Jaffray, he

discovered that nine out of ten teenagers use social media (Blaszczak-Boxe 2014). This

survey discovered that Instagram is the most popular social media website among

teenagers, followed by Twitter, and then Facebook (Blaszczak-Boxe 2014). While

Instagram focuses on simply sharing pictures with a brief caption, there is no limit to how

much one can write on Facebook. Conversely, Twitter only allows its users to share

messages that are 140 characters or less. Teenagers are using the two websites that

require them to write the least, Instagram and Twitter, the most often. Perhaps by using
these websites, students are learning to write more concisely. On the other hand, using

the websites might increase adolescents’ desires to commit grammatical errors so that

their thoughts can fit in a concise message. Stephanie Banchero explains that SAT writing

scores have hit new lows because there are more ESL students taking the test. However,

a large number of native speakers are still doing poorly. Banchero noticed these new

scores, but did not have an explanation as to why native speakers are doing poorly

(Banchero 2011). If there is no explanation as to why native speakers are performing

poorly, perhaps there are outside factors, like social media, that are encouraging students

to develop poor writing skills. These statistics play a critical role in defining what students

are using for social media and how often they are using these websites.

Because adolescent use of social media is on the rise, many teachers are using

these websites in the classroom. Their practices are allowing quieter students to

participate in class discussions and are changing the way students write. For instance,

Trip Gabriel writes about a classroom in which the teacher has a Twitter feed projected

on a screen during her in-class discussion. This Twitter feed allows students who would

not normally speak up to participate in class discussions (Gabriel 2011). Another teacher

asked her students to write their own Twitter biographies in order to practice concise

writing (Gross and Schulten 2013). In the Pew results, researchers also found that

students are shifting from longer forms of blogging to “microblogging” (Lenhart, Purcell,

Smith and Zickuhr 2010). By microblogging, researchers mean that adolescents are still

sharing their opinions online, but instead of using longer, more traditional “blogs,” they

are using quick forms of social media, such as Tweets and Facebook statuses. If teachers

are regularly incorporating short Tweets into their lesson plans, how is this affecting
students’ writing? Teachers are showing students how to write concisely using these

tools, but does this affect students’ abilities to write longer, cohesive pieces? Social media

is also being used in the classroom to teach students how to give and receive relevant

feedback. Students use these websites in order to practice being more professional.

Janet Atkins wrote that one teacher was using social media when she taught her students

Frankenstein. Students were asked to post and comment on each other's writing, which

the teacher closely monitored (Atkins 2011). In another classroom, it was found that

students learned how to respond professionally to each other's blogs, and students were

encouraged by others' feedback because they knew people were actually reading their

work (Lapp, Wolsey, and Shea 2012). If students are being exposed to and asked to use

these websites academically, it is important to find out how they are writing on these

websites. If students are using these websites in an academic way, then they are

practicing skills and could be improving their writing. Before using social media in the

classroom, teachers must consider how familiar students are with these websites. There

is a preconceived notion that adolescents are more familiar with technology and enjoy

using technology more than older people; adolescents are called “digital natives”

(Prensky 2010). The assumption is that adolescents are constantly submerged in

technology, and have a better understanding of digital technology than people of other

ages. However, researchers have found that this term is not necessarily accurate (Selwyn

2009; Bennett, Maton, and Kervin 2008; McHale 2005; Brown and Czerniewicz 2010). A

variety of factors contribute to someone’s knowledge of technology, including

socioeconomic status. For instance, if an adolescent does not have the means to

purchase and practice using new technology, he/she might not be comfortable using it in
the classroom. Also, some teenagers may simply shy away from new technology.

Therefore, it is unfair to simply assume an adolescent has digital knowledge, which may

play a role in the classroom. If teachers decide to include social media in the classroom,

they cannot have any assumptions about students’ knowledge. Assuming adolescents

understand social media can lead to an uncomfortable class session and a drop in

adolescent self-esteem. If teachers are asking students to participate in websites they are

uncomfortable with, students will not be as inclined to learn. If teachers are so inclined to

use digital media in the classroom, it is important that they explain how to use certain

websites and allow students to practice. Some research has also been done specifically

on how social media affects students’ writing, which is the focus of this research project.

