Social Media in relation to Psycho-social and Academic adjustments among Students

Social media sites such as Face book, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others act as a substitute of community in campus life. It has the potential to increase social interaction and connectivity among students if properly managed. It may also help in developing the self-esteem, sociability of students and academic adjustments which may increases the rate of social interaction, academic attachment and motivation among the students. The use of Social Media has been associated with both positive and negative effects on University students. This research is an attempt to investigate the relationships between Social Media use and factors of psycho-social and academic adjustment in University students. In order to investigate these effects in the context of student life, a multidimensional questionnaire was distributed to both residential and non-residential post graduate students of University in North India. The survey instrument is based upon a questionnaire used by Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe (2007) which is altered however to the needs of this study. Outcome of this research shows that students feel a greater sense of community when they are actively using Social Media to connect with their colleagues and as a result engage in more social and academic activities on campus.