The study sought to examine the impact of social media on the academic performance of junior high school students in the Tampaalipani circuit of Wa municipality. The study was grounded in Social Learning Theory by Bandura (1997) and adopted positivist philosophy through quantitative approach and descriptive research design. The study employed stratified and simple random sampling to select 297 junior high students. The data was collected through questionnaire and analysed descriptively using frequencies and percentages, and inferentially by linear regression statistics. The study findings revealed that the social media platforms used by the junior high students included WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube. In addition, the study disclosed that social media use affects students’ academic performance negatively. Based on the study findings, it was recommended that Ghana Education Service should make deliberate efforts to include in the school curriculum the development of educational platforms like “WhatsApp Kidz”, “kiddy TikTok”, and “Facebook Kidz” as display of educational materials and content. Also, parents, teachers, and guardians should supervise and regulate students’ social media usage, making sure they engage in educational content and judicious use of their time on these platforms so as to improve on their academic performance.
Keywords: : Academic Performance, Junior High School, Social media, Students, Tampaalipani circuit, Wa municipality
