Social media use by adolescent students of Sri Lanka: impact on learning and behavior

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of social media on adolescents' social behavior, personal conduct, interactions, education, communication, attitudes, skills and abilities. In addition, the study seeks to determine the barriers to social media use by adolescents. Design/methodology/approach A convenience sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 300 adolescents from three educational zones in Sri Lanka. A questionnaire survey method was applied to collect raw data and descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the analysis. Findings Among the given different social media, YouTube was the most preferred social media for adolescents. Although the majority of adolescents used mobile phones to access social media, they were not high social media users. The impact of social media on adolescents' education and communication was significantly positive although their intellectual involvement with social media communities was rather low. The use of social media had not decreased the time devoted to studies or seriously complicated adolescents' social life or encouraged them toward violence and conflict. There was no indication that social media had led to them experiencing mental confusion, health problems, disorderly conduct, social imbalance or suicide. Originality/value This study helps to reduce the literature gap of pertinent literature because there is little research information available on social media use in Sri Lanka. Almost all studies based in Sri Lanka in relation to social media have been poorly designed or published in predatory journals. The findings of the present study should be a timely and important resource for policymakers in education, teachers in both government and private schools and many stakeholders not only in Sri Lanka but also in other similar nations.