Social Media & Abroad

By Savannah Lamas

BackgroundO Social media can benefit abroad students

experience, acting as a blog for places

students are traveling

O Negative aspect is that students can miss

a lot by worrying about their social media

platforms

O Students can also be too attached to

things going on at home via social media,

which could stop them from being able to

enjoy their experience

Research Objective

O Do social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, FaceTime, etc.) take away from abroad students ability to immerse themselves into another culture?

O My objective is to learn if social

media helps or hurts a young

persons abroad experience.

Methods:

O Quantitative Research- “Data-led

approach which provides a measure of

what people think from a statistical and

numerical point of view.”

SurveyO Surveyed 50 people anonymously

O Online survey via SurveyMonkey

O 10 questions for abroad students only

Survey QuestionsO How often do you use social media when at

home?

O How often do you use social media abroad?

O Have the types of pictures and media you post different while abroad?

O Do you feel homesick when seeing posts and pictures from friends at home?

O Do you think you are missing out on seeing and appreciating the culture around you because of social media?

Survey Questions Cont.O Do you think social media enhances your

appreciation for the culture around you?

O Do you think you have checked your social media more or less during your time abroad?

O Do you use social media abroad for yourself to have as a blog or for your followers to keep up with you?

O Do you think social media helps you stay in touch with friends and family at home?

O Do you think social media enhances or hurts your abroad experience?

Survey Results

O 64% or 32 people

answered Yes

O 28% or 14 people

answered Somewhat

O 8% or 4 people

answered No

Survey ResultsO 62% or 31 people

answered Yes

O 20% or 10 people

answered The Same

O 18% or 9 people

answered Less

Survey Results

O 14% or 7 people

answered Yes

O 20% or 10 people

answered Somewhat

O 66% or 33 people

answered No

Results Cont.O Ultimately 56% of people surveyed said

they were missing out on appreciating the

culture around them because of social

media

O However, 80% of people surveyed said

social media helps them stay in touch with

friends and family at home

ConclusionO Based on my results, I found that social

media holds abroad students back from becoming immersed in their new culture

O Students are stuck at home because of pictures and posts from friends

O Students become more active on social media

O Students miss out on seeing what is around them because they are glued to their phones

O Positive feedback

O Students are able to easily stay in contact with family

Limitations

O Some students do not have proper Wi-Fi

or data plans to use social media

platforms when traveling

O It would have been more effective if I

could compare my survey to a survey

given to students currently not studying

abroad.