Researchers claim that social media both hinders and helps to improve students’ writing

(Lytle 2011; Stern 2013; Assadullah 2014). Terry Wood, a high school teacher, claims

students “do not capitalize words or use punctuation anymore. Even in E-mails to

teachers or [on] writing assignments, any word longer than one syllable is now

abbreviated to one” (Lytle 2011). If social media is affecting students' writing significantly,

it is worth conducting more studies to understand what changes are

 III. Research Methodology

Social media has been changing the landscape of communication drastically. In fact,

Junior high school spend more time on social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram, etc. We researchers are curious to uncover whether or not there is a

correlation between a social media persona versus actual persona peer friendships. This

led us to our research questions: Is there any change of student’s attitude between their

social media persona versus the actual persona peer friendships?

In order to learn about adolescent’s social media usage and to know if there is a

significant change on their attitude, we distributed a survey. With a survey, specific

questions can be asked to student’s. The questions could be tailored to fit the research

questions. The survey was created for students to complete in one class period and

allowed them to share information about what social media websites they often use, how

long they spend on these websites, and if there is any difference on their attitude on

social media versus on real life.

Questions were also included to discover student’s attitudes towards peers and

their communication with other students. The result of our survey would be confidential.
 a. Research Design

This research uses a survey methodology. In this research studies the sampling of

individual units from a population and associated techniques of survey data collection,

such as questionnaire construction and methods for improving the number and

accuracy of responses to surveys. Survey methodology includes instruments or

procedures that ask one or more questions that may or may not be answered.

II. Respondents

Our respondents are students of Grade 7 and 8 of Infant Jesus Learning Academy.

We choose them because they are more capable of using Social Media than lower level.

We randomly selecting 50 students from Grade 7 and another 50 students from Grade 8.

With the total of 100 respondents.

III. Research Instrument

To provide and gather as much informative and relative evaluation correlational

method was used. Correlational Methods are a form of research that include “quasi-

experimental” designs such as survey research or naturalistic observations, in which

different groups are compared. This method includes the used of questionnaires and

surveys. Questionnaire was used as the main data- gathering instrument for this study.

It was divided into to main sections: Part I and Part II. The Part I of the questionnaire is

the demographics of the respondents’. The Part I research instrument consist of the items
which gathers the respondents’ profile such as their name, age, grade level and section,

and family background . The Part II of the research instrument consist of the questionnaire

proper that have 1-8 questions with corresponding scales.

 IV. Data Gathering

To determine the effect of the usage of social Media on the educational

performance of student a survey was conduct from the students who used different social

networks. In survey a questionnaire was used to collect data from the students .In

questionnaire closed-ended questions asked from the target population.

Therefore, students were given a survey questionnaire. On the next page is the

copy of our distributed survey questionnaire given to the respondents.

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

Greetings! As a part of our study in Practical Research, we are conducting a

research entitled Effects of Social Media in the attitude towards peers of Grade 7

and 8 Students of Infant Jesus Learning Academy. In connection with this, we

would like to ask for your help to provide necessary opinion and data for our study,

please answer our questions wholeheartedly. Be assured that all answers you will

provide will be kept in the strictest confidentiality. We would like to appreciate your

effort. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Instruction: Please fill in the blanks with your information or Put a (✔) check on it.

I. Demographics

Name: Gender: ___Female or ___Male

Age: Grade and Section:

Family Background: __Married __OFW __Separated __Single Mom/Dad __Others

Do you have social media account/s? ___Yes ___No

What social media apps/sites do you use?

__Facebook__Twitter__YouTube__Instagram__Others __I don’t use any social media

How much time would you estimate that you spend on social media apps/sites?

