Effects Of Social Media Usage On Students

Social Networking Sites (SNS) are most popularly used today on the Internet. SNS such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are one of the most common social interactive sites used by adolescents. Connecting with friends, expressing oneself, and scrolling through personal profiles has never been easier before. Depending how SNS are used, it can play a huge role in the daily lives of many. According to Hugues (2015), SNS have been used to cope with loneliness and depression, boost self-esteem and well-being, and gain social status. Hugues studied the correlation between the total time spent on SNS and “unmet need for mental health support, poor self-rated mental health, and reports of psychological distress and suicidal ideation.” (Hugues,

In her article “Social Media’s Impact on Self-Esteem” Clarissa Silva analyzes the effects of social media. She is able to show how disconnected people have gotten because of being online. Which is causing many to suffer from the paradox effect and vanity validation, that has also contributed to negative impacts in many relationships. Different sets of data are used as evidence, the percentage of peoples fear of missing out (FOMO) being a prime example. Social norms have shifted from face to face conversations to online discussions. Silva demonstrates how it plays a big role in self-esteem because of the decrease of social skills. She sheds light on the issue to decrease the irresponsible use of social media without knowing

Various forms of media, such as the television, radio, newspapers, movies, magazines and most notably, the internet, have impacted heavily on the youth. The media not only serves as a source of information but also provides a source of entertainment. Media sources have relentlessly worked on creating appealing images that entice the youth to their content. Although these may be informative, the youths have been coerced into consuming more time reading or browsing for such information. Recent advancements in computers and mobile phones have led to ease of access of the internet via advanced wireless devices. Whereas this creates a tech-savvy generation, the content provided by some media houses may be uncensored and entails violent acts,

Social media is the term that is used to refer to applications and websites that allow people to interact and stay connected (Nations, 2016). Although, the creation of social networking sites is relatively recent, it has rapidly become a prominent part of billions of people’s lives worldwide. For example, between 2012 and 2016 the number of monthly active Facebook users increased by 83% (Statista, 2016). As a result, investigating the effects of social media on people’s psychological wellbeing has become a popular area of research. However, the combination of findings from these studies are inconclusive as to whether social media has a negative or a positive impact on our psychological wellbeing and because social media is so widely used this is an important question to address. Huppert (2009) stated that “Psychological wellbeing is about lives going well. It is the combination of feeling good and functioning effectively” (p. 137). This essay will focus on Facebook, in particular, as it’s the most widely used social network and has over 1.5 billion monthly active users (Smith, 2016). It will discuss research that has investigated the effects of Facebook on life satisfaction, academic performance and psychiatric disorders which are all related to psychological wellbeing. It will conclude that research mostly suggests that social media, in particular Facebook, is harmful to our psychological wellbeing.

College student and the social media, in many ways both good and bad a college student can be affected by the social media. It can be an opportunity to prove how you really are as a person and potentially be accepted to college, or you can be denied admittance and lose the opportunity to study at the college you have been hoping for.

If employers are looking for a particular segment like graduate students to be the face of their organization, they would need to considerate whether or not to use the social media because many college students goes on parties and they have fun while they are in school, but some of them don’t realize the impact a photo can make when they are looking for a job after they graduate.“College students sometimes post questionable photographs and provocative comments about their alcohol consumption, recreational drug use, and sexual exploits” (Weathington, & Bechtel, 2012, p.

In an ever-changing world, technology has pervaded almost every aspect of the average person’s life. Along with advances in technology has emerged the rise of social media sites, where individuals can take pictures of events, update statuses, mark the places they have been, and the foods they have eaten. Young adults have been at the forefront of using these social networking sites to display their actions and aspects of their lives to the public world. While one may think these sites are intended to bring joy to others, and put people in connection with one another, the display of other’s lives may have a negative effect on the viewer. Among groups who may be negatively affected by these social networking sites are college students, who face a new environment, and commonly experience a “fear of missing out” from viewing the lives of others. While these social media sites may be fine in small amounts, the increased consumption of multiple social media sites may have a negative effect on the happiness of college students, which may produce a link to depressive symptoms.

