Background: Social media is heavily used by college students. Social media allows students to stay in contact with friends and find information. Social media can be distracting, thus negatively impacting students’ mental health. The purpose of this study was to explore if social media has a negative effect on the college students’ GPA based on educational level. Method: This was a nonexperimental cross sectional research study. Data was collected through a survey focused on students’ experience with social media platforms and GPA. The variables of interest were examined using frequencies and chi-square analysis. Results: College students used social media. The use of TikTok and Snapchat influenced GPA. Snapchat had positive influence and TikTok had negative influences regardless of grade level There was a difference based on grade level and use of social media. More underclassmen report not using Facebook when compared with upperclassmen. Discussion: Through this research it was revealed that students\u27 usage of social media did have a statistically significant impact on their GPA. Snapchat had a positive influence and TikTok had a negative influence on the students GPA regardless of grade level. Given these findings, it is important to find different types of interventions to help these students. For example, students can turn on the downtime feature on their phones to limit screen time for certain apps. This allows students to be more aware about the time spent on social media and helps cut back usage to focus on schoolwork
