TASK 4
Internet is a very important element of life which cannot be ignored. Internet is
used for educational purpose by a large community but unfortunately we have a large
community including majority of youth and teenagers who use Internet for only social
networking sites (Boyd, 2006). The popularity of the social networking sites increased
rapidly in the last decade.This is probably due to the reason that college and university
students as well as teens used it extensively to get global access. These social
networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have become a raging craze for everyone
nowadays. The negative effects of these social networking sites overweigh the positive
ones. These sites have caused some potential harm to society. The students become
victims of social networks more often than anyone else. This is because of the reason that
when they are studying or searching their course material online, they get attracted to
these sites to kill the boredom in their study time, diverting their attention from their work.
“Communication is constantly evolving. Some people are as used to seeing their
friends’s online avatar as they are their face,” Hussein Chahine said in The Telegraph.
The research also found that even when there is an opportunity to see people face-to-
face, on weekends for example, up to 11% of students still prefer to stay at home and
communicate on their devices instead. Thus, the more time the students spend on these
social media sites, the less time they will spend socializing in person with others. This
reduces their communication skills. They will not be able to communicate and socialize
effectively in person with others. Because of the lack of body signals and other nonverbal
cues, like tone and inflection, social networking sites are not an adequate replacement for
face-to-face communication. Nowdays, the employers are getting more and more
unsatisfied with the communication skills of the fresh graduates due to this reason. The
effective communication skills are key to success in the real world. Students who spend a
great deal of time on social networking are less able to effectively communicate in person.
Internet chatrooms and social networking sites are encouraging children to spell
words incorrectly, research suggests. A paper released by the English Spelling Society
concludes that the internet has revolutionised the English language, and made
misspelling the norm.The popularity of social media, and the speed at which information is
published, has created a lax attitude towards proper spelling and grammar. The reduces a
student’s ability to effectively write without relying on a computer’s spell check feature.
The paper, which surveyed a group of 18- to 24-year-olds as part of the research, found
that the majority believed that unconventional spellings are used on the internet because
it is faster and has become the norm. More than one in five (22%) said they would not be
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confident in writing an important email without referring to a dictionary or spell checker.
Despite the widespread use of so-called "variant" spelling, almost a third (31%) of those
questioned said that alternative non-standard spellings were "unacceptable".
The excessive use of these sites also affect the mental as well as physical health.
Students do not take their meals on time and take proper rest. They take excessive
amount of coffee or tea to remain active and focused which effects negatively on their
health. The World Health Organization describes mental health as "a state of well-being in
which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of
life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her
community". According to research by Shahzad Khan (2012) in Abasyn Journal of Social
Sciences about Impact of Social Networking Websites on Students found that the
students who are using technology including the social networking sites on a regular basis
tend to have more stomach aches, besides sleeping problems, as well as anxiety and
depression. Such students also display more of narcissistic tendencies besides many
other psychological disorders, including various antisocial behaviours as well as
aggressive tendencies.
However, college students also have great interest in social media. Although,
providing a detailed perspective on social media use among university students and
underscoring that such use can produce both positive and negative consequences,
according to a Nielsen Media Research study, in June 2010, almost 25 percent of
students' time on the Internet is now spent on social networking websites (Jacobsen, &
Forste, 2011). Tinto (1997) argued that extracurricular activities and academic activities
are not enough to satisfy some student those who are suffered by social networking
isolation. This shows that social networks are beneficial for the students as it contributes
in their learning experiences as well as in their academic life. According to Cain (2009)
social network websites provide ease of connecting people to one another; free of cost
and after connecting one can post news, informative material and other things including
videos and pictures etc. This free of cost factor fascinate students for communication and
data sharing.
The research by Qingya Wang et. al (2011) in MBA Student Scholarship about
The Effects of Social Media on College Students identified that the most college students
would prefer to use social media and spend many hours checking social media sites.
Social networking is definitely affecting students’ efficiencies as well as their grades.
Hence, educators need to be concerned about these problems and try to find better ways
to solve these problems. Therefore, the overuse of these sites on a daily basis has many
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negative effects on the physical and mental health of students making them lethargic and
unmotivated to create contact with the people in person. The parents should check and
balance on their children when they use the internet. They should be on guard whether
they are using it for appropriate time period or not. The peers and teachers should also
help students make them aware of the negative effects and explain what they are losing
in the real world by sticking to these social networking sites.
(1105 words)
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