Social media addiction can make a significant impact on the performance of students in their university education. Across the world, about 70 to 80% of students are addicted to social media. With the advancement of technology, getting an education has become very easy. Now every student can learn anything from the internet. But it has the major disadvantage of increasing the chance of getting addicted to social media.
The impact of social media addiction on university education is growing day by day. According to a study, social media has evolved over the last 10 years as an influencer on students’ education. Social media has both advantages, positive as well as negative. To learn in what sense it affects students’ university education, read this article thoroughly.
In this article, we will discuss the 10 effects of social media addiction on university education.
What are the Effects of Social Media Addiction on University Education?
A student’s education life now heavily relies on social media. In most of universities, it has become an educational platform. Using social media for education can improve students’ learning skills and abilities. It provides a space where a student can learn, communicate, and conduct research to improve his academic knowledge. It is one of the important factors in students’ learning and academic performance. Social media addiction has many positive effects on students’ university education, but it also has negative effects. Let’s discuss some of the positive effects as well as the negative effects.
What are the Positive Effects of Social Media Addiction on University Education?
1. Diverse viewpoints and relationships
Students that make use of social media can collaborate with one another and experience a variety of interactions. They may now communicate with students from other countries in addition to their classmates and teachers. As a result, students can arrive at various viewpoints regarding a subject they may be researching for essays.
2. Platform to get in contact with professionals
One of the major advantages of using social media is that it provides a platform that can help to get in contact with your professionals and experts. The convenience for students to connect with professionals in their field is one of the finest ways to improve students’ university education. It gives you the freedom to get rid of the problem by asking questions about your confusion. You can enhance your academic knowledge by discussing academic subjects with these professionals.
3. Enhance collaboration
The use of social media makes it simple to collaborate with your group mates to discuss group activities. The majority of students are aware that using these social media sometimes be tedious and unproductive. Although social media addiction diverts your mind from studying, but it helps you to make online friends from any community. The benefit is that you can get in touch with your field experts and teachers. Due to this, whenever you need help with your university education, you can contact them. Also, when you have to work on a project, you can make an online Whatsapp group to communicate, making your life much easier.
4. Provides space for research
Social media is a vast place that provides an opportunity to communicate with anyone within a blink of an eye. Most of the time, you get assignment writing tasks during your higher education. To complete those academic assignments, you need to conduct research. Social media provides you with a space to conduct your research, even sitting on the couch of your home.
5. Motivate online learning
As social media has become a vast channel on the internet, most universities are now giving lectures on these platforms. Studying online in university classes helps to engage their interest in it. Students can also find many educational videos on YouTube, Facebook, and other educational sites. Due to the ease and some fascinating techniques used in these videos, students get motivated towards online learning.
What are the Negative Effects of Social Media Addiction on University Education?
1. The primary cause of distraction
Social media addiction is one of the significant causes of distraction from university education. Nowadays, most students would rather watch Netflix, YouTube, or use Facebook than devote their valuable time to studying. All of this is a complete waste of time without getting anything. Due to this, most students fail to submit their university assignments on time, resulting in getting low grades at the end of the semester.
2. Lessen learning abilities
Due to the widespread of social media, students can easily find data and information about their academic subjects on these networks. This opportunity has relied many students more heavily on such networks to gain academic knowledge. Because of this ease, students minimise using books or class notes to get information and improve their knowledge. It reduces their reading habits and abilities to study and conduct research.
3. Diminish their writing skills
Social media addiction has another significant effect on university education. It has diminished students’ writing skills. There are many slangs and shorter abbreviations on the internet, such as IDK, HRU, LOL, BRB and many others. Students have made a habit of using these slang and short abbreviations due to their daily usage. Because of this, many students have seen using these terms in their academic assignments and exams.
4. Rely on the internet
A student may become overly reliant on social media if they have the option to ask thousands of others for a solution to a specific problem. This has an adverse effect on many students’ ability to conduct research, which ultimately hurts them in their careers.
5. Poor academic performance
The previous study says that students who spend more time on social media get low grades in their exams. It is because social media addiction diverts their mind from studying. They find more interest in watching videos, playing games, chatting and making online friends instead of learning their academic subjects. Due to this, they always lack academic knowledge and show poor academic performance.
Conclusion
In these modern days, social media has now become a major factor that can affect a student’s university education. A student can improve his academic performance through positive usage of social media. On the other hand, he can also show poor academic performance through excessive and negative use of social media. Hence, social media addiction has both positive and negative effects on university education, depending on its usage.