The Impact of Social Media on Adolescent Learning: A Sociology Report

This sociology report examines the significant role of social media in the lives of youths, particularly its impact on learning and communication. The report discusses how social media provides accessible learning platforms, facilitates research, and connects individuals globally. It highlights the benefits for both educational institutions and students, including face-to-face interactions, access to experts, and the formation of online communities. The report analyzes the use of social media in Australia, noting its high adoption rate among youth and its role in shaping online identities. It further explores how social media enhances learning through features like instant chat and video conferencing, and aids in brand building and collaboration. The conclusion emphasizes social media's role as a fast and accessible learning tool, especially for youth, transforming education through continuous mentoring and global connectivity.

Running Head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Report
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Introduction
Social media is playing a very significant role in the life of youths. It has offered one of
the best learning platforms for youths where they can easily learn various interesting things.
Social media has made research information very easy by connecting youths with innovative
world. In addition, it acts as one of the most important source of connecting the two parties
within single node. One party is the information provider and other party is information gatherer
(Hattwig et al., 2013). It has created a large network of communication for youths on the global
platform. With the help of social media youths are now able to share their learning and
information with other youths on any topic on the global level. In addition, it also offers students
one of the innovative platforms to conduct debate on the international level. It informs youth
about the changing learning environment all over the world (Common Sense Media, 2016).
Social media offers lot of benefit to both corporate as well as education section by offering them
opportunity to remain in touch with their existing as well as ex-student in order to keep them
guiding for their better future, it may be in group or individual.
Importance of social media
Often social media is considered as source of posting picture online but in reality social
media has become one of the main sources of education and learning in the present world. It is
now referred as one of the key medium to gather information related to the topic in which person
is interested in. This source of learning platform is intensively adopted by almost every
education institute on the global level in order to provide effective and efficient knowledge.
Including social media in education system helps the institutes in improving the current
performance of their students by providing them right skillset which are very essential for them
to fulfill their future demand (Pew Internet, 2016). Social media offers both kinds of facilities; it
may be face to face interaction, conversation or group education. Social media helps youths to
get connected with various experts available in different streams on the global level. Learner
have to just follow them in order to gain important information related to their field in which
they are interested which helps them to generate the meaning full outcomes. Social media offers
various new kind of new contents and illuminations which offers great amount of subject related
knowledge to the learner (Youtube, 2014). Social media platform such as Facebook, Twitter and
You tube helps the youth from various schools or college to form contact point with other
student form other scholl and colleges on the global level. At present, YouTube has emerged as
one of the biggest learning platform in the world of social media which is being used by billions
of people all over the world. This form of platform is being used by various campuses to convey
their information, broadcast information with various students. Latest trend in social media is use
of hastags, which are being used to engage students in to meaning full debate. In addition, social
media aids youth to explore the important data for their research by providing them the necessary
mentoring tool which can help them to fulfill the gap between their expectation and reality by
focusing on their key objectives (Sobaih et al., 2016). Social media has enhanced the learning
system by providing one of the most innovative options on the global platform such as instant

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chat and a video conference which helps youth to take consultation form their mentor who are
miles away from the youth at any time at any place.
Use of social media learning in Australia in adolescents
(Source: Statics Australia, 2019)
This graph clearly indicates that social media networking in Australia is being used by
every section of the population for different use it may be for learning, entertainment or for
business purpose. In addition, this graph also indicates that age groups of 12-24 years and 25-54
years are the 94% of population which uses social media network as source of learning and
commercial purpose. It has been found that among these populations the higher percentage of
using social media is the youth section because these sections is in the learning phase of their life
and will try to find out the most fast and easiest way of learning new things.
Australian youth is using this mode of learning because they believe that social media is
one of the advance platform to develop a strong relationship between provider and distant learner
with the help of social structure. The key purpose of this mode of social structure is to create a
massive amount of data which can meet the exceptional of user by providing them a valuable
proportional. But in some cases it has been seen that this source of media also generates
overloading of information for the user when user is in great need (Burnett & Merchant, 2011).
According to Australian youngsters, social media learning has remarkable made their presence in
the daily life of these individual by connecting their every need right from news reading to
updates available on most important event on the global level. In addition, this mode of learning