__Less than an hour __1-2 hours __2-3 hours __3-4 hours __more than 4 hours
Instruction: Indicate your agreement or disagreement with the following statements

by putting a (✔) check on the corresponding scale.

II.
(4) (3) (2) (1)
Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree
1.Social media influences
my attitude towards peers

2.Social media improves my

communication skills
3.I became more confident
because of social media
4.I rather spend my time
using social media than
socializing in real life
5. I express the same
attitude in social media that I
show in real life
6. I have more friends on
social media as compared to
real life
7. For me, social media if the
easiest way to communicate
with my friends
8. I express my ideas and
feelings in social media
rather than in real life
9. I rather use social media
sites to connect to my
friends, family, etc. than in
real life.
10. I am more active using
social media rather than
talking to people.

_____________________
Signature over printed name

Thank you so much for your cooperation. God bless you!

 The next step in the research process was finding a respondents to distribute

the survey, the survey was eventually given to Grade 7 and 8 junior high school

students of IJLA. They were selected because we want to know if there is a difference

between Grade 7 compared to Grade 8. In addition, we also want to know if there is any

improvement on how these junior high school socialize toward peers.

Before, giving the survey questionnaire, we are able to explain the questions and

process needed the students to follow students.

 V. Treatment of Data

The data that will be obtained from the questionnaires which is going to be

distributed by the researcher was tabulated, analyzed and interpreted with the use of the

following sampling technique;

Percentage
Percentage was used to define the demographic profile of the respondents.
Formula: % = f ÷ n * 100

Where:

f = Frequency (number of the correct answers of the respondents)

n = Overall Points

% = Percentage of correct answers of the respondent

Also on this research, we use the z test because our respondents are more than 30. In

statistics, z-tests are calculations that can be used to compare sample and population

means to see if there is a significant difference.

Scope and Limitation

This study focuses on The Effects Of Social Media In The Attitude Of Grade 7

And 8 Students Towards Peers Of Infant Jesus Learning Academy. It involves how much

time does teenagers spend on social media. This study will not cover other thing that are

not effects of social media towards peers. The other students which do not fall as part of

Grade 7 and 8 are not within the scope of this research. The study would be done through

the utilization of questionnaire to the students as a survey and reference. By their strategy

the researchers will be able to know the effects of social media in the attitude towards

peers of grade 7 and 8.

Significance of the Study
The research will be beneficial to students because they will know the effects of

social media to their attitude towards peers. In this study students can be aware on things

that social media can do to them. This research can also be beneficial to teachers and

administration because they will be able to understand the changes in behavior

perception of their students towards peers. They can easily cope up to their students

attitude. This research will also be beneficial to parents, they can know the effects of

social media in the behavior of their child towards their family. The parents knowing the

risk of social media in the attitude of the child/children can help them understand and

prevent the sudden change of mood of their child/children. This research will be beneficial

to future researchers because they can get some information that might be needed in

their research and some of their question may possibly answered by this research.
Dedication

This study is wholeheartedly dedicated to our beloved parents, thank you for your

never ending support. Thank you for inspiring and giving us strength when we thought of

giving up, who continually provide their moral, spiritual, emotional and financial support.

To Almighty God, thank you for your support, for giving us strength, for guiding us

what should we do, for loving us unconditionally, for keeping us strong through hardships,

thank you for the knowledge, for keeping us safe, skills that you lend to us, power of mind,

thank you God. We offer our success to you. All of these, we offer to you.

To our friends, sibling/s, teachers, we also offer this study to you. Thank you for

helping us through hard times, thank you for encouraging us to continue.

Acknowledgement

First and foremost, praises and thanks to God Almighty, for His showers of

blessings throughout our research work to complete the research carefully.

To our friends who help us throughout this journey.

To Sir Jerwin Bahum for his patience and teaching us what should we do, for his

time and for checking our research.

To our parents who supported us through moral, spiritual, emotional and financial,

we offer this to you.

To our participants who answered our survey seriously and wholeheartedly, thank

you for cooperating.