Research on Facebook Addiction

Introduction
Why has the social network website Facebook become so popular and virtually affecting millions of people across the globe? What is it with Facebook that has everyone glued to it day and night? Facebook is a social networking site created by a student of Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg, in 2004. It allows users to add people as friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles and to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by workplaces, schools, colleges, political parties and religious groups amongst others. Long before the introduction of Facebook, people used their mobile phones, Yahoo and other means to communicate and share experiences with friends, business associates and families, but the advent of Facebook some few years ago has changed the previous phenomena and is slowly changing behavioural patterns.

More than 350 million people have signed up to social networking website Facebook since its creation by Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Facebook is arguably the biggest phenomenon of the internet and has made Zuckerberg the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. With the huge number of users across the globe, the social network website is arguably the most patronized among Twitter, Net Log, Yahoo, Skype, MySpace and Bebo. Thus, this study aims to determine the effects of Facebook addiction in the study habits of selected 2nd year BSA students of GenSantos Foundation College Incorporated (GFCI).

Statement of the Problem
The study aims to find out the effects of Facebook to the study habits of selected 2nd year BS Accountancy (BSA) students of GenSantos Foundation College Incorporated.
1. What are the signs and symptoms of Facebook addiction?
2. What are the necessary steps to stop Facebook addiction without quitting?
3. What are the possible ways to stop Facebook addiction?
4. What are the effects of Facebook addiction to study habits of students?

Significance of the Study
This research will help the readers to know on how Facebook addiction affects the study habits of the students. To the Operators of Internet Café – To enlighten them the effects of their establishment to the study habits of the students for them to be able to make some guidelines in internet use. To the School Administrator – Help them implement the necessary programs needed to maintain a good studying habit for the students if the school. To the Teachers – They will know how students react and often used Facebook and how Facebook affects the studies of the students. To the Parents – This would serve them to persuade closely to monitor the activities of their children regarding Facebook.

To the Student – Help them to get informed on how other students react and response about using Facebook and if this Facebook can affect their study habit. To the Researchers – This will help them know the reaction of the students about Facebook.

Scope and Delimitation
The research study was delimited to the effects of study habits of 2nd year BS Accountancy students of GFCI.
The study involved 30 students enrolled at GFCI during the 2nd semester of school year 2010-2011. The researchers used simple random sampling procedure in selecting the respondents to the study.

Chapter II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND ITS STUDIES
This chapter presents review of related literature and studies that will be used for the development of this study.

Foreign Literature
Facebook was launched in February 2004 and is operated and privately owned by Facebook Inc. with more than 500 million active users in July 2010. It affords users to add people as friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles and to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by workplaces, schools, colleges, political parties and religious groups amongst others. The site also allows individuals to create profiles that include information about anything of interest to them. These topics can include personal hobbies, pictures, games or club and business affiliations. A user can also view another person’s profile or connect to a company’s profile page in order to stay in touch with them and receive notifications when there is new activity. Long before the introduction of Facebook, people used their mobile phones, yahoo and other means to communicate and share experiences with friends, business associates and families, but the advent of Facebook some few years ago has changed the previous phenomena and is slowly changing behavioural patterns.

Foreign Studies
A new study conducted by The University of New Hampshire shows that spending time on Social Media sites does not affect the academic performance of students. Despite the ongoing concern of Facebook addiction, it doesn’t appear to have a negative impact on school performance. These findings contradict previous studies which suggested the exact opposite. The study, carried out by Chuck Martin, a professor of marketing at Whittemore School of Business and Economics, found out that there was no direct correlation between student’s grades and the amount of time that they spent on sites like YouTube or Facebook. The study divided students in heavy vs. light social media users depending on the amount of time that they spent on social media sites. According to Martin: We broke down usage by minutes during a typical day, with light users being logged onto a social media site for fewer than 31 minutes per day and heavy users on for a time exceeding 61 minutes per day.

The results showed that 63% of heavy users got A and B grades, as compared to the 65% light users who got A and B grades. Similarly, 37% of heavy users received lower than B grades, as compared to the 35% of light users who got low grades. Perhaps this was the only surprising finding of the study. The result of top destination for students had no surprises and revealed that Facebook and YouTube were most visited sites, with 96% of the students using Facebook and 84% using YouTube. Another important finding of the study is that students primarily use social media sites for social or entertainment purposes, as compared to educational or professional reasons. 89% of the students said that they use the sites for social interactions, where as 79% visit the sites for entertainment. This is in sharp contrast with the 29% who use these sites for educational purposes and 16% who use it for professional interactions.

