The Impact of Social Media on Learning Behavior for Sustainable Education.
Summary.
Social Media has gained vast influence in the education system and is immensely affecting learners’ behaviors. The article “The impact of Social Media on Learning Behavior for sustainable Education: Evidence of Students from Selected Universities in Pakistan” outlines the effect of social media on university students’ behavior. The article examines the constructive and adverse factors that social media impact on students’ minds and how these factors helped to share positive and negative aspects with others.
In the article, social media’s positive impacts overweigh the negative ones, with a score of 65% and 35%, respectively (Abbas, Aman, Nurunnabi, & Bano, 2019). Social media’s constructive outcome on learners’ behavior includes sharing of opinion with others; raising awareness; building of relationship, identity, and contact; sharing of knowledge; and developing communication skills. On the other hand, the adverse effects include health issues like depression, stress, and anxiety; the use of online jargon to complete homework, assignments, and exams; excessive waste of time; and cyberbullying.
Personal Response.
I support the argument presented in the article that social media has more positive impacts on university students’ behavior. Proper use of social media allows university students to freely share their thoughts with their peers and professors, raise awareness on matters concerning education, improve communication skills, and develop vital relationships and contacts that can improve their education. However, excessive use of social media should not be ignored, as it negatively impacts learners’ behavior. I use Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and can confirm that social media addiction leads to a waste of valuable time. It has also made other learners dependent on particular groups for assignment completion and online examinations. This behavior overshadows the value of education, leading to a poor learning outcome. I think social media’s effect can only be accurately noticed by checking the individual platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, or WhatsApp as opposed to the article’s generalized method.
Reference
Abbas, J., Aman, J., Nurunnabi, M., & Bano, S. (2019). The impact of social media on learning behavior for sustainable education: Evidence of students from selected universities in Pakistan. Sustainability, 