The influence of social media on education

EDUCATION AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Education is an admirable thing, but it is vital to remember that from time to time, it is imperative to understand that we can learn anything which is not worth knowing.

We can learn from anyone, anything, and at any time. Learning is a lifelong process that can be done from any source. So why can’t we learn anything through social media? 

Let’s find out how and why students use social media?

Social media

Social media is a set of websites or applications which gives you a platform to communicate with others and to share anything like pictures, thoughts, etc. on a social platform.
Many forms of social media are in use by people today, and with the online world evolving so rapidly, we will be getting in touch with many social media.

Why social media?

Well, the online world has already spread its tentacles around us; it is unimaginative to escape from it. We are all surrounded by social media. For most people, the first thing they check after waking up is WhatsApp messages or Instagram, etc.

Well, it is indeed an inescapable tool for communication, sharing of ideas or marketing, and also in the field of education.

Generally, students use social media for education purposes by using it for communication with people who can help them in studies or get instant information, reviews, or solutions to their problem or get in touch with professors.

Importance

Social media plays a very vital role in everyone’s life. With technological advancements day by day, we can use social media for various purposes and in multiple ways.

It plays a very vital role in students’ life for knowing what is happening around them, for communication, interacting, for getting information, etc.

Advantages

Let’s unfold some of the advantages which social media has in students life for a better understanding

• Educational benefits
• Easy sharing of information
• Social credibility
• Cost-effective communication
• Anytime connectivity
• Sharing information and knowledge

How social media is helping students in education in colleges and universities

According to US News education web producer Ryan Lyttle “More and more universities will be using social media for educational purposes.”

Some of how social media helps students in academics are

• Facebook

Facebook allows students to communicate with people in and around them whenever they need it. Students can connect with other students, senior or junior students, or teachers whenever they want any help. It helps students to extend beyond typical friendship and social relationships.

• YouTube

YouTube has made the life of students much more accessible. They can study topics from YouTube, which they haven’t cleared in class, or it can help them in completing their homework.

As per reports, 80% of college faculty instruct some or other form of educational use of online videos. And nearly a third of them tell students to watch online videos as homework.

• Twitter

Well, not a lot of college students use Twitter, but it helps them to think and put up their ideas in front of the world.

It gives them the confidence to take up a stand for themselves and for what they think.

They can also interact with students using Twitter.

Well, it might be surprising, but students who use Twitter for class interaction achieve a 5 point average increase in their overall semester GPA.

• Skype

Skype is an online video calling application through which we can connect to people and have a virtual face to face conversation.

Many firms use Skype for professional purposes, maybe for a meeting, for an interview, for taking classes online.

Nearly 22,800 teachers use Skype for educational purposes.

Uses of social media by students

• Sharing with peers.
• Students are using it for research purposes.
• They are connecting with students of similar academic interests.
• Collaborate in a work space.
• Generate and arrange research.

Final statement

Good and evil very often than not prevail together, but it is up to us humans as being the most sensible animal that we analyze everything around us and take reasonable steps.

People invent things to make human life more comfortable, but everything comes with positive and negative drawbacks. We have to analyze everything and always look into the positive impacts of things and try to strike a balance between good and bad things.

The same thing is with social media; it can help you and destroy you as well. Just focus on how it can help you and make proper use of it.