Is social media hurting your education?

You’re up all night doing homework, but you get sidetracked by the newest Vine videos; next thing you know, you’ve wasted two hours scrolling through 5 second videos that have nothing to do with the Macroeconomic test you have in the morning.

Studies show that students become victims of social networks more often than anyone else. This is because when we are studying or searching for our course material online, we get attracted to social media sites to kill boredom during our study time, diverting our attention from our work. Other negative side effects of social networking, found on performancing.com include the following:

1. Reduced learning and research capabilities: students have started relying more on the easily accessible information on these social networking sites and the web in general. This is reducing their learning and research capabilities.

2. Multitasking: students who get involved in activities on social media sites while studying result in reduction in their focus and attention. This causes reduction in academic performance, and concentration to study at a useful level.

3. Reduction in real human contact: the more time the students spend on these social media sites, the less time they will spend socializing in person with others. This reduces their communication skills. They will not be able to communicate and socialize effectively in person. Employers are getting more and more unsatisfied with the communication skills of the fresh graduates due to this reason. Effective communication skills are the key to success in the real world.

4. Reduces command over language use age and creative writing skills: Students mostly use slang words or shortened forms of works on social networking sites. They then start relying on the computer and spell check features; this leads to reducing their command over language and their creative writing skills.

5. Time wastage: students, while searching and studying online, get attracted to using social media sites and sometimes forget why they are using the internet to begin with. This wastes their time and sometimes students are not able to deliver their work in the specified time frame.

6. Low grades: students get lower grades in school due to the lack of desired information and writing skills.

7. Loss of motivation in students: the students’ motivation level reduces due to the use of these sites. They rely on the virtual environment instead of gaining practical knowledge from the real world.

8. Effect on health: the excessive use of these sites affect the mental and physical health of students. Students do not eat their meals at the proper time and have the proper amount of rest. They take excessive amounts of coffee, tea or energy drinks to remain active and focused which effects negativity on their health.

But not all use of social media is negative or harms your health. There are positive impacts of social media with education.

1. Social networking has increased the rate and quality of collaboration of students. They are better able to communicate meeting times or share information quickly, which can increase productivity and help them learn how to work well in groups.

2. Social networking teaches students skills they’ll need to survive in the business world. Being able to create and maintain connections to many people in many industries is an integral part of developing a career or building a business.

3. By spending so much time working with new technology, students develop more familiarity with computers and other electronic devices. With the increased focus on technology in education and business, this will help students build skills that will aid them throughout their lives.

4. The ease with which a student can customize their profile makes them more aware of basic aspects of design and layout that are not often taught in schools. Building resumes and personal websites, which are increasingly used as online portfolios, benefit greatly from the skills obtained by customizing the layout and designs of social networking profiles.

5. The ease and speed with which users can upload pictures, videos or stories has resulted in a greater amount of sharing of creative works. Being able to get instant feedback from friends and family on their creative outlets helps students refine and develop their artistic abilities and can provide much needed confidence or help them decide what career path they may want to pursue.

So everyone needs to make sure they are using social media in a smart and timely manner. Moderate your time online, especially during mid-terms and finals. Ask your friends to change your password while you are studying so you won’t be tempted to get on Facebook when you should be memorizing notecards.

Make sure you also continue face to face interaction; don’t get too used to talking to someone using technology. If you have to use your phone to talk to someone, call them and actually listen to their voice.

Lastly, make sure you pay attention to your academic progress. If you feel like you are getting behind, sign off your social media sites for a while and get caught up. I promise if something super important happens, your friends will tell you about it.