EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
The vast majority of people living in the 21st century employs the use of social media. These ranges from Facebook to LinkedIn , Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Telegram, WhatsApp, etc.
These social media applications has both positive and negative effects on Education but in this blogpost I will be focusing on the negative effects of social media on education.
According to wiki social media is a computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and information through the building of virtual networks and communities. By design, social media is Internet-based and gives users quick electronic communication of content. Content includes personal information, documents, videos, and photos. Users engage with social media via a computer, tablet, or smartphone via web-based software or applications.
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON EDUCATION
1. It can affect the students communication skills:
Some students can start using the informal social media language for their school work. Some may even abbreviate words like “The” as “d” and “you” as “u”. This hinders their ability to learn the proper spellings and correct grammatical way of communicating in real life. They can even start importing the informal method of texting and chatting into their day to day conversations which can adversely affect their overall communication skills.
2. It can become addictive:
When a person gets addicted to a particular thing, then they are unable to do without it. This can be very detrimental to any student who depends solely on social media to learn. Some students may not even pay attention in class because they know they can always use social media to get any information which can become unhealthy since they will not be able to do without it. This addiction can also have an adverse effect on the student’s self esteem and confidence since they can easily replace the real interaction with their teachers and colleagues with the use of a social media app which can hinder them from gaining the confidence to relate well with people in real life.
3. Inability to become an independent learner:
This is one of the greatest disadvantages of social media on education because with the use of social media, students do not necessarily have to work alone since they can work together in groups and can even create group chats. This can lead to some of the students not actively participating in the group work and mellow in the background. Since group work can give some students the opportunity to become lazy and unwilling to do things on their own this can even hinder them from working on their own personal thoughts and ideas.
4. It can lead to distraction:
As much as social media can be a good tool for learning. It can also adversely affect the students or even teachers since there are a lot of noise and distractions on social media. In the process of using social media to learn certain unwanted posts can pop up on the app which can distract the user from their main aim such distractions includes; pornographic images and videos, uncultured music or movies and even unsolicited ads that can lead the student or teacher to a completely different website which can create a total distraction from learning.
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Author: Semira Ayeni