Definition of Terms
To make this study clearer and more understandable to the readers, the following terms were defined: • Facebook Addiction Disorder – This is similar to Internet addiction. It is a type of behavioural addiction similar to pathological gambling, sexual and shopping addiction. It is a brain disorder as a result of neurochemical dysfunction where normal behaviour becomes abnormal. • Time Limiter Plug-in or Extension – A plug-in used to limit the usage of Facebook on your personal computer. • GenSantos Foundation College Inc. – A private college school located at Bulaong, General Santos City who specializes business courses. • BS Accountancy (BSA) Students – Selected 2nd year BSA students enrolled in the 2nd semester of school year 2010-2011 of GenSantos Foundation College Incorporated. • Facebook – A social networking site that connects people.

Chapter III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the research design, respondents, instrument used and data gathering procedure used in this study.

Research Design
The researchers used descriptive method in this study. They describe the possible effect of Facebook addiction to the selected 2nd year BSA students of GenSantos Foundation College Inc.

Respondents
The respondents of this study were thirty (30) selected 2nd year BSA students of GenSantos Foundation College Inc. that enrolled school year 2010-2011. The researchers used random sampling method to determine the entire population of the said respondents.

Instrument Used
The questionnaire was made by the researchers to elicited information consisted of six (6) items which pertained to the possible effect in the study habits of Facebook addiction to the selected 2nd year BSA students.

Data Gathering Procedure
The researchers surveyed the selected 2nd year BSA students in Gensantos Foundation College Inc., and after the questionnaires were distributed to the respondents and then retrieved, the data was tabulated, analyzed and interpreted. Chapter IV

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
This chapter deals with the presentation, analysis, and interpretation of this study.

1. What are the signs and symptoms of Facebook addiction?
Given below are 10 signs and symptoms of Facebook addiction which will help you figure out whether you are really addicted to Facebook. • You wake up in the morning and first thing you do is log onto your Facebook account. • You spend more than an hour on Facebook – at a stretch or in short episodes over regular intervals. • You and your siblings converse through Facebook wall and messages, even though you stay in same house. • You can’t seem to stop thinking about Facebook updates and comments when you are offline. • You check Facebook for updates and comments after every hour at your workstation or on your cell phone. • You look forward to get home in the evening so that you can see what is happening in Facebook. • Your Facebook wall is full of status updates, comments, and applications that you just used. • You can’t go for a day without using Facebook, and even this thought makes you go into sort of depression.

• You give priority to Facebook over your commitments in professional and personal life. • And lastly, your day ends with you checking Facebook for that one last time and bidding people ‘good night’ through your Facebook status update. (You may even get an urge to wake up at the middle of the night to see whether anyone has commented on your ‘good night’ status.) If you have been indulging in any of the aforementioned activities frequently, it means you are suffering from Facebook addiction disorder (or at least you are vulnerable to it). Even though it may seem harmless to get involved in virtual life, it has the tendency to result in some serious consequences on your mental health as well as social life, and thus you need to get rid of it as soon as possible.

2. What are the necessary steps to stop Facebook addiction without quitting? We all want to quit Facebook and delete our account at some point. Whatever the reason, there are hordes of us out there that want, at some point, to quit Facebook and delete our accounts, but don’t want to lose touch with all their friends on the service. Here are 5 different ways to quit using Facebook too often, without having to actually quit Facebook: 1. Delete Your Wall

If you’re interested in cutting yourself off from that addiction, without sacrificing the communication tool that is Facebook, just delete your wall. Use the Facebook privacy settings and ensure that none of your content is shareable to anyone. This allows you to remove your wall, but you’re still accessible in case friends want to message you or play games with you. 2. Turn off All Email Notifications

This can be surprisingly effective, as these days we get pinged about every new notification and wall post that anyone posts on the service. You’ll be surprised how less intrusive Facebook will become if you just check in occasionally, rather than rushing there every time somebody has something to say about you, or tags you in a photo. Use the Notifications Settings to do this. 3. Get a Time Limiter Plug-in or Extension

Use an extension needed for your engine that will help you block your Facebook usage to any time you want. 4. Use Private Facebook Groups with your Friends/Family Create Facebook Groups with your friends/family. The advantage with this is that it’s almost like a separate area of Facebook altogether. You can bookmark the group, jump in and see what your actual friends/family are saying to each other rather than to the wide world of Facebook. If you get used to this style of using Facebook, you’ll definitely find that you’re using the service for useful information pertaining to your own life, rather than a lot of the wasted time that can occur on almost every other area of Facebook. 5. Delete Some Friends

This one, we have all considered, and it’s not the worst thing in the world. Post a status message indicating that you’re cleaning up your Facebook contact list, and tell them to send you a message in the next few days if they want to stay on. This may ring narcissistic, but when all’s said and done, you might actually have yourself a functional social network, rather than a news feed full of unwanted notifications and photos you don’t know anything about.