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is very helpful, if some individual want to increase their talent beyond some point they can make
use of important information available on the social media in the form of research papers which
will help them to understand the difference between reality and books. Social media also offers
the knowledge of changing trend of the business environment which helps the youngster to
decide their objective or goal of life. In addition these sections are able to review the information
about some product which can give them an idea about the quality of that particular product in
the market despite of having different views (Freeman et al., 2018). Social media such as
Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter are one of the best platform to gather different sources of
information at a time it may be related to politics, economy or GDP of countries as well as
entrepreneurs which offers a particular direction to these section of Australian population. Due to
advance changes in technologies, social media has offered great amount of opportunities for all
the youth section to enhance their learning as well as gathered experience in order to guide other
youths connected with this social media network. In addition internet and smart phones has
added more values to this type of education system and made them one of the most advance
ways of learning platform in youth population. Social media has taken concept that if something
can be visualize then that thing can be remembers for long time (Kervin, Jones & Mantei, 2012).
Continuous increase in population has forced the society to go for use of social media in order to
explore the full potential of the learning abilities in the present world. As per the study, it has
been found that various education organization has understood the ability and potential of social
media learning and hence they have introduce use of social media learning in their teaching
structure. In addition, it is this social media learning which has offered customization and
personalization of learning in the education system in the form of suit which has offered great
amount of benefit to students (Lloyd & Wilkinson, 2016). Now student are in the position to
adjust their learner as per the time requirement instead of engaging their complete with the
learning. In this dynamic world, networking has emerged as one of the most significant way of
personality development because it offers individual an opportunity to attain the most advance
skill and knowledge which can help them in progressing as per the requirement of business
world.
Building brand
Social media helps the student to build their strong portfolio with the help of social
networks by developing a strong credibility on the base of their qualification. In addition, this
mode of platform also helps student to meet those experts which can support them in brand
building in some particular stream in which they are interested. These mentors offer their
experience and proper guidance to the learner with the help of advance technology and
supportive tools (Nixon, Helen & Hateley, 2013). In addition this mode of education media is
helping students to get engaged in solving one of the most difficult problems present in the
education system by involving the best optimization tools and experts with the help of field
expert. This mode of learning makes education more pleasant as well as systematic as compared
to one way education system in which education is taken from books and other research sources

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(Confos & Davis, 2016). It is a common fact that brand building is not work of overnight, it
require some amount of time and lot of dedication and these days, it has become one of the
updated trends in this social networking world. It took years and years for many organizations to
set up their brand in this competition world.
Social media as mean of collaboration
Social media is being used as one of the most powerful tool of collaboration in student
life by offering them opportunity to work as a team on some specific project. It is a common fact
that individual learns faster when they work in group because they are able to understand the gap
between reality and expectation. This mode of learning system helps the mentors to hold a real
time based meeting in order to bring improves in the performance of the student or learners
which are associated with this learning process (Nonthamand & Na-Songkhla, 2018). Working
on some project helps student to understand the thought process of other students which belong
to different background as well as different nations so that they can earn some ideas from their
conversation. Social media offers a rich source of experience to the students in the form of
information sources. With the help of social media tool teacher are able to share assignment/
tutorial at the same time with the entire enrolled student which helps in saving lot of time and
efforts. It has limited the efforts to just a button press by changing the learning system in the
most innovative pattern (Hitchen et al., 2017). Teachers are also able to take benefit of video
conferencing facility in their education system which allows them to guide their students which
are located at different place and every individual are able to put their idea in front of panel so
that every participant can explore the positive and negative outcome associated with discussion.
In addition, these mean of communication helps the student which are living in remote areas of
the country to acquire the advance skill and knowledge from the student which are living in
metropolitan cities it may be professional or it may be personal grooming. In addition, it also
helps students living in remote areas to gain future guidance from experts for their further steps it
may be enrollment in particular course or college.
Conclusion
Due to innovation in technology, social media has emerged as one of the faster and
easiest way of learning for all section of the population it may be youth and elders. But this
social media platform has arisen more valuable for youth section on the global level. Social
media has eliminate the difficulties associated with distant learning and continuous mentoring
from experts because it has created a web network of social connection which has interlinked
learner with the expert through this advance platform. Social media has changed the education
structure on international level by connecting teachers with their present as well as ex-student
which aids in continuous mentoring in this dynamic business world. Social media has become
more valuable tool for education institutes because they are able to teach their student the gap
between present skill and future requirement of the world in order to encourage their student to
acquire advance skills. With the help of social media student can customize their learning

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program on the base of their need and time which was not possible in old traditional education
system. This mode of learning has facilitated student to engage themselves in most meaning full
conversation on some important topic in the form of debates and group discussion on this online
social platform.

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References
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