The Overuse of Social Media…
By: Yahaira Perez
In most of my classes more than 80% of the students are on social media rather than paying attention in their lectures. If many of them would be asked what they just learned most of the students would be at a blank. Now when you observe outside in the lawn or walking to class not many students interact with their peers. Most of what is seen are students with their heads down on their phones, tablets, or have head phones on. Social gatherings now consist of sitting in a circle at a location and being on your phone. It is disappointing to see that our world is now being consumed by technology itself. Social Media is a useful, but it is used in excessive. When an individual is bored it is easy to go into the mainstream and see gossip, nonsense or what is trending. What we are doing is losing the face-to-face contact and harming others, cowardly.
According to Social Networking students who use social media during the semester had a GPA of 3.06 as compared to a student who did not use social media during semester had a GPA of a 3.82. The reason to the higher grade point average is because the student is actually paying attention in lecture and has more time to focus and less time of procrastination. In addition to this we need to consider the idea that 49.1% of the information you are seeing on your social media might be false. (ProCon) Granted, there are newscast social media students can follow and are reliable, but not many young adults follow these sites. They are not always the most interesting, but they informative to know what is happening around you, even though they are no gossip. I have noticed however that many newscasts are now falling into the trap of stating as news what is trending, such as the Kardashians.
One of the biggest harm that happens through social media is cyberbullying. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suicide is the third leading cause of death among our youth with approximately 4,400 deaths every year. I was shocked when I conducted a survey among University of Texas at El Paso students more than 50 percent of the students admitted to have been cyberbullied at some point. This was clearly seen through UTEP’s confessions page on Facebook, which was brought down due to reporting’s for some students who wanted to commit suicide and other students encouraging them. No, worries though UTEP now has returned with Miner Confessions, but I do hope that students realize that they can be harmful. The harms of social media has increased since the very first case back in 2007 by the star wars kid that we now have laws against cyberbullying. The laws can be found from any state in stopcyberbullying.gov.
In conclusion, social media in excess is harmful to a single individual and to others. When I started using social media my parents were frightened, in a way still are, because all of the negativity that the news give about social media. Granted every individual has the right to block or deny access to anyone if they are being cyberbullied but it is up to us not to feed into completely negative comments. Humanity can no longer interact with one another without being rude or through a phone. I am appalled and disgusted to see that there are a lot of cowards that hide behind a screen to hurt someone.
References:
How to stop cyberbullying. from http://digitween12-2.flatclassroomproject.org/TWSb-How to Stop Cyberbullying (Video by Catherine, Mackenzie & William) (HTSC)
Six Unforgettable Cyberbullying Cases. from http://nobullying.com/six-unforgettable-cyber-bullying-cases/ (SUCC)
Social Networking Fact Sheet. from http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/ (SNFS)
Social Networking ProCon.org. from http://socialnetworking.procon.org/ (ProCon)
Texas Anti-Bullying Laws & Policies. http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/texas.html. (TXAB)
By: Yahaira Perez
In most of my classes more than 80% of the students are on social media rather than paying attention in their lectures. If many of them would be asked what they just learned most of the students would be at a blank. Now when you observe outside in the lawn or walking to class not many students interact with their peers. Most of what is seen are students with their heads down on their phones, tablets, or have head phones on. Social gatherings now consist of sitting in a circle at a location and being on your phone. It is disappointing to see that our world is now being consumed by technology itself. Social Media is a useful, but it is used in excessive. When an individual is bored it is easy to go into the mainstream and see gossip, nonsense or what is trending. What we are doing is losing the face-to-face contact and harming others, cowardly.
According to Social Networking students who use social media during the semester had a GPA of 3.06 as compared to a student who did not use social media during semester had a GPA of a 3.82. The reason to the higher grade point average is because the student is actually paying attention in lecture and has more time to focus and less time of procrastination. In addition to this we need to consider the idea that 49.1% of the information you are seeing on your social media might be false. (ProCon) Granted, there are newscast social media students can follow and are reliable, but not many young adults follow these sites. They are not always the most interesting, but they informative to know what is happening around you, even though they are no gossip. I have noticed however that many newscasts are now falling into the trap of stating as news what is trending, such as the Kardashians.
One of the biggest harm that happens through social media is cyberbullying. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suicide is the third leading cause of death among our youth with approximately 4,400 deaths every year. I was shocked when I conducted a survey among University of Texas at El Paso students more than 50 percent of the students admitted to have been cyberbullied at some point. This was clearly seen through UTEP’s confessions page on Facebook, which was brought down due to reporting’s for some students who wanted to commit suicide and other students encouraging them. No, worries though UTEP now has returned with Miner Confessions, but I do hope that students realize that they can be harmful. The harms of social media has increased since the very first case back in 2007 by the star wars kid that we now have laws against cyberbullying. The laws can be found from any state in stopcyberbullying.gov.
In conclusion, social media in excess is harmful to a single individual and to others. When I started using social media my parents were frightened, in a way still are, because all of the negativity that the news give about social media. Granted every individual has the right to block or deny access to anyone if they are being cyberbullied but it is up to us not to feed into completely negative comments. Humanity can no longer interact with one another without being rude or through a phone. I am appalled and disgusted to see that there are a lot of cowards that hide behind a screen to hurt someone.
References:
How to stop cyberbullying. from http://digitween12-2.flatclassroomproject.org/TWSb-How to Stop Cyberbullying (Video by Catherine, Mackenzie & William) (HTSC)
Six Unforgettable Cyberbullying Cases. from http://nobullying.com/six-unforgettable-cyber-bullying-cases/ (SUCC)
Social Networking Fact Sheet. from http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/ (SNFS)
Social Networking ProCon.org. from http://socialnetworking.procon.org/ (ProCon)
Texas Anti-Bullying Laws & Policies. http://www.stopbullying.gov/laws/texas.html. (TXAB)