Social network site use and university adjustment

Abstract

Previous research suggests that students often use social network sites (SNS) as academic distractors, though little is known about the association between students’ use of individual SNS and university adjustment. The present study examined academic outcomes associated with using Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. University students (N = 422; Mage = 21.24) completed self-report measures assessing SNS use, procrastination, academic engagement, and university adjustment. For each SNS, participants reported how often they used the site in general, in addition to how often they used the site to procrastinate on academic tasks, and their frequency of using the site for non-academic purposes during class. Results indicated that Tumblr, Facebook, and Pinterest were linked with university maladjustment, whereas Twitter and Instagram were associated with some benefits to adjustment. The findings suggest that using SNS to procrastinate, or using SNS during class, play an important role in understanding students’ adjustment to university.