It is amazing how the internet is changing people’s lives, people are able to quickly do research and gather data on the web, navigate through websites the internet has provided our world with a different means of communication and accessible to anyone at any time at a click of a mouse. Despite all the beneficial aspects of the uses of the internet, it has negative impact too. It affects relationships with others, people easily get distracted and it many cause cyber bullying.
According to researchers, social media is affecting the way kids look at friendship and intimacy. It has an effect that is both harmful to the productivity of students and has been proven to decrease the student’s grades academically. Networks such as Instagram, Twitter, or facebook are very hard to ignore since there are constantly new information being updated, like pictures being posted and status updates of friends. Now many students are admitting that social media networks are the cause to their grades suffering.
Our students have become prone to frequent fluctuation in mood and self–control. A recent survey has stated that whenever someone uploads a profile picture it immediately affects the moods of friends. It often produces stress, anxiety or fear about their identities as people.
The most important things in a student’s life are studying, learning good habits and gaining knowledge to become a good person with moral characters. But today as we see in various studies this optimal learning process is seriously jeopardized by students becoming entrapped by the ploys of social networking students neglect their studies by spending time on social networking websites rather than studying or interacting with people in person. It affects their grades or hamper their journey to their future career.
Considering all of the above pros and cons, it is necessary to develop certain regulations over the use of such social networking sites, especially for high school and college students. Students should develop the cognitive and intuitive ability to analyse how much time they want to spend on social media. It is left up to the students to decide what really matters in their life and how much of this virtual life translates to real life.
About the Author:
Mrs. Rekha Nirmalkumar is a teacher at SBIOA Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai.