Relationship between the Usage of Electronic Devices and

the Academic Performance of Students

Junfeng Li1，*
1School of Business, Monash University, Australia

*Corresponding Email: Jlii0121@student.monash.edu

Abstract. With the rapid development of social science and technology, elec-
tronic devices are widely used in people's lives. This study aims to explore the
impact of the usage of electronic devices on students' academic performance
using Ordinal Logistic Regression. Through the data analysis of the CFPS da-
tabase, design electronic device usage, key school, perception of Internet as in-
dependent variables, and the academic performance is used as a dependent var-
iable as a Ordinal Logistic model. The findings revealed that the length of the
use of electronic devices has a significant negative correlation with the aca-
demic performance of students. Whether students belong to key schools and
students' perception of the importance of the Internet to learning have no sig-
nificant effect on academic performance. The results show that academic per-
formance can be improved by controlling the length of time students use elec-
tronic devices.

Keywords: Electronic device, Academic performance, Perception of Internet,

key school, Electronic Device Usage

1 INTRODUCTION

Information technology penerates people’s daily life. With the continuous improve-
ment like 5G technology that has been widely used all over the world, people live in
the era of the Internet of Everything. Unconsciously, the mobile phone has become an
inseparable "partner" of people. It has also become the fifth largest media after news-
papers, radio, television and the Internet [1]. According to the 47th "Statistical Report
on the Development of China's Internet" released by the China Internet Network In-
formation Center, "as of December 2020, the number of mobile Internet users in my
country reached 986 million, of which young students accounted for the largest group,
reaching 21%. "[2]. Smartphones with functions such as socializing, shopping, enter-
tainment, learning, and financial management have become an indispensable tool in
people's daily lives [3].
Teenagers have a higher probability of addiction to mobile phones. According to
research conducted by many countries, 30% of teenagers are addicted to mobile
phone use and have a negative impact on their academic performance [4,5]. Excessive
use of mobile phones can lead to very weak interpersonal relationships and are not

© The Author(s) 2022

A. Holl et al. (Eds.): ICHESS 2022, ASSEHR 720, pp. 2092–2100, 2022.
https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-494069-89-3_239
 Relationship between the Usage of Electronic Devices 2093

good at communicating with others. Browsing some unhealthy content on the mobile
phone will make children physically and mentally hurt [5]. Besides, too much use of
mobile phones will cause self -control to decrease, and the user will become more and
more lonely, immersed in the world of mobile phones [3]. What’s more, if students
use electronic devices too much, sometimes they may even appear "illusions". Take
the ringtone of others as their own by mistake [6].
Key schools are one of the important features of the Chinese education system. The
key schools in China’s compulsory education stage aims to promote the improvement
of the conditions for running schools in a few schools, the improvement of the quality
of education, and the cultivation of elite talents [7]. Because the teaching resources
and teaching management of key schools and non -key schools are different, this arti-
cle will also analyze whether students belong to the relationship between key schools
on their academic performance.
In addition to objective factors, the students' attitude towards learning is very ref-
erence. Especially students' perception of the importance of the Internet to learning.
Therefore, this article will also consider the relationship between students' perception
of the importance of the Internet to learning and academic performance in the study.
However, relevant research is limited as many studies use the mobile phone addiction
rate to examine whether the use of electronic devices has a significant negative impact
on students' academic performance. The previous studies were analyzed only by
whether to use electronic equipment to affect the academic performance instead of
analyzing it by the quantity of the usage of electronic devices.
Therefore, the article adopted 2020 CFPS (China Family Panel Studies) to examine
the relationship between the time that student spend on electronic devices and their
academic performance. At the same time, two new factors will be considered, namely
whether students belonged to key/demonstration schools and students' perceptions of
the importance of the Internet to learning.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Academic performance is the standard for assessing a student's learning status and
usually measured with two dimensions, namely GPA (Grade Point Average) and CFU
(Credito Formativo University) [8]. There are many factors that affect academic per-
formance. Among them, Yi pointed out that academic performance is closely related
to parental education methods, teacher - student relationships, and companion rela-
tionships. The study, which sought to explore whether there were any adverse effects
of mobile phone use on academic performance, found evidence that there is indeed a
negative correlation between the use of electronic devices and academic performance
[9]. The authors point out that most research findings, especially when examining the
effects of Internet use and gaming, point to a negative correlation between electronic
device use and academic performance. 49,609 junior students performed better in
relation to lower internet use.
2094 J. Li

