20 Negative Effects Of Social Media On Students
Human beings are adapted to social life. To survive in life, we require the company of others, and the quality of our relationships has a significant bearing on both our mental health and enjoyment. Social engagement with others has been demonstrated to avoid loneliness, ease stress, anxiety, and depression, boost self-esteem, and bring comfort and joy. On the other hand, a lack of solid social ties can seriously jeopardize your mental and emotional well-being.
However, everything in excess is harmful just like the addictive use of social media. Social media problems are a common reality today. Unfortunately, teenagers and students have become so accustomed to using social media that, if not controlled or regulated, it might have very negative impacts on their general well-being.
What Is The Positive And Negative Impact Of Social Media On Education
The impact of social media on education holds both positive and negative sides. There is a bunch of positive effects of social media on education which has highly transformed the educational style of the teachers and students. Actually, social media is affecting students’ academic performance at a very high pace.
Researchers define social media as “the relationships that exist between a network of people.”
It is a widely accessible free electronic tool, used for publishing, accessing, and collaborating any kind of socially acceptable content and information with the world, and a way to build new relationships.
Nowadays, social media has become one of the most important, next to the food, in everyone’s life.
It is a tool of trade for businesses, a platform for playing games for kids and sharing relevant information with media groups, and a digital classroom for learners.
Billions of People do watch and share, trillions of posts on Facebook consisting of text, photos, videos, and graphics.
According to research, YouTubers upload about 720,000 new content in a day which is equal to 30,000 videos per hour and one billion hours watched every day which becomes about 41.6 million hours per hour.
20 Negative Effects Of Social Media On Students
We should understand that adolescents and teenagers are particularly susceptible to several aspects of life’s growth and development. Thus, every informed adult should pay close attention to the effects that social media use has on these kids. It is important to quickly identify social media’s detrimental effects. Here are 15 major negative effects of social media on students:
1. Toxic Comparison
It’s fundamental human nature to compare ourselves to others, and positive comparison can help our well-being and growth. But toxic comparison, as seen chiefly on social media nowadays, is one of the negative effects of social media.
Everything looks perfect in the world of social media; those picture-perfect bodies, lifestyles, travel adventures, luxury social life, and success. And seeing these unrealistic lifestyles can generate unhealthy comparisons of their lives with others.
Toxic and unhealthy comparisons can be damaging to an individual’s self-esteem, self-image, and overall well-being. It can promote competitive and judgemental behavior toward others in an unhealthy manner. And such toxic comparison can increase feelings of inferiority, envy, self-criticism, remorse, and regret.
2. It wastes time
Social media in today’s world is the biggest time waster. Not just teenagers, even adults are so much into social media that they overlook the time. Furthermore, students use social media in classrooms during lectures. Additionally, waste their free time scrolling the screen and eventually end up getting addicted to it.
3. Productivity and Concentration
Students discuss social media in the classroom, causing distraction and low concentration levels in them. Also, students tend to check social media while doing some work. It results in low productivity. As a result, the grades and academic performance of students degrade.
4. Self-esteem and body image issues
Social media is full of people who try to show their best version possible, whether their lifestyle, status, job, or physical appearance. You can see many influencers and models on social media that portray the best lives and appearances.
Unfortunately, social media is changing the idea of how beauty is seen. The constant disclosure of unrealistic beauty standards and images and lifestyles on social media can generate feelings of being overwhelmed in people’s minds.
5. Anxiety
Instead of taking time for themselves, students are more interested in knowing what others are doing and about other’s personal life. Social media negatively impacts the thinking processes and emotions of those who use it more frequently, making them depressed and anxious. For study, job, and personal life, good mental health is crucial. As a result, it is advised to limit your time to a half-hour per day rather than waste the entire day.
6. Higher Expectations from the World
You won’t be shocked if I claim that social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are to blame for unrealistic expectations and friendships. The validity of other people’s actions cannot be verified.
In an ideal world, no one would lie on social media, but show business and promotion tactics won’t be changing anytime soon. Influencers on YouTube and Instagram are tied to these tactics in order to draw viewers. This influence can have a negative impact on the students and might lead them to succumb to self-doubt.
7. It causes social problems
Social media many times causes social problems as teenagers on social media write and comment publicly. It may hurt sentiments and, viewers may not like it. Also, there is a lot of disturbing content that can implant the wrong mindset in students. Students many times feel inferior as they tend to compare themselves with others.