3. What are the possible ways to stop Facebook addiction?
Becoming a Facebook addict is inevitable, so here are 10 ways to stop Facebook addiction: 1. Step on Facebook
Get Facebook under your feet – don’t let it go up to your head and run into your mind. 2. Go Get a Cup of Coffee
We know Facebook has helped us re-connect with old friends, but then sitting over a cup of coffee with them is a lot better than just chatting with them on Facebook. The thought that you remembered them not because their face was displayed on your friend’s list would make them feel special and not like any of your anonymous Facebook friends. 3. Go out with Recent Friends

Ask your friends you’ve met recently to a group study (if you are students) or just hang out with them. 4. Be Productive
There will always be a time that you will feel very unproductive after logging into Facebook. Keep yourself busy by doing the chores if you really want to be productive. 5. Open the TV

TV was our first addiction, so perhaps you can open the television and scan the channels. 6. Schedule your Internet Consumption
Consider making a schedule on your internet usage. 7. Use your Email more often than Facebook and Turn off your Notifications If you needed what you can really call “security”, consider turning off the email notifications sent to you from time to time. If they really want to tell you something, seriously they will email you. 8. Total Recall

Recall what you used to do before you became a Facebook addict and try doing it again. 9. Do the Alternatives
Instead of uploading photos, have them printed and keep them on a real photo album. Instead of playing online games, try to relive your childhood days. Instead of stalking your crushes, it’s better if you’d stay closer to them.

10. Deactivate Facebook
Go to a place where there’s no internet!

4. What are the effects of Facebook addiction to study habits of students?
The following table will show the gathered information about Facebook in the 2nd year BSA students of GFCI. Table 1
|Variable |n=30 |Percentage | |Always |7 |23% | |Sometimes |9
|30% | |Seldom |14 |47% |

Determination of Variable:* n = number of selected students
Always – 6 times and above* percentage is rounded off
Sometimes – 3 to 5 times
Seldom – 2 and below

Table 1 shows that majority of the students uses Facebook seldom in a week which yields the highest percentage among the three variables. It also shows that 2 out of 10 students use Facebook 6 times or more in a week and 3 out of 10 use it 3 to 5 times a week.

Table 2
|Reasons |n=30 |Percentage | |Communication and Socialization |17 |56% | |Entertainment and Fun |8 |27% | |Both |5 |16% |

Table 2 shows that the main reason of students for using Facebook is for communication and socialization purposes. This reason is the most common answer of the respondents though some answered for entertainment and fun only or for both.

Table 3
|Variable |n=30 |Percentage | |Can affect |9 |30%
| |Can’t affect |21 |70% |

Table 3 shows that the study habits of selected 2nd year BSA students are not affected with Facebook addiction. And that Facebook is not bad for us students.

Chapter V
Summary, Findings, Conclusion and Recommendations
This chapter presents the summary, findings, conclusion, and recommendations to the study.

Summary
This study aimed to find out the effects of Facebook addiction to the study habits of 2nd year BSA students of GenSantos Foundation College Incorporated. The researchers used descriptive method to find out the effects of Facebook addiction to 2nd year BSA students. There were 30 respondents and they were chosen randomly. The instrument used to gather data was a questionnaire.

Frequency distribution was used to analyze and interpret the data.

Findings
Based on the results of this study, the following were revealed: 1. The signs and symptoms of Facebook addiction are: waking up early just to log in, spending more than an hour on Facebook, conversation in Facebook with siblings you live in the same house with, can’t stop thinking about Facebook when you’re offline, going home early just to log in, can’t go for a day without logging into it and giving it priority over other more important things.

2. The necessary steps to stop Facebook addiction without quitting are: delete your wall, turn off all email notifications, get a time limiter plug-in or extension, use private Facebook groups with family and friends and delete some friends. 3. Possible ways to stop Facebook addiction are: step on Facebook, go get a cup of coffee, go out with recent friends, be productive, open the TV, schedule your internet consumption, use your email than Facebook, make a total recall, do the alternatives and deactivate Facebook. 4. The majority of 2nd year BSA students of GFCI seldom use Facebook. 2 out of 10 always use it and 3 out of 10 sometimes use it. 5. The main reason of students for using Facebook is communication and socialization which represents 56% of the total percentage. 6. 30% of the respondents said that Facebook can affect their study habits while 70% said that it can’t.

Conclusions
Based on the findings, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. There are a lot of signs and symptoms in order to know if someone is a Facebook addict or not. 2. There are many steps and ways to overcome Facebook addiction. 3. The study habits of the students are not affected with Facebook addiction.

Recommendations
Based on the study, the following are the recommendations:
1. Students must focus on their studies and other priorities and not on Facebook. 2. Students must keep themselves busy by doing other activities and start to avoid using Facebook. 3. Students must control themselves from using Facebook especially those who are addicts. 4. Parents must advise their children regarding the use of Facebook.