According to the results of the empirical study, the use of mobile phones by middle
school students has no necessary effect on their academic performance. In the survey
of Xi'an, the proportion of middle school students holding mobile phones is as high as
60%, indicating that mobile phones, as an important tool in the age of network infor-
mation, have gradually been integrated into the daily life of middle school students
[1]. The conclusions of this study differ from those of most related studies. In 2011,
the era of information technology has not developed so rapidly, electronic devices
have not yet spread to all places, electronic devices are not as intelligent as they are
now, and their functions are not as many. The majority of students do not yet have
access to their own electronic devices, so the conclusions drawn differ from those
drawn by other related studies.

2.2 Electronic devices

The number of people using electronic devices has grown substantially in recent
years. The percentage of Americans who own a smartphone in 2018 is 77 percent, up
from 35 percent in 2011. Smartphones are almost ubiquitous in the lives of young
people [9]. The development of information technology in the United States has al-
ways been at the forefront of the world, and the popularity of information technology
has enabled more and more people to own a set of smartphones.
H1: Usage of electronic devices has a significantly impact on students’ academic
performance

2.3 Key Schools

Zhu pointed out that due to the teaching resources, teachers, management systems,
cultural environment, and material environment of key schools, they are far better
than non-key schools. It caused a serious two - level differentiation, which is unfair
[7]. Therefore, under normal circumstances, the academic grades of students in key
schools are better than the academic performance of students in non -key schools.
H2: Students of key schools has a significant academic performance than those in
normal schools.

2.4 Students' perception of the importance of the Internet to learning

Zhu found that it is very important to maintain self -monitoring in network learning,
and it will have a significant correlation with academic performance [10]. This shows
that in Internet learning, it is not necessary to obtain good academic performance by
relying on the students’ perception that the Internet is important to learning, but to
achieve good results in the process of the self-control while learning in the Internet.
H3: Students' perception of the importance of the Internet to learning has a significant
impact on students' academic performance
 Relationship between the Usage of Electronic Devices 2095

2.5 Relationships
Relevant researches have shown that adolescent addiction to the use of electronic
devices leads to a negative impact on academic performance and interpersonal rela-
tionships. In Hadlington’s research, the usage of students used electronic devices was
used as an independent variable, and their academic performance were used as a de-
pendent variable to draw a correlation conclusion. In 41 researches within 20 prov-
inces across the country from 2011 to 2020, Zhou found that the total incidence of
mobile phone addiction among middle school students in my country was 23.40%,
which was lower than that of South Korea (31%) and Thailand (36%). But higher than
Japan (12%) and Spain (18%). This proves that there are certain differences in the
incidence of mobile phone dependence among middle school students in different
countries [11]. Wang found that the tendency of mobile phone addiction is signifi-
cantly negatively correlated with academic performance, which is consistent with the
research results of Bian Yingfang et al. and Cao Meilan, who found that excessive use
of mobile phones has a negative impact on academic performance [12].

3 Methods

3.1 Data Sources

2020 CFPS (China Family Panel Studies) database is used, of which, Academic Per-
formance and Network Module. There are 28,590 samples were selected for this top-
ic. Since the object of this study is middle school and high school students, after
screening and deleting observations with missing or incomplete information, 1181
valid samples were finally obtained.

3.2 Description of Variables

From the CFPS 2020's personal Q&A questionnaire, the study has chosen the usage
of the students' electronic device, whether the student belongs to the
key/demonstration school, and the students believe that the importance of the network
to learning as an independent variable.

