Task 4: Essay

Social networking cause more harm than good to college student. Discuss.

Social networking is the activity of creating personal and business relationships

with other people especially by sharing information and personal messages . Social
networking sites such as Friendster, Linkedin, Spoke, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter all vary
slightly, yet the one main feature they have is that they enable users to create a profile within
the website to represent themselves and allows uses to interact through email, instant
messaging and other integrated communication channels within the site (Papacharissi, 2009).
The popularity and growth of social networking sites over the past five years has been
colossal, as many people from all over the world join up to this social phenomenon for varied
reasons. Today, there are more than 700 million users spend on the social networking site.
As the technology of gadget improves and advances, social networking sites have an even
bigger impact on human especially students both positive and negative. This essay will explain
that social networking sites do cause more harm than good.

First and foremost, students who always engage with gadget to surf social networking
tend to have the ability to become a different personality. Social networking is an easy way for
people to escape their reality and create an altered image of themselves online. It provides an
escape that becomes increasingly distracting the more time one puts into it. Students are
finding that they use social media as a network of procrastination or a place to escape to
especially when they are needed to do an assignment or homework of any kind. A study done
by the Ohio State University has demonstrated that students who utilize Facebook spend less
time studying and typically have lower grades than those students who do not use these
popular social media sites (Cowler-Amoss, 2012). It is all about the student balancing the time
they are on the social networking and its entertainment and a students' homework habits.
Besides, the social networking have affects how one learns and how their brain
absorbs new information. Students who are surfing through their social media networks while
they are listening to their teachers' lectures are not using the full potential power of their brains'
learning centre. Smith (2011), said that once an hour 9 out of 10 British students are distracted
by Facebook and Twitter. This type of compulsive behaviour can almost be deemed as an
addiction. Classes in higher education are usually three hours long, subtract twenty to thirty
minutes per hour for social media checking, and if one does the math you have a student who
is only paying attention 90 minutes out of the 180 minutes there are in one lecture; multiply
that by six or seven courses and by now you should get where this blog is going. College
students go through demanding courses and do many assignments, which require the
complete focus of the student. However, students are not realizing the harm they are doing
when they are taking thirty minutes to check their social media network accounts when they
are suppose to be working on a paper.

Getting too involved in social networking can impact students’ health. The excessive
use of these sites 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 to their computer or gadget by surfing social networking overnight. The overuse
of these sites on a daily basis has many negative effects on the physical and mental health of
students. On the same time, the less a student moves the more weight that student is likely to
gain, and few calories are being burned while sitting in front of a computer. Computer monitors
have been proven to cause eye strain, leading to poor eyesight. Little movement has been
proven to lead to muscle weakness, less muscle development and, in some cases, bone loss.
Back, neck, and joint pain have been associated with too much computer use. As a result,
student often spend hours networking, leading to weight and health issues.

Furthermore, social media causes student to spend less time interacting face to face.
USC Annenberg School study found that the percentage of people reporting less face to face
time with family in their home rose from 8% in 2000 to 34% in 2011 (Friedman, 2015). 32%
of younger below 25 years old are using social media or texting during meals instead of talking
with family and friends. It shows that younger especially student have more interesting on
social networking rather than interacting face to face with people. Actually, face to face
communications lead to the development of trustworthy relationships that last long. Meeting a
new friend at any activitiy and tournament is always a memorable experience. Social media
friendships lack that warmth. They cannot expect their online friends living in another part of
the globe to help them when they are in trouble. To conclude, it is not hard to see that
excessive online socialization is bad. It affects their relationships if they are addicted to it. After
all, the virtual world cannot replace the real world neither can virtual friends the real ones.

Lastly, student who are heavy social networking users during the night could be
damaging their sleep and increasing their risk of anxiety and depression. Student feel anxiety
if they did not respond immediately to texts or posts. They are so emotionally invested in social
networking that a fifth of secondary school pupils will wake up at night and log on social
networking like Whatsapp and Facebook. The worst thing about this is that they need more
sleep than adults do, so night time social networking use could be detrimental to their health.
Research has shown that they need 9.5 hours of sleep each night but on average only get 7.5
hours (Mercola, 2014). A lack of sleep can make students tired, irritable, depressed and more
likely to catch colds, flu and gastroenteritis. In short, surfing social networking during the night
will cause the students feeling tired and depressed as they do not get enough time to sleep.

As a conclusion, there are many negative impacts to everyone especially college

student in using social networking. Actually, social networking can bring advantages to
students. Mostly college students do not know how to use social networking wisely. They
always engage with their gadget to surf social networking by bad things. As a result, it can
bring negative impact to college student in every aspect like personality, behaviour, health and
communication. Thus, every student should know and use every opportunity in surfing social
networking. Good social networking usage will comes benefit to them in every field like skill,
education, business and occupation.

(1014 words)
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Title1–20 Cited by Year

Predictors of Internet use

Z Papacharissi, AM Rubin
Journal of broadcasting & electronic media 44 (2), 175-196