Impact of Social Media on Education Then and Now

Impact of Social Media on Education Then and Now

Social media is the buzzword right now. It impacts almost all aspects of our lives from business, social life, school life, etc. With the onset of the pandemic towards the end of 2019, social media has been used in many ways.

We have seen companies requesting their staff to work from home, schools have gone online all over the world. The impact of social media on education has its upsides and downside. However, if implemented well, the upsides far outweigh the downside. Schools need to adopt social media to prepare the students for the future world. 

Schools have to be on the lookout for how social media is used by the student and develop measures to counter the negative use of social media. For instance, a lecturer might come across a student’s personal social media account where they have used inappropriate language or are cyberbullying other people. How does the school deal with that? 

One way to prevent this is by training staff and students on the proper use of social media and how it can help them in their school work. They have discussions about the books they have read, know what is going on in the world, do extensive research, share information, and get feedback from other students or lecturers. 

Lecturers can use social media to assign work to students, give out information to all students at once, and have group discussions with the class. Lecturers can also monitor the progress of students and provide personalized feedback as they do their assignments.  

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Impact of Social Media on Education

Why Is It Important?

Sentiments by a professional essay writer at CustomWritings, Lauren Bradshaw, is, “Basically, these are the main things to know about social media if you want to start using it responsibly. It’s better to treat this article as a starter’s guide rather than an exhaustive list of what you need to do. It’s significant to research this topic because online communication is a relatively new concept, and many people treat it with extreme caution. That’s why it’s very important to avoid the dangers and highlight the benefits of social media so that people improve it instead of opposing this phenomenon. Using Facebook and Instagram to become more mentally healthy instead of exhausting yourself with fear of missing out or social anxiety is a perfect place to start.”

One reason colleges should embrace social media is that more students are looking through social media platforms instead of college websites before choosing the college they want to attend. This shows the great impact social media has on college students. 

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Impact of Social Media on Education

Reasons Why Colleges Should Adopt Social Media

Social media is here to stay

There was a fear amongst school administrators about allowing students to use social media. The two main fears were pornography and predators. As much as the fear is still there, no one can imagine a school without the internet. Below are reasons why social media is here to stay:

  • Mobile movement: Compared to previous years when people had big mobile phones and bulky PDAs, nowadays, the mobile phones are getting sleeker, more innovative, and stylish. These mobile phones can literally do anything a computer does. People have moved from traditional desktop to mobile gadgets. This has increased the use of social media as you can connect anytime, anywhere. 
  • Targeting: You can connect with anyone around the world and get expert opinions from different people that you can share with the class. This will give students diverse opinions from different people to choose the ideology they relate to and do more research on them. 
  • Hearsay: People are more inclined to trust what other people say instead of what they read. Social media enhances this. As we have stated earlier, students use social media to find out about schools. This peer-based information is more trusted. 
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Impact of Social Media on Education

Students concentrate more when they discuss

One way of ensuring students are more engaged when using social media is to introduce topics that spark discussion. The students will come with diverse views and support their theories. This means that the students are concentrating on the issue at hand. 

Inspire online education

Readily available learning materials can inspire students to learn. Social media offers different learning techniques such as YouTube videos, eBooks, further research on the same topic, and video conferencing calls. All these provide educational growth. Students can also join a college of their choice through distance learning, which social media have enhanced.

Downside of Social Media on Education

Source of distraction

When students use social media, they might get distracted from doing school work and wander into the social scene of social media. This results in a wastage of time, leading to submitting assignments late. 

Affects health

Social media can be harmful to your mental health or even physical health. Students become so engrossed on social media that they forget things like taking meals at the right time, not getting enough sleep, being “glued” to their screens which can seriously affect their eyes, and even bad posture.

Decreases education and research skill

There are varying views from different people online, and getting this information is very easy. Students get distracted and forget to look for publications and journals that focus on their area of study. This decreases their education and research skills. 

Closing Pointers

Since the beginning of the internet age, social media has evolved, and it continues to impact our daily life. Not including it in education seems like a big disadvantage. Professors can communicate with students and parents at any time regarding the progress of the students. 

While in college, students will be required to do a lot of projects that require online research. Students can get help from professional essay writers who will instruct them on how to write essays. This will mean a lot of communication between the two parties, and the easiest way is through social media. 

This will guarantee a great start to the student’s future career because most companies use social media more and more to build their brands.

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