Research Question: Is there a relationship between the duration of time spent engaging with the short-form social media content and the likelihood of employing Artificial Intelligence to aid in or complete class assignments? 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been on the rise amongst students as a quick and simple way to complete assignments. The use of AI in the classroom has skyrocketed as new technology is developed and distributed at an unprecedented rate. At the same time, short-form content, such as videos on popular social media apps, are published and consumed by students at an even faster rate. Teaching professionals are claiming that it is becoming increasingly difficult to hold the attention of students, as well as encouraging students to produce original work.  This has created a lack of student engagement with content material and overall attachment to classes and courses. Literature primarily focuses on the poor use of AI in the classroom, though research rarely focuses on why this may be. To address this gap, a mixed-method study using an explanatory sequential design will be used to analyze the relationship between the duration of time spent engaging with the short-form social media content and the likelihood of employing AI to aid in or complete class assignments. The study will be conducted at a state university in central Pennsylvania. A college wide survey will be administered focused on duration of screen time on social media apps and the frequency at which students use AI to complete assignments throughout a week. Focus groups will be conducted with randomly selected students to further understand the relationship between social media and AI use amongst peers. The anticipated conclusion is that the longer a student engages with short form content it will positively affect the likelihood of utilizing AI to complete/aid in class assignments.