SOCIAL MEDIA, NETWORKS, AND STUDENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

Social media and networks have opened new opportunities for individuals to learn and grow, regardless of their educational or professional background. The implications and challenges of technology in educational settings are not well understood, despite its widespread use and impact on students. The study aims to investigate students' social networking behaviour in the form of the use of social networking sites during class in relation to their gender, age group, education, and place of residence and focuses on three age groups of students who are representatives of Generation Y and Generation Z because both generations are growing up and coming of age in the 21st century and have been exposed to digitization and digital transformation since early childhood. The research sample consisted of 278 students from public and private universities and high school graduates who expressed interest in studying at the university. The results show that all examined variables, except place of residence, have a significant but small effect on what students do on social networking sites during classes and the reasons why they use them. However, according to the results, the fact that students connect to social networks during class does not imply that they have a reduced interest in the subject matter being taught or the knowledge being acquired, which means that there is a significant opportunity to adapt the learning approach on these platforms.