THE USE OF ANDROID PHONES, AND THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ECONOMICS IN SIERRA LEONE FROM 2010-2020

THE USE OF ANDROID PHONES, AND THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ECONOMICS IN SIERRA LEONE FROM 2010-2020

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In our contemporary environment, advances in technology cause individuals all over the world to alter both their patterns of behavior and the ways in which they consume goods. As opined by Mahamud &  Fordjour (2015)) the use of information and communication technology, abbreviated as ICT, has affected  both the learning process and the methodology of acquiring new information in light of the present day education system. This is evident as on a global scale as   Fawareh and Jusoh,(2017 observed that  people all over the world have accepted this innovative and fascinating technology such as smart  phones as one of the most crucial required facilities in their everyday lives. 

Etymologically, smart phones are a technical invention that have gradually become a part of everyone's life and with this scramble for individual ownership, mobile phones companies around the globe has ventured in production of different class of android phone (Thomas & Leonid et’al 2015). It android version  are equipped with multimedia phone features, such as camera functions, sound recording functions, video functions, and many other functions. As a result of these developments, Han,  & Yi, (2019) asserts that an android phone is designed as  a piece of hardware that functions in a manner analogous to that of an operating system for a computer and possesses both computational and networking capabilities. According to Hossain (2019), these were first made available to the public in the year 2000, and ever since then, they have become among of the most well-known and sought-after electronic devices. Due to the fact that it is a compact and intelligent gadget that can easily be carried in one's pocket, android phones have effectively taken the role of desktop computers in a variety of activities. According to Hossain (2019), it has developed into an essential component of today's generation in each and every facet of life, particularly for students and younger people, who make up the majority of android phone users and buyers. According to the hypothesis put up by Fawareh and Jusoh (2017), having android phone is analogous to carrying around a portable, little computer. It should come as no surprise that the capabilities of a android phone extend much beyond those of just making and receiving phone calls. In most cases, there are outstanding functions such as those for accessing the internet, monitoring one's health condition, sending and receiving emails, viewing movies, listening to music, talking, and exchanging images, videos, and other documents, to name just a few examples what theses android phone version can do for people all over the world.

Importantly, the proliferation of android phones and other associated technologies has significantly altered the methods of education  as well as it utilized in other developed nations of which developing nations like Siere Lonne  is not an exception to this rule. Serdang Darul  & Mothar (2019) posits that because android phones are now more readily available and accessible, secondary school students  which make up a growing percentage of the population possesses and uses these devices. Studies by Abbas in  2020 showed that almost 63 percent of high school students in North America owned android phones, and more than half of those students admitted that they use their android phones to access the internet via Wi-Fi and cellular data to access social networking sites and emails to access their mails and academic articles. More so, a very tiny percentage of students in the United States, but one that is steadily increasing, has shown that student use their android phones for online banking, online shopping, and entertainment purposes According to Vassilakaki, E., Moniarou-Papaconstantinou, & Garoufallou, (2016), students can, for example, access the materials for their lectures on their cellphones; easily access information online to fulfill their information needs via learning management systems; access academic databases and a website; and so on. These are just a few examples. Furthermore, Kibona & Mgaya (2015) assert that the widespread availability of these facilities has resulted in a shift in the method of education, such that students and other learners no longer rely solely on paper-based materials but rather on the capabilities of android phones, which enable students to more effectively drive their learning process and realize their goals. This was made clear in the works of Masiu and Chukwuere (2018), in which they stated that  android phone has also made the lives of students easier, as they can access their school information on the gadget through electronic learning (e-learning), and mobile learning. Howbeit these gadgets also govern their lives by presenting them with vital information and data wherever they are and at any time is another worrying aspect of this situation. Ahsan,, Nasir  & Abbas (2020) averred that android phoned applications, electronic books and journals, search engines, and social media websites provide  student with the means to access and retrieve the  informative content. Thus student can utilizes these devices to easily access the internet in order to participate in a variety of online learning processes  as established by AlEmran, , Elsherif, & Shaalan, (2016).

