The document summarizes research on how social media impacts students studying abroad. A survey of 50 abroad students found that most felt social media prevented them from fully immersing in the local culture and caused homesickness. While social media helped students stay connected to friends and family, most agreed it distracted them from appreciating their surroundings. The conclusion is that social media can hold students back from fully experiencing a new culture while abroad if overused.

1. Social Media & Abroad
By Savannah Lamas

2. Background
O 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

3. 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.

4. Methods:
O Quantitative Research- “Data-led
approach which provides a measure of
what people think from a statistical and
numerical point of view.”

5. Survey
O Surveyed 50 people anonymously
O Online survey via SurveyMonkey
O 10 questions for abroad students only

6. Survey Questions
O 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?

7. 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?

8. Survey Results
O 64% or 32 people
answered Yes
O 28% or 14 people
answered Somewhat
O 8% or 4 people
answered No

9. Survey Results
O 62% or 31 people
answered Yes
O 20% or 10 people
answered The Same
O 18% or 9 people
answered Less

10. Survey Results
O 14% or 7 people
answered Yes
O 20% or 10 people
answered Somewhat
O 66% or 33 people
answered No

11. 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

12. Conclusion
O 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

13. 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.