Abstract:

This study has a dual focus. On the one hand, it aims to understand how contemporary college students are using traditional media, and how new digital media, with special emphasis on social media, are affecting their media consumption habits.

On the other hand, the study analyzes the impact of media usage on school attitude, educational values and academic performance.

The exploratory study focuses on three different areas: First, we explore how our students are using traditional media and new digital multimedia platforms to get access to national or international news. Then, we focused on the degree of penetration of social media in terms of time spent with those platforms and frequency of use. Finally, we establish the priority use our students make of their social media accounts.

The outcomes show a clear trend. Traditional media, even in their online versions, seem to be in an unstoppable decline. The media that have been traditionally providing information during several generation are falling-off. Close to 75% of the interviewed students rarely or never read national daily newspapers. The percentage raises to 80% in the case of regional newspapers. Tabloids and magazines of general information, are not much more popular. TV seems to be the only medium that resists the advance of the new media. Still, not even 13% watch TV news daily.

Our data confirm a deep penetration of social media in the life of our target audience. Practically all participants in this study have accounts in several platforms. The most popular ones seem to be Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Over 93% of our students check their accounts at least 2-3 times a day. Close to 85% do it every hour.

With regards to the amount of time they spend immersed in social media, over 80% of our participants devote 2-3 hours or longer to deal with their social media accounts, of which 30% spend at least 4-6 hours, and 10% more than 6 hours.

Furthermore, we analyze how this strong penetration may be affecting their academic live, the correlations of social media usage with school attitude, educational values and, finally, academic performance.

The more time our students spend and the more frequently they access their social media accounts, the weaker their educational values and school attitude seem to be, as well as their willingness to engage in cognitively complex activities, constructs normally associated to academic success.

Moreover, time and frequency of social media usage strongly correlate with both a lower GPA and a high score on the parameters that we could consider warning signs of weak academic performance, such as academic risk and the external academic locus of control.

The impact of the deep penetration of social media on the use of traditional media and the academic performance has, no doubt, implications for both the individual development of our current youth and the whole social body. Even though they are not free of biases, the traditional, well-established media outlets had been keeping some professional and ethical standards in dealing with information. The new digital platforms have no transparency with regards to sources, no apparent standards in terms of verifying the accuracy of information, and, furthermore, occupy a gray legal area. Still, a sound democracy relies on individuals with the critical spirit to look for and assess the information they need to function as responsible citizens.

Keywords:

Media consumption habits, social media, academic performance, educational values, school attitude.