The influence of social media on the lives of the undergraduates of the Arts Faculties of the University of Kelaniya

Abstract

With the Covid-19 pandemic, the online education became vital in the higher education system in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the online education spread throughout the country irrespective of the practical problems such as unavailability of technical devices, poor internet connections, poor access to mobile data, financial difficulties etc. With the increase of the use of internet and online education, the use of social media has also increased. The undergraduates who were ignorant about the use of social media before the pandemic have learnt to use social media for different purposes only after the introduction, promotion and considerable advancement of the online education. This has a huge impact on the lives of the undergraduates. Hence, a study was conducted in June 2023 analyzing 50 responses for a questionnaire distributed among arts undergraduates of the University of Kelaniya, to evaluate the influence of social media on their lives. According to the responses, the most popular social media network among undergraduates of arts faculties of the University of Kelaniya was WhatsApp compared to Facebook, Viber, IMO and Instagram. WhatsApp was used by 68% of the students as their mainly used social media network. The majority (68%) of the undergraduates deem that they essentially need to use social media daily. Fifty percent of the undergraduates spend around six hours daily on social media. Ten percent of the undergraduates spend the whole day on social media daily. Only a 44% of the undergraduates think that they get stressed due to the usage of social media. The majority (94%) of the undergraduates deem that they gain happiness and mental satisfaction from social media. These results depend on their level of perception and understanding of the concept of happiness and mental satisfaction. According to the results, the social media have considerably influenced the lives of undergraduates.