Social Network and Its Impact on Psychology and Leanring Attitude of Students: The Study Case Freshman Students at Universities of Ho Chi Minh City

In this paper, the authors examine the impact of social media on the psychology and learning attitudes of first-year students at universities in Ho Chi Minh City. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of social media on freshman students by a number of variables such as age, grade, and type of school, gender, and average daily internet usage time. The survey method used in research is “Social network influence scale” and “Personal information form” prepared by the research team is used as data collection tools. Based on relevant literature, the authors focused on the relationship between the influence of social network and first-year student psychology and academic performance; explore and measure the impact (positive and negative) of social network factors on student psychology and learning, and then propose educational policies of administrators universities management to take advantage of social networks to improve learning outcomes. This study collects survey data from a utility sample of 3,066 first-year students at 10 universities in Ho Chi Minh City. The analysis shows that information search, entertainment, fashion, and learning tools have a positive impact on first-year student psychology and academic performance. However, due to spending too much time using social media, inaccurate information, “dirty websites” (websites with bad content), etc., have a negative impact on the learning results and psychology of freshman students. Additionally, research results was found that there was a significant relationship between the average daily internet time and the freshman student's social media addiction.