KUWAIT CITY, Feb 11: Acting Director for Educational Activities and Supervisor of the Social and Psychological Services Department at Jahra Educational District Aida Bushehri said the department has conducted a study about the impact of social media on the academic performance of a random sample of around 3,000 students in the intermediate and secondary stages; indicating that the study took two months of continuous work, reports Al-Anba daily. Bushehri made the statement after attending the 27th forum about the impact of using social media on the academic performance of students at Mohammad Al-Mahini School, with a large number of psychological and social researchers in attendance. She disclosed that the study showed the negative and positive effects of social media and smart devices, citing the negative effects as distraction, poor concentration, and lack of understanding among students who spend a lot of time on social media. She warned that the excessive use of electronic communication tools could lead to depression, anxiety, tension, and isolation.

She stated that the study recommended opening a file for a student proven to be using smartphones and social media sites for more than 10 hours a day because he needs psychological and social intervention by specialists. She revealed that seven percent of the study sample use their smartphones for around eight to 10 hours a day. She added the study revealed that 30 percent of the sample use ‘Tik Tok’, 21 percent use ‘Snapchat’, 18 percent spend their time on other social media sites, 10 percent on ‘Instagram’, 9.5 percent on electronic games, 6.8 percent on ‘WhatsApp’ and 1.4 percent on ‘Twitter’. She stressed the need to focus on raising the awareness of society in general, and the students in particular, about the dangers of excessive use of the aforementioned applications and the need to use them properly through seminars, media outlets, and school administrations, She also emphasized the importance of regulating the use of distance learning programs in solving assignments and reviews to fully benefit from modern technology, and keep students away from anything that distracts them and wastes their time. She recommended activating the ‘Teams’ application all the time, not only during crises.