Negative Effects Of Social Media On Students Academic Performance

Out of the many things to distract students today, a key one is social media platforms, which are used now by more than 2 billion users worldwide.

They feel attracted to them due to their ease-of-use, sharing features and ability to reach out to people in distant locations instantly.

Social media plays a huge role in the lives of the present generation. Be it facebook, snapchat, twitter, tiktok or instagram, you will always find youngsters in at least one of these social media sites. The craze of followers, uploads, etc has become a rage. Needless to say, social media has become a part of life, a way of living altogether.

Over the years, intensive research has been carried out all over the world in regards to the effect that social media has on youngsters, especially in terms of their academic performance.

Social media is distracting and time-consuming. Students spend hours on social networking sites, ignoring their studies altogether. The rapid growth in the usage of social media among students has been associated with their declining academic performance.

 

What are the negative effects of social media on students?

Is social media a boon?

Social media, with its suitability and usability, is among the most trustworthy tools of communication among students.

Many researchers have carried out several experiments to determine the effects of social media on a student’s academic performance but the results have always been mixed.

The internet is used for the purpose of teaching in classrooms, for encouraging critical thinking, and an open line of debate and dialogue. Social media promotes awareness, and thorough communication. It is essential to ensure a comprehensive structure of education and social media helps greatly in it. Students are exposed to a wide range of opinions and are taught how to sift through the tirade.

However, for all its numerous advantages, social media has had a negative impact on the academic performance of students. Many of the prevailing problems affecting the youth originate from social media.

However, they have an extremely negative impact on student’s academic performance.

Negative Effects of Social Networking Sites for Students

How Can Social Media Negatively Affect Students Academic Performance?

A major cultural and lifestyle change has been brought about due to social media. Listed below are some of the negative impacts of social media and how they affect a student’s academic performance:

  • Students who take to social media sites spend hours chatting, exchanging information, sharing photos, videos etc, which  they can otherwise spend in completing homework or understanding their subject further through additional studying
  • Spending long hours in social media platforms either through the small screen of a Smartphone or the larger one of a Notebook, Netbook Or Laptop, strains the eyes, reduces mental focus and concentration, causes backbone problems which can lead to severe health issues and ultimately affects adademic performance
  • Going to bed right after spending time on a social media site affects sleep, can lead to insomnia which can inturn cause physical stress, depression and also unhappy state of mind, that prevents students from putting the effort needed to score well in exams
  • Students can very easily get into the bad habit of making companions with others, indulge in drugs and alcohol which is glamourized in social medai sites, indulge unnecessary in shopping by viewing too many product advertisements and also become very attention seeking
  • Students lacking parental guidance or having problems at home focus on social media platforms to satisfy their emotional needs for love and friendship which can become dangerous when they come in contact with destructive people. Furthermore, social media likes, shares and other such statistics can make them attention seeking
  • By using social media for communication, students lack interaction with people by meeting in person and as a result they lack the maturity and communication desired from their age group, which in the long run proves to be highly detrimental
  • While social media platform offer easy access to new friends, they can also lead students to predators who like to victimize such young people. A naive student can actually give out all personal information in such sites to a total stranger pretending to be a teacher or someone in the same school and get into a lot of trouble
  • At times, student groups in social media sites can pass on incorrect information on what to study for a particular test or exam, which can negatively affect scores and bring in poor grades for not just one, but many students at the same time
  • Students need more than just text book curriculam, they need to research and also need a good amount of physical exercise by involvement in games, sports  and extra curricular learning like music, dance etc, but when they spend an increasing amount of time in social media platforms, such involvement comes down significantly
  • Internet addiction: students tend to spend a huge portion of their time browsing through innumerable social media sites. Time which could have been used in a productive manner is wasted on social media. Students also tend to compromise on the time that they should have ideally dedicated to studies.
  • Social isolation: social media has greatly reduced interactive sessions among students from different walks of life. Earlier, students would go out to parks, hobby centers, etc and interact with fellow students. However, with the advent of social media, this has seen a setback. Social isolation has led to increasing dependence on social media, which in turn has an adverse impact on a student’s academic performance.
  • Lingual deficiencies: The social media world has a different lingo altogether. Students who spend a lot of time on social media naturally tend to adopt this language. Use of colloquialism, abbreviations, and slang are common. This not only reduces their linguistic skills but also hampers their writing skills and creativity.

Social media, thus, is extremely distracting and has a direct impact on the academic performance of students. It is like a two-edged swords and prudence is required in its operation.

Schools and parents must teach the children under their care to use social media judiciously and to not let it hamper academic performance and extracurricular growth.

Manage Your Life With Positive Attitude

By blogging, making videos and sharing them, preparing creatively edited photos and posting them, students are becoming more interested in entertainment than showing sound academic performance through diligent study and hardwork, which not only show poor results in exams but also will affect their future career prospects.

So, Students should manage their lives with positive attitude. The New Delhi education minister started a happiness class in every government schools of Delhi and students are getting benefited from the same. I think, each and every school should have such classes and activities.

Positive effects of social media on students

How to USE Social Media in a Positive Way?

Hence though students should know how to use various social media sites, it is vital for them to limit their usage of it in order to develop a good personality, maintain good health and keep regularly showing good academic performance. We does not mean that social media will spoil student’s career. We just mean that, everything is become addiction when you do not use them in a proper way.

Social media is the great development of science and it has great impact on media industry. But people who are addicted in these media, whose Academic performance can suffer. If you are not using in a positive manner, it can obviously harm your life.

Positive Effect of Social Media

What are the advantages of social media to students?

  1. Develop Communication Skills
  2. Get Information
  3. Friendship
  4. Develop reading and social skills
  5. Enhancing Skills
  6. Learning
  7. Share Information, Online Live Classes
  8. Fastest Information Sharing
  9. Build Network on the same interest

Social Media benefits

  1. Develop Good Relationships
  2. Provide Information
  3. News and Media
  4. Business Promotion and Reduce your marketing cost
  5. Great Customer Engagement
  6. Motivate Yourself by following positive news and media

There are many pros of social media also, but you have to use it in a positive manner. It is fully depend on you that whom you are going to follow in your social media dashboard, Positive or negative? Because our mind is like horse which you must control, otherwise, it can harm you.

I had written a post that Should Facebook be banned in School? You can read this post. I was very surprised to see an incident in the school in which a student wrote bad words in social media for his teacher. That is why I thought to post an informative post for all peoples to understand the importance of social media and its use.

By James Corry

Hello, my name is James Corry, I have devoted myself for a very long time to the teachings and knowledge of spirituality, the nature of the emergence of emotions. I visited the sacred mountains of India and Greece, and learned a lot of interesting things. This blog is where I share my knowledge and thoughts, so welcome!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *