## 1 Symbology, Introduction, and Bibliographical Review
### Literature Review on WhatsApp Usage  
Communication between students as well as among students and their teachers has become digitalized currently, using various modes of communication such as email, short message service, Facebook, and WhatsApp [17]. Each of these modes has unique qualities that influence its suitability for teaching and learning [18]. Teachers and students in higher education institutions have been utilizing WhatsApp as a new form of communication. Several authors [19; 20; 21] investigated the impact of mobile phone/social media use on the teaching-learning process, finding both good and negative effects; see also [22]. In [11], it was stated what students confront when utilizing WhatsApp [23; 24]. The literature's findings indicate that WhatsApp has been domesticated among young people. According to these findings, undergraduates gain from employing WhatsApp for discussing and sharing study material and information. Such findings conclude that the undergraduates encountered serious problems because of the use of WhatsApp, such as distractions and exposure to unfiltered messages or material. In [25], the WhatsApp usage was analyzed among postgraduate students in a university setting in Karnataka, and the researchers discovered that most postgraduate students employed WhatsApp for educational purposes. According to these findings, students who utilize WhatsApp for educational purposes on a regular basis improve their academic performance. In [26], a study was conducted on the use of WhatsApp and university students' perceptions on the potential integration into their education. The author discovered that students mostly utilize WhatsApp to maintain permanent contact with family and friends as well as to share media and other data. Students also employ WhatsApp to share course-related announcements, to require help from previous students, and to manage links to topics and course-related materials. The author concluded that students disagree that WhatsApp is an issue for their education, and that if it was introduced, they would have positive thoughts and intents about utilizing WhatsApp in their formal learning. In [27], the impact of WhatsApp was analyzed on academic achievement among medicine students. According to this work, there is no relation between WhatsApp utilization and student academic achievement. WhatsApp was discovered to be employed by 99% of the respondents, with over 53% of them using it for academic purposes. In [28], 332 Spanish university students were analyzed in an observational and descriptive study. According to the reported results, students have a high level of reliance on WhatsApp, with 97% of pupils using it more than ten times per day. The authors discovered that WhatsApp has a negative impact on student achievement. The use of social media in higher education has been a source of concern for researchers [29; 30]. Note that 493 students were analyzed [31] to understand the impact of WhatsApp use on undergraduate academic performance in Ghana. The authors had two objectives: (i) to determine the impact of sociodemographic characteristics on study time allocation [32]; and (ii) to state the impact of WhatsApp on students' academic performance using GPA. According to the findings [31], as the time devoted to studying increases, her/his academic accomplishment increases as well. The authors [31] discovered that using WhatsApp has a beneficial impact on students' academic performance based on a regression model. In [33], the function of WhatsApp in promoting learning among medicine students was investigated. The author selected 82 students of medicine, who own smartphones and use WhatsApp [34; 35; 36]. Students were also classified as slow or quick learners based on their performance on the first semester assessments. It was concluded that employing WhatsApp boosts slow learners' knowledge by piquing their attention as well as their academic achievement. In [37], an investigation on how WhatsApp can help students to improve their GPA was performed.