SURVEY ON FACTORS INFLUENCING GEN Z’S INTEREST IN UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA AS A MEDIUM FOR DIGITAL LEARNING

This study aimed to identify the factors that influence Generation Z's interest in utilizing social media as a digital learning medium. As digital natives, Generation
Z often uses platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter (X) not only for entertainment but also to support their academic processes.
This study used a quantitative approach with a survey method. Respondents consisted of 235 English education students from various public and private universities in Indonesia. The research instrument was an online questionnaire and was analyzed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLSSEM) with the help of SmartPLS 4. The findings showed that personal interest has
a significant influence on Gen Z's interest in utilizing social media as a means of digital learning, with a path coefficient of 0.612, a t-statistic value of 28.318, and a
p-value of 0.000. This indicated that the higher the personal interest of students, such as internal motivation, relevance to goals, and positive experiences, the greater
their interest in using social media as a learning medium. In addition, situational interest was also proven to have a significant effect with a path coefficient of 0.449,
a t-statistic value of 22.447, and a p-value of 0.000, which means that interesting, interactive, and relevant learning conditions on social media can increase students' interest in using it for learning. The R² value of 1.000 (100%) showed that the combination of personal interest and situational interest fully explains the variability of Gen Z's interest in using social media as a digital learning medium.
Thus, it can be concluded that although both have a significant effect, personal interest has a more dominant influence than situational interest. These results
confirmed that students' internal motivation is the main factor in driving interest in learning through social media, while situational factors remain important in supporting the creation of effective digital learning experiences.