Constantly Connected: The Impact of Social Media and the Advancement in Technology on the Study Abroad Experience

By Sarah Wooley
Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications
2013, Vol. 4 No. 2 | pg. 4/4 |

V. Conclusion

The study took a critical look at the impact of the advancement in technology and social media on the study abroad experience. Advancement in technology positively impacted the study abroad experience because it is now easier for students to communicate and navigate on the go. However, social media negatively affected the experience; people wanted to remain connected to the online communities, yet their use of media device prevents them from full cultural immersion. The survey and focus group responses demonstrated that study abroaders' need for mobile Internet access (smartphones) is growing due to the constant desire to stay connected. The amount of time spent on social media depended on individual personalities.

This study was limited because of the convenience sample of the survey, which was heavily skewed to women (88%), even though it allowed the researcher to access many of her student organizations and friends in a short amount of time. The same goes for the focus group. As a result, this study should be replicated with a more balanced sample.

The survey was distributed through social media, which garnered highly active social media users as respondents. When replicating this study, researchers should use other methods to include non social media users.

To study this topic further, more research should be done to investigate the increase/decrease in the number of American study abroad students if technology were unavailable while studying abroad. Additionally, assessing how students' Internet usage and cultural immersion while abroad changes each year, may provide insight into how the advancement in technology and social media impacts their overall experience. This could be accomplished by interviewing and creating a case study following a group of current study abroad students in one country for three months and then following another group of study abroad students in the same place a year or two later. The researcher should study and analyze the students' social media activity both in their homes and on the go.

Future sojourners must be informed of the potential negative effects of overusing social media while studying abroad. With an increasing number of students choosing to complete academic courses in foreign countries, more research should be conducted on the effect of technological advancements on the study abroad experience. It is also important to conduct further research on the correlation between personality types versus social media presence. The researcher hopes that this study will lead more people to study and assess the power of social media and its ability to impact the study abroad experience.


Acknowledgments

This author is thankful to Dr. Byung Lee at Elon University for his supervision and advice, without which the article could not be published. The author also appreciates numerous reviewers who have helped revise this article.


References

Adler, R., Rosenfeld, L., & Proctor, R. (2012). Interplay: The process of interpersonal communication. (12 ed.). Oxford University Press.

Buckingham, D. (2008). Youth, identity, and digital media. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Chen, G. (2012). The impact of new media on intercultural communication in global context. China Media Research, 8(2), Retrieved from http:/www.chinamediaresearch.net

Copeland, D., & Hatcher, A. (2007). Mass communication in the global age. (7th ed.). Vision Press. Hendrickson, B., Rosen , D., & Aune, K. (2011). An analysis of friendship networks, social connectedness, homesickness, and satisfaction levels of international students. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147176710000799

Huesca, R. (2013, January 14). How Facebook can ruin study abroad. Chronicle of Higher Education,59(19), Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/How-Facebook-Can-Ruin-Study/136633/

Levinson, P. (2013). New new media. Boston: Pearson.

Lin, J., Peng, W., Kim, M., Kim, S. Y., & LaRose, R. (2012). Social networking and adjustments among international students. New Media & Society, Retrieved from http://nms.sagepub.com/content/14/3/421. full.pdf html

Mistretta, W. (2008). Life-enhancing: An exploration of the long-term effects of study abroad. ProQuest. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304406369/13CB1AD923770281E36/3?account id=10730

Twombly, S., Salisbury, M., Tumanut, S., & Klute, P. (2012). Study abroad in the new global century: Renewing the promise, refining the purpose. San Francisco, California: Wiley Subscription Services.

Yu, H. (2008). An examination of the effects of participation in a college study abroad program. ProQuest. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304495438/abstract/13DE0394FE717530A4C/1? accountid=10730

Zemmels, D. (2012). Youth and new media: Studying identity and meaning in an evolving media environment. Communication Research Trends, 31(4), Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=ade45700-4f28-4d9a-8958-04d30bafec1e@sessionmgr13&hid=2

Suggested Reading from Inquiries Journal

University websites across the country showcase the important underlying values of study abroad: experiencing a "local" culture, creating interactive conversations, and empowering students through personal and academic development. This research examined how universities communicate the benefits and values. Through a rhetorical... MORE»
Advertisement
Twitter. Facebook. Digg. MySpace. LinkedIn. The list of social media tools could probably run on for paragraphs, and today’s technology changes so rapidly that many industries, including corporations and news media... MORE»
This research examined how people experiencing homelessness use the social media platforms of blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Through 15 interviews at a day shelter in a central North Carolina city, the author discovered... MORE»
Since its introduction by German-born Political Scientist Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann in 1974, the Spiral of Silence theory has become one of the most-researched communication theories that explains public opinion formation in a media environment (McDonald, Glynn, Kim, & Ostman, 2001, p. 139). The Spiral of Silence attempts to... MORE»
Submit to Inquiries Journal, Get a Decision in 10-Days

Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines.

Representing the work of students from hundreds of institutions around the globe, Inquiries Journal's large database of academic articles is completely free. Learn more | Blog | Submit

Follow IJ

Latest in Business & Communications

2021, Vol. 13 No. 09
This research lies at the nexus of political communication theory relating to emotional affect and political processing and the burgeoning field of sentiment analysis. News coverage can affect opinion both through the information it provides and... Read Article »
2021, Vol. 13 No. 06
This research study explores factors that present barriers to reporting workplace incidents and contribute to cultures of non-report. The research purpose was to explore human, workplace/organizational, and external factors identified by industrial... Read Article »
2016, Vol. 8 No. 11
In its beta release, Google Glass was positioned as a groundbreaking technology - a glimpse into a future that has long been promised in science fiction. It was met with media fanfare and consumer interest, despite costing more than most PCs on... Read Article »
2016, Vol. 7 No. 1
Predicting the future of the news industry begins with understanding the history of newspapers and the current news delivery landscape. Because the Internet has brought fundamental shifts to news distribution, successful organizations of the future... Read Article »
2016, Vol. 7 No. 1
Instagram allows users to share a snapshot of their lives with a mass audience in a matter of seconds. This capability and power has not gone unnoticed by celebrities, who are highly aware of the impact their social media accounts have on fans and... Read Article »
2016, Vol. 7 No. 1
Since its development, YouTube, the world's third most popular online destination, has transformed from a video-sharing site into a job opportunity for content creators in both new and mainstream media. Based on content analysis, the study examined... Read Article »
2016, Vol. 7 No. 1
Today, more than 15 million Americans practice yoga, making the ancient Indian discipline synonymous with the Western society's culture of wellness. As a way to market themselves, practitioners and instructors of yoga have utilized Instagram &ndash... Read Article »

What are you looking for?

FROM OUR BLOG

Writing a Graduate School Personal Statement
How to Read for Grad School
"Should I Go to Graduate School?"