An Analysis of the Issues in Social Media and Education's Impact

This essay delves into the multifaceted impact of social media on education, exploring both its significance and the challenges it presents. It begins by highlighting the importance of social media and education, then discusses the role of technology. The essay identifies key issues, including the impact on students' ability to understand and the promotion of procrastination. It argues that while social media offers benefits like access to information, it can also hinder deep learning and critical thinking. The essay concludes by acknowledging the importance of social media for improving lives and provides recommendations to minimize the negative impacts, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach to technology in education.

Running head: ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
Issues in social media and its impact on education
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
Abstract
With the aid of technological advancement, the field of social media has gained high
significance. Social media has come to play a preponderant role in almost all the spheres of
human activity. One of the field of interest which has been looked in to in the context of this
article is that of education. Education is one of the most primary necessity of the human
individuals. However, this field has come to face a lot of challenges with the introduction of the
aspect of social media within this sector. This essay attempts to understand the significance of
social media and the various issues related to this field that can be observed within the twenty
first century. In this context, impact of social media on the field of education has been examined
and analyzed in this essay. The essay concludes by understanding the importance of social media
for the improvement of the lives of the individuals.

2ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Significance of social media............................................................................................................3
Importance of education..................................................................................................................4
Importance of technology and social media within the field of education......................................4
Current issues relating to social media and their impact on education............................................5
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References:....................................................................................................................................10

3ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
Introduction
Technology has assumed a significant position for the human beings because of its
efficiency and the other added advantages that is provided by it. The advances in technology has
made it quite effective on the part of the human civilization to stay in touch with each other and
remain connected (Balkin et al. 2016). Technology provides individuals with the opportunity of
easing their work load and completing the work within the assigned time. In this regard, the field
of social media has emerged to be one of the most influential fields in the context of the growth
and development of the human individuals (Manca and Ranieri 2016). Within the contemporary
world order it can be seen that there are many issues related to the field of social media.
However, instead of proving to be invaluable to the sector of education, social media has fast
emerged to pose a challenge to education (Smith 2016). This essay attempts to understand the
significance of social media and the various issues related to this field that can be observed
within the twenty first century. In this context, impact of social media on the field of education
has been examined and analyzed in this essay. The essay concludes by understanding the
importance of social media for the improvement of the lives of the individuals.
Significance of social media
Technology is one of the greatest inventions of the human kind. Before the invention of
technology, human beings had to undertake all of their activities by themselves. They did not
have any supplements to aid them during their process of work. However, this changed
drastically after the period of the Industrial Revolution (Miller et al. 2016). Technological
advancements provide the advantage to the individuals to work in an efficient manner with
minimal mistakes being made.

4ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
Such technological advancements continued to change and develop with the changes in
times. In the twenty first century, one of the aspects of technological advancement that has come
to the lime light is that of the field of social media. Social media refers to the virtual field
whereby there are use of various applications and websites (Kaplan and Haenlein 2016).
Through such mediums, the concerned content is shared with the human beings and it provides
people with the opportunity to participate in the various processes of social networking. This has
provided huge benefits to the individuals by the way of allowing them to stay connected with
each other and to find all the relevant information in the online virtual platform.
Importance of education
Education is necessary for the human beings as it aids them to increase their emotional
intelligence and mental development. Through the process of education, the individuals are
imparted with the relevant information and knowledge. Such knowledge aids such concerned
individuals to tackle the problems arising in their own personal sphere of activity (Greenhow and
Lewin 2016). Thus, in this regard, since times immemorial, the field of education has always
occupied a predominant place within the lives of the individuals as the development of the
individuals leads to the consequent development of the human society as well.
Importance of technology and social media within the field of education
The importance of the field of education has only increased with the changes in times.
People have come to realize the significance of the knowledge which is imparted to them due to
the fact that such knowledge is important for them to better handle their lives. Education also
aids them in increasing their standard of living (Middaugh, Clark and Ballard 2017). People with

5ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
higher educational qualifications have a higher chance of getting an employment with a
significantly higher salary package because of their greater knowledge.
In this respect, it can be observed that technology has a considerably significant role to
play within such an education system (Buchanan et al. 2016). The way knowledge is imparted
has been changing through the times. Earlier, knowledge was imparted from the teachers to the
students by the way of the lecture mode. However, in the contemporary world order, such a
lecture mode has been seen to have a negative impact because of its monotonous nature. The
lecture mode proves to be ineffective because it is only the teachers who impart the knowledge
without providing the students with an effective feed back system or giving them an opportunity
to ask any questions to the teachers to resolve their doubts.
Thus, in the twenty firs century, an important technological advancement that occurred in
the world is that of the invention of the social media (Rowan-Kenyon and Alemán 2016). Social
media refers to the process through the use of which the certain information is shared with the
other individuals of the world. In this respect, it can be observed that through the use of social
media, the knowledge that was usually imparted by the teachers within the formal classroom
environment, can now be imparted to the students through the use of the virtual forum.
Current issues relating to social media and their impact on education
Such an invention initially provided to be important because of its obvious benefits
whereby important and relevant knowledge is available at the disposal of the individual students
for their purpose (Sobaih et al. 2016). However, there exists certain issues related to the field of
social media which greatly affects the field of education.

6ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
First is the issue of understanding. Information is transformed in to effective knowledge
when such information is deconstructed and imbibed within the individuals in the most logical
manner as possible (Kapoor et al. 2018). With the inception of Industrial Revolution, new
methods have come in to being with the aid of which information disseminated widely and far in
to the world. However, within the field of education, this has proved to be more of a bane rather
than a boon. The main objective of education is to transform people in to intellectual being with
a higher level of emotional intelligence (Aborujilah et al. 2017). This is primarily possible with
the efforts made by the teachers and the professors in making the students understand the
information which is imparted to them.
In this regard, the added aspect of wisdom needs to be taken in to account. When
information is imparted within a formal class room environment, the teachers have the potential
chance of attaching significant understanding along with the information imparted to them
(Manca and Ranieri 2016). However, when such information is disseminated with the use of
social media platforms, then there arises the problem of communication. The students might not
have proper guidance since the humane touch is missing from such technological mechanisms
(Balakrishnan and Gan 2016). Social media therefore, can only transfer the information, but it
cannot transform them in to effective knowledge. This elimination of the chance to have a proper
face to face conversation with the relevant parties proves to have a disastrous impact on the field
of education. This, in turn, severely hampers the aspect of the growth of wisdom among the
people as often times, they are not aware of how to utilize this information to its optimum extent
so as to solve their personal problems.
The second issue that arises with the issue of social media and impacts the field of
education is that of it leads to the promotion of procrastination (Rivera et al. 2015). There are

7ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
many platforms related to social media. Not all of them are used for the purpose of education.
Having access to the virtual online platform means that not only the educational platforms are
open, it also means that all the various social media platforms now lie at the disposal of the
individuals. In this regard it becomes extremely easy for the individuals to become distracted and
frequent those websites and social media platforms which are more entertainment friendly
(Norman, Ally and Nordin 2018). The significance of education decreases as a result of this.
Furthermore, it also promotes procrastination among the students. Since all the educative
and important materials are available to the students through the online platform, they lose the
interest and the compulsion to attend their formal classes (Cartner and Hallas 2017). They
believe that since they have the materials available with them, it would prove to be easy to study
them on their own and pass their examinations. In this context, it is important to note that
students fail to realize the main objective of the presence of teachers (Poore 2015). An individual
who have the ability to become a teacher, holds enormous knowledge and information within
him or her. This knowledge is substantiated with the real life examples and is imparted to the
student so that they are able to understand the importance of such knowledge. The significance
of this entire process lies in the basis that it enables a student to ease their way of living and the
various problems that are faced by the students.
The issue of procrastination severely undermines the significance of the education. This
easy availability of the learning materials through the medium of the social media and the
distraction that the student faces as a result of having an access to such platforms, have posed a
threat to education. The essence of knowledge building has been severely reducing in the recent
times whereby the students are becoming more mechanical in nature (Cuevas and Kohle 2015).

8ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
They consider the process of education as simply a journey which gives them access to a better
standard of living.
These current issues related to the field of social media has a significant impact on
education. On one hand, such technological advances has proved to be essential for easing the
lives of the people and providing them with the opportunity to undertake their work in an
efficient manner. However, on the other hand, such advances give a lot of freedom to the
individuals who are in their prime stage of lives where they need the necessary guidance.
Recommendations
The challenges which are faced by the students and the teachers with regard to the use
and the increased dependence of social media, needs to be minimized to a great extent.
Education is vital for the individuals as it provides them with the opportunity to grow and
develop which supports them in increasing their standard of life. However, the presence of social
media has made it considerably difficult on the part of the students to take this process of
impartation of knowledge with the vigor and diligence that is needed. In this respect, certain
recommendations can be made with the aid of which education comes to occupy the serious
position that it deserves.
The recommendation that can be provided is with respect to the vigilant role played by
the family members. It depends upon the parents to keep an active and vigilant check on their
children to oversee their education and knowledge gaining process (Duggan et al. 2015). In this
regard, they should supervise and regulate the amount of time they spend on the social media
which are not educationally beneficial to them. Moreover, they should try to make their children
understand the importance of attending their classes with their teachers. The needed guidance

9ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
within their home environment with provide the children with the motivation and the correct
direction needed to become more educated and knowledgeable (Rowland et al. 2017).
Conclusion
Thus, to conclude, it can be observed that the changing field of education should be
correlated with the dynamic field of social media. The various platforms of social media needs to
be utilized in their correct state and with proper direction so that it can aid in the improvement of
the students rather than harming their level of knowledge. The availability of the sources of
information through social media is indeed useful to many students, particularly those who for
some reason or the other, are unable to attend their formal classes. However, this advantage
should not be taken for granted. Rather, the students should see this as a boon and use them to
further their knowledge base. The more information and knowledge that is available with a
individual, the more it would contribute to the advancement of their own standard of living.

10ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
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11ISSUES IN SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATION
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