8. Unbalanced sleeping schedule
One of the main factors contributing to kids’ lack of sleep today is social media. They are continuously concerned with what their friends share and post. If they are not told to stop, students can remain engaged on social media for longer periods of time which will cost them their sleeping routine. If individuals engage in these activities, particularly during or right before sleep, there is a strong likelihood that their sleep may be disturbed.
9. Victim of cyber-crime
Cyberbullying is one of the most common harassment s faced by people using social media. Teenagers using social media get attacked by hackers and thieves and, many times, get exploited and blackmailed. There are some anonymous applications and software available. To acquire data of users, such applications ask for permission and, users generally permit without giving a second thought. As a result, they use this data to earn money.
10. Deviation
Students deviate from career and personal development goals through the overuse of social media. Some students get attracted by social media and waste their time by using it continuously. By this, they get deviated from their path and end up doing something average.
11. Social Media Addiction
Social media is undoubtedly addictive, with all the latest trends, posts, stories, gossip, and friends’ whereabouts, but too much consumption and usage of social media can lead to social media addiction.
Suppose you’re constantly checking notifications to count the likes, comments, shares, and followers and get validated with these. In that case, you feel as if it is rewarding and you have achieved something, which makes you use social media more.
Social media addiction can lead to negligence of your personal life, concealing addictive behavior, stalking others excessively promoting unhealthy behaviors.
12. Distraction from life goals
Because it’s so simple to become engrossed in social media activity, students frequently forget about their actual goals. Teenagers these days aspire to internet popularity rather than setting their sights on their dream careers by developing practical talents.
Setting and achieving objectives requires a lot of effort and drive. When we don’t feel like working hard, social media gives us an easy avenue to divert our attention. As a result, we may find that we just don’t complete tasks since finding distractions is so simple.
13. Attraction to material things
After seeing various social media posts and articles of actors and other famous personalities. As a result, teenagers tend to attract to unrealistic beauty and material things. After seeing others, students compare themselves and desire similar things that they might not be able to afford. As a result, many teenagers stole money and other items to fulfill their desires.
14. Unrealistic views
Whenever you open social media apps, whether it is Facebook, Instagram, or Titktok, you can see tons of images, posts, and travel vlogs and think how exemplary their lives are. All you want is their perfect body, but nobody knows what happens behind the screen of social media.
The portrayal of idealistic views on body image, and extravagant lifestyles has a severe negative impact on the mentality of people. It can alter people’s relationships with others in real life, causing low self-esteem.
It has gone so far that teenagers opt for extreme ways to lose weight or attain muscle fast but are clueless about body dysmorphia, eating disorders, and several other mental and health subjects.
15. Anger issues and addiction
After excessive use of social media, students had anger issues. They had difficulty controlling their anger and frequent mood swings. Teenagers get addiction after the excessive use of social media. Many students, after the excessive use of social media, are admitted to hospitals as they face various neurological and other disorders.
16. Privacy and Data Sharing
On social media, there is no privacy of data. And also, the data shared is accessible to anyone and, people tend to exploit it. Hackers use bank account details for fraud to earn money. People tend to share details without a background check and end up regretting it.
17. Lack of Concentration
Today, it’s simple to see how social media has a negative impact on many students. Nowadays, students have a habit of accessing social media at the same time as other tasks that call for more concentration, such as academics, classwork, or homework. Although it is not multitasking, the majority of them think it is. Studies have shown that having your focus constantly interrupted hinders learning and performance.
18. Inappropriate influence
There are many articles and posts related to social issues and current affairs. But, some of these articles contain inappropriate content. As a result, students may get influenced by anti-nationalist and elusive political practices on social media. Many political parties try to inspire teenagers to join them through social media.
19. Fear Of Missing Out
Fear of Missing out (FOMO) is a common term used nowadays on the internet and social media, where people fear missing out on essential activities if they don’t open up and be active on social media.
People experiencing FOMO think that everyone they know is having a great time outside, partying, traveling, living luxurious lives, and meeting up with friends, and you’re the only one missing all those enjoyments.
The more active people are on social media, the more FOMO they experience. It can cause psychological distress in their minds and damage their physical and mental health.
15 Negative Effects Of Social Media On Students
20. Isolation
The use of social media and social isolation are statistically associated. Students especially teenagers may become anxious when they view images or recordings of a party to which they were not invited. The phrase “fear of missing out,” or FOMO, is the perfect Genz phrase for it. Teenagers who use social media frequently think they are connecting to new people, but in reality, they are disengaged from the present and their lives. That may make them feel more alone and they might really feel left out and hence social isolation.