Dependent Variable.
Dependent Variable is measured by Academic performance. It indicates the top% of
the grade ranking is used as. In order to facilitate analysis, the five intervals of varia-
ble students are assigned a value of 1-5. Details are as follows:
Students' recent exams ranked among the top 10% of the grade to 1;
Students' recent exams ranked 11%-25% in grade to 2;
Students' recent exams ranked 26%-50% in grade to 3;
Students' recent exams ranked 51%-75% in grade to 4;
Students' recent exams ranked last 24% in grade to 5.
2096 J. Li

Independent variable.
(1) Key School. Binary question with yes and no answer. This variable means wheth-
er the students belong to the key/demonstration school.
(2) Perception of Internet. 5-likert scale question (1=very important to 5 very un-
important). This variable means students' perceptions of the importance of the Internet
to learning.
(3) Electronic Device Usage. This variable means the length of time for students to
use electronic device per day, which is a continuous variable.

4 Results

4.1 Descriptive statistics

In a sample of 1181 students: For the independent variable - the average time spent
online by students using electronic devices is 195.6 minutes per day and the standard
deviation is 174.58. The minimum value is 0 minutes and the maximum value is 1080
minutes. For the independent variable - whether the students belong to
key/demonstration schools, 352 students study in key/demonstration schools, ac-
counting for 29.81%; 829 students do not study in key/demonstration schools, ac-
counting for 70.19%. For the independent variable - the importance of the network for
learning, 34 students think that the Internet is very important to learning, accounting
for 2.88%; 135 students think that the Internet is important to learning, accounting for
11.43%; 396 students think that the Internet is very important to learning. Learning is
generally important, accounting for 33.53%; 385 students think the Internet is not
important for learning, accounting for 32.6%; 231 students think the Internet is very
unimportant for learning, accounting for 19.56%.
In the dependent variable - students' academic performance, the number of students
in the top 10% of the grade is 203, accounting for 17.19%; the number of students in
the 11%-25% ranking is 336, accounting for 28.45%; the number of students in the
26%-50% ranking is 374, accounting for 31.67%; the number of students in the
51%-75% ranking is 189, accounting for 16%; the number of students in the bottom
24% ranking is 79, accounting for 6.69%.

4.2 Regression
Among the several variables in this study, students' academic performance, whether
the students belong to the key/demonstration school, and students' perceptions of the
importance of the Internet to learning are categorical variables. The usage of student
use of electronic devices is an ordinal variable. Therefore, this study is well suited to
use Ordinal Logistic Regression analysis.
Using the CFPS database and Stata statistical software, the above-mentioned de-
pendent variables and independent variables were subjected to Ordinal Logistic Re-
gression, and the regression coefficients were tested for significance. The obtained
econometric model results are shown in the following table.
 Relationship between the Usage of Electronic Devices 2097

Table 1. Correlation of dependent variable and independent variables(self-painting)

Academic performance Usage School Network
Academic 1.0000
performance
Usage 0.1251 1.0000
School 0.0273 0.0146 1.0000
Network -0.0085 0.0169 0.0055 1.0000

Table 2. Regression Analysis(self-painting)

Academic performance Coefficient P value

Top 10% ranking
Usage -0.0018 0.012*
Key school -0.1829 0.528
Perception of Internet -0.0806 0.539
11%-25% ranking
Usage -0.0022 0.001***
Key school -0.0505 0.852
Perception of Internet -0.0720 0.564
26%-50% ranking
Usage -0.0013 0.040*
Key school -0.1481 0.581
Perception of Internet 0.0240 0.846
51%-75% ranking
Usage -0.00008 0.904
Key school 0.0793 0.783
Perception of Internet -0.1193 0.369
It can be seen from the chart that the analysis results of Ordinal Logistic Regression
model. The significant of students in different interval of academic performance are
affected by the usage of electronic device differently.

The usage of the students' electronic device.

