“Social Media”, Virtue or Curse
What is Social Media?
Social media are interactive computer-based technologies that facilitate the creation or sharing of lots of information, ideas, career, interests, and other forms of expression via virtual devices and networks. It is an interactive Web 2.0 Internet-based applications. Content generated by users such as text posts or comments, digital photos or videos, and data generated through all online interactions, is the lifeblood of it. It differs from paper-based media and traditional electronic media such as Television broadcasting, Radio broadcasting in many ways, including quality, reaches, frequency, interactivity, usability, immediacy, and performance.
How Social Media Is Impacting Education?
Social media is rapidly changing the communication bonding of today’s social world. The sudden burst of it is significantly influencing the academic life of students. Educational organizations and academicians are continually trying with social media technologies hoping to excite critical thinking skills, collaboration, and knowledge construction. Today it has been accepted by higher educational organizations making it a platform where students or learners connect with their instructors/teachers, fellow students, and other higher authorities across the board.
Why Social Media is Important for Students?
Social Media is an online technology platform that helps to connect people together far and near. The use of it by students helps them to have access to basic information as quickly as possible. In school, the use of online platforms such as school website will give students the right access to quality information about the school syllabus, environment, departments, faculties, rules, and regulations. It has been observed that social media has a wider and faster means of circulating information not only to the students but also to the generality of the public.
Some of the most popular social media websites
Some of the most popular social media websites, with over 100M (million), registered users, include Facebook, Whatsapp, TikTok, WeChat, Instagram, QZone, Weibo, Twitter, Tumblr, Baidu Tieba, LinkedIn and VK. Other popular platforms that are sometimes referred to be as social media services include YouTube, QQ, Quora, Telegram, LINE, Snapchat, Pinterest, Viber, Reddit, Discord, etc.
Some Postive effects of Social Media.
- It helps in establishing a connection with family, friends, people, and relatives.
- It helps students in sharing their views, by share pictures and lots of other stuffs.
- It helps students in interacting with one another and share ideas on some common topics of interest.
- Increase General Knowledge and current Awareness of Students.
- Saves time and cost by facilitating faster communication.
- Facilitates all-end-open communication, leading to enhanced information discovery and delivery.
- It allows students to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions, and share links.
- It Facilitates Online Learning.
- Access to Information.
- It helps to Gain Wider Knowledge.
- It helps to build a relationship.
Some Negative effects of Social Media.
- One of the major disadvantages of using social media is that the students get addicted to it.
- It degrades the student’s academic performance.
- Opens up the possibility for hackers to commit Fraud and launch Spam and virus attacks on students’ personal accounts.
- Some students may tend to use these social networking sites till midnight or even more which can obviously lead them to Health-related problems.
- Some students may provide confidential detailed information like phone numbers, address which is very dangerous because they can easily be tracked down by strangers.
- It Waste Time.
- It Causes Distraction.
- It Causes social problems.
Conclusion.
Like most of the other things, there are some positive and negative sides of social media too, both of which we have now explored. Now our ultimate belief is that social networking sites are neither evil or a Godsend. They’re somewhere in between both aspects. Students must utilize all available online platforms effectively and they must be conscious of social media positive and negative effects. They should try as reasonably be expected to create a balance so as not to get carried away while learning.