There’s an ongoing debate about the role social media should play in education. Advocates point out the benefits that social media provides for today 's digital learners while critics call for regulation and for removing social media from classrooms. Finding a middle ground has become a challenge.

October of this year, students of American University experienced a new sense of racial tension on campus and specifically online. The emergence of Yik Yak, an app specializing in anonymous, localized postings, created an unseen directness of extreme thought, in which Washington D.C’s American University encountered. Different “yaks” seen throughout this community alluded to sensitive topics such as the 3/5ths compromise and the KKK, all notoriously known wrongdoings of American people. I argue that these kinds of comments would not be made if the setting would be instead a face-to-face conversation or if it was, it would be distastefully received. The medium of social media allows for harsher and more blatantly offensive comments to be made without direct consequence or judgement. Susan Svrluga describes this cause of racial tensions through her article, Students Take Racist Comments and Spread Them All Over Campus. Media and technology allow for a barrier to be built between oneself and direct consequences or criticism in which may arise, thus fostering an environment that facilitates racist commentary and action. The concept of this barrier is demonstrated through the Yik Yak posts at American University as well as specific online dating websites, twitter posts and televised performances.

Are we becoming less human with the passing of each day? Have we become too dependent on technology, specifically social media? In this day and age, people have different views on social media. They question its true purpose and its effect on society as a whole. With that said, although there are many thoughts concerning the topic/trend of social media something that is undoubtedly true is that social media plays an active role in the lives of the majority of people. Whether in a positive or negative way, social media influences the lives of all people. However this paper focuses on the effect of social media on college students. It addresses both the positive and negative effects of social media on those in college; focusing on a student’s academic efficiency, social interactive skills, and overall productivity.

Some believe that the internet and social media can only be considered harmful to people, but is that necessarily true? A report by Deloitte found that “Facebook added $227 billion and 4.5 million jobs to the global economy in 2014” (Onwuanibe). Just one social networking website was able to add millions of jobs for the economy which was a great advantage for other people to obtain jobs. In addition, Facebook was able to produce a large amount of money for our economy. On a daily basis, people use social media and the internet to help them search for information, talk to people, and other purposes. Without social media and the internet, some people would not be able to live their life normally. Even though the internet can cause problems and there are some risks involved by using it, the internet can help students do better in school, spread information faster than any other media and help catch and prosecute criminals.

High school students are at a very dynamic stage of development in which whatever behaviours and habit developed during this phase will last them their lifetime their time spent on social media plays a crucial role in their life. Social media is a vivid service that enables direct interaction between individuals. High school students can post photos, information, chat and scroll in order to form a social identity of themselves (J.Healy,2015). This is why teens social lives are beyond important than their normal lives because it’s a place where teenagers can provide false information and form- however if social media can be used for educational purposes such as knowing the news around the world, posting a school survey, informing people about things, talking about homework or an assignment (Child Mind, 2014).

The use of social media in classrooms has always been a very controversial topic. Hence not all the parents were happy that Ms. White had been using Facebook to communicate with her students. Even though Ms. White had timelessly repeated her good intentions she could not escape the ruthlessness of some of the more conservative parents. Today, however, was the day of the monthly Communicating our Word to Better Education school meeting. This month’s meeting was a discussion, to most a debate, on whether or not Jameson Middle School should continue to use Facebook in the classroom.

Some of the top benefits of social media over the years are that it is free to anyone, the content can get out to resources virtually immediately, and it can be delivered to a wide variety of people. For these reasons, communication through social media has become an extremely accessible and convenient way to communicate. It is also popular for those who need to be in contact with others. One example that comes to mind is a teenager who goes away on a trip to visit a friend or family. They can be hundreds of miles away but still talk to their parents as if they weren’t. Another example is a person who is shy and has a hard time making friends face-to-face, social media sites are a great way to meet people and build relationships.

Social media is a crucial component in society, but should it be used in education? Critics may answer this question with a definite no, while advocates support the idea. Social media is illustrated by many social online websites that are used for communication by large groups of people. This topic is controversial in the world today because educational leaders are taking new approaches to learning.