Social Media Is Harmful For College Students

Social Media Is Harmful For College Students

In recent years, social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and MySpace have become highly popular. Many proclaim about their benefits due to their effortless way to expand communication, marketing, and networking. However, many fail to discuss their risks and disadvantages particularly in the youthful population specifically among college students. The overuse of these social media sites among college students has many negative effects not only academically, but socially too. Moreover, social media is harmful for college students because it encourages the misuse of time management, students usually display a poor academic performance, and it exposes the students’ privacy.
One of the reasons social media is harmful for college students is because it encourages the misuse of time management. Many students attempt to multitask between assignments and social media sites to ‘make better’ use of their time. However, according to Ellen Goodman “high multitaskers are not better at anything, even multitasking. They are worse.” In this high-tech oriented generation, the use of computers is essential for a college student’s success. However, students often immerse themselves countless hours on irrelevant social media sites checking “notifications”, when they should focus most of their time in college related activities and assignments. Based on Clifford Nass’s research in Standford, “high multitaskers focused less, remembered less, and are more easily distracted.” In addition, because they spend so much time in these social media sites, they waste time that could not only be used for completing college assignments, but time from their sleep. Sleepless students often display a poor academic performance. Furthermore, because students are focusing more time in these social media sites they keep postponing completion of their academic tasks and thereby their personal and organizational productivity is affected and as a consequence their grades drop.
A large number of college students use this sites as a way to connect to other students and people around the world. Often, these sites require its users to create profiles that include pictures, personal information, videos and more. Students believe that their privacy is protected from other users simply by blocking certain information from being displayed and setting their privacy options high. In reality, it is not. Many students fail to understand that once their information has been placed online it becomes available for anyone, in particularly for schools, government and other institutions. Most colleges before admitting a student will run a full background check, including a social media background. This can potentially affect the student’s acceptance to a college or a job.
In conclusion, social media is harmful for students in many ways because it distracts the student’s time management skills thus affecting their academic productivity, it negatively affects their grades and it exposes their private life to anyone. As social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and MySpace continue to grow in popularity among college students, prioritizing educational requirements over the use of social media sites will get harder. As stated by Clifford Nass “high multitaskers couldn’t shift well from one task to another and they couldn’t organize well. They couldn’t figure out what was important and what wasn’t.” Students must find a balance between what is truly important academically and what is not, otherwise their performance in college will continue to be negatively affected.