It can be obtained in the regression analysis of the usage of the students' electronic
device that among the top 50% of the students in grade, the usage of electronic device
is significantly related to the academic performance. However, for the ranking be-
tween 51% and 75% students in the grade, the usage of the students' electronic device
is not significantly related to the academic performance. The coefficient of the top
10% students is -0.0018, which is significant correlation. (z=0.0007, P=0.012<0.05);
The coefficient of the 11%-25% students is -0.0022, which is significant correlation.
(z=0.0006, P=0.001<0.05); The coefficient of the 26%-50% students is -0.0013,
which is significant correlation. (z=0.0006, P=0.04<0.05); The coefficient of the
51%-75% students is -0.00008, which is not significant correlation. (z=0.0007,
P=0.904>0.05). The results presented above means that of the top 50% of the students
in the grade, H1 assumption is supported and establishment. The usage of students'
electronic device is significantly affect the academic performance of students. Con-
versely, H1 assumption is not supported in the last 50% of students' ranking interval
2098 J. Li

in the grade. Thus, the usage of students' electronic device is not significantly affect
the academic performance of students.

Key Schools.
We can know from the regression analysis table that the independent variable-whether
the students belong to the key/demonstration school are not significantly correlated
regardless of the student ranking range. The coefficient of the top 10% students is
-0.1829, which is not significant correlation. (z=0.2894, P=0.528>0.05); The coeffi-
cient of the 11%-25% students is -0.0505, which is not significant correlation.
(z=0.2709, P=0.852>0.05); The coefficient of the 26%-50% students is -0.1481,
which is not significant correlation. (z=0.2684, P=0.581>0.05); The coefficient of the
51%-75% students is 0.0793, which is not significant correlation. (z=0.2872,
P=0.783>0.05). This can be explained that whether the students belong to the
key/demonstration school have no significant relationship with the academic perfor-
mance of students. Thus, H2 is rejected.

Students' perceptions of the importance of the Internet.

The regression analysis table demonstrated that the independent variable - Students'
perceptions of the importance of the Internet are not significantly correlated regard-
less of the student ranking range. The coefficient from top 10% ranking to 51%-75%
ranking students are -0.0806 (z=0.1314, P=0.539>0.05), -0.0720 (z=0.1248, P=0.
0.564>0.05), 0.0240 (z=0.1233, P=0.846>0.05), -0.1193 (z=0.1327, P=0.
0.369>0.05), which means students' perceptions of the importance of the Internet have
no significant relationship with the academic performance of students. Thus, H3 is
rejected.

5 CONCLUSION

This research used Ordinal Logistic Regression to analyze the relationship between
students' academic performance and students' usage of electronic devices.
The results show that among the students in the top 50% of the academic performance
ranking, the students' academic performance has a negative impact with students'
usage of electronic devices. Students achieving above-average academic standing
tend to minimize the use of electronic devices. They may spend time on study and
extra-curriculum. And they may have excellent self-control capabilities, they can
arrange their electronic devices reasonably.
The longer students use electronic devices, the more students get relatively poor
academic performance. Using electronic device for a long time will make students
addicted. It will also cause students to have interpersonal relationships and not be
good at making friends. Even some toxic information will be received on some elec-
tronic devices to affect students' mental health.
At the same time, we also analyzed some other factors that may affect students'
academic performance. The analysis found that whether students belonged to
 Relationship between the Usage of Electronic Devices 2099

key/demonstration schools and students' perceptions of the importance of the Internet

for learning do not significantly affect students' academic performance.
In the study of whether the students belong to the key schools, the analysis results
conflict with the assumptions. The difference between the results and assumptions
may be that the management system of key schools and non-key schools is basically
the same at present. The school's management execution of students does not have
large differences in key schools and non-key schools, and the management of stu-
dents' electronic device is very strict. Thus, the research assumption is inconsistent
with the conclusion.
Similarly, in the study of students' perceptions of the importance of the Internet,
the analysis results conflict with the assumptions. This may be because students'
self-control ability is not good enough. Students think that the Internet is important
for learning, but they may not have enough self-control to learn from the Internet.
Instead, they used to use the Internet to leisure and entertainment, which has also led
to bad academic performance. Thus, the research assumption is inconsistent with the
conclusion.
Based on the above analysis and conclusions, the following suggestions for stu-
dents' academic performance are put forward. Among the factors affecting academic
performance, students' usage of electronic devices is very significant, especially for
students with middle and upper grades. For students who want to improve their aca-
demic performance, they can scientifically control the length of time they use elec-
tronic devices to improve their academic performance.

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