However, despite the relative benefits of android phone usage by students, Barnwell (2016) is of the view that most students use their phones to engage in activities that appear to be extremely distracting most of the time. This makes it difficult to strike a balance on android phone as a tool for boosting academic performance which is why there is a need to study the use of android phones, and the academic performance of secondary school students in economics in Sierra Leone. 

​​​​​​​STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Smartphones are equipped with multimedia phone features, which include camera functionality, sound recording function, video function, and many others. These features assist students to drive their learning process and dreams effectively. However, most smartphone and recreational applications are addictive to both higher-level and lower-level students, which in turn affects their academic performance. Impressively, some learning systems have also emerged over the years and involve ubiquitous learning (u-learning), which is being powered by smartphone capabilities in the learning environment. According to Jung (2014), ubiquitous learning (u-learning) combines the characteristics of electronic learning (e-learning) and mobile learning (m-learning) in driving forward different forms of learning through the internet connection process in the 21st century. Joshua, Nehemiah, and Ernest (2015) posited that e-learning is a borderless learning experience to increase tutors and students’ interaction as well as deliver effective teaching and learning content across different platforms, such as smartphones and many more. Supporting this statement, Levina (2016) opined that in recent times, it appears that smartphones, in their various iterations such as Android, are able to make a positive contribution to the learning process of students as well as their overall academic achievement as technology continues its rapid growth.

Consequently, the high surge in senior high school students' usage of smart phones in and outside the school environment has yielded more harm than good. According to Steven and Okay (2018), the global surge in use of smart phones among post-primary school students has led to an ever-increasing dependency on smartphones because of their embedded functionalities and portability. Adolescents in secondary schools appear to prefer a smartphone over a laptop and personal computers because of the various functionalities, such as entertainment, watching sports, online games, sending emails, chatting, online shopping, social media, and the ability to complete homework (Cha & Seo, 2018; Nayak, 2018). This has resulted in the consistent use of smartphones among students over time, and thus, most students find it difficult to control their use (Bianchi & Phillips, 2005). Given the prevalence of smartphone addiction among students, it is crucial to explore the relationships between smartphones and students’ learning.

Additionally, multiple facets of our day-to-day lives, notably those of students, have been altered as a result of the recent explosion in the use of Android phones. On the other hand, it is of the researcher’s observation that the majority of high school students view Android phones primarily as a gadget for leisure, social networking, browsing the internet, watching movies, and playing games. This observation is in line with the affirmation of Lepp et al. (2015) who stated that if android phones are primarily used for leisure by students rather than for educational purposes, then they have the potential to interfere with their learning in educational contexts, which is not appealing to their attainment. This is apparently visible in the lives of secondary school students in Sierra Leone, and has significantly influenced their commitment to studies. This is evident as the majority of them use android phones and recreational apps, making them addicted to them as is prevalent among economic students, which in turn impairs their academic achievement. To support this, Igbaji, Miswaru, and Sadiyya (2017) found that young people are becoming hooked on social media activities these days. As a consequence of this, they quit their studies and divert their attention to conversing with friends on social media through the use of their android phones, even during the teaching and learning process, which in turn makes them less attentive and possibly leads to low academic performance. Furthermore, it is of the researchers' observation that the majority of secondary school students studying economics in Sierra Leone have performed poorly, especially within the last decades. This persistent decline in the students' performance contributes to the curiosity of the researcher to investigate possible causes and the implications. While the aforementioned studies are debatable, there have been relatively few recent studies that have demonstrated the negative effects of student android phone usage on student academic performance, with a focus on government technical secondary schools in Sierra Leone. As observed by the researcher, the majority of studies conducted in recent times have concentrated on the effect of android phone usage on college university undergraduate students' academic achievement. In light of this backdrop and in a bid to fill the gap, the researcher seeks to examine the use of Android phones and the academic performance of secondary school students in economics in Sierra Leone from the years 2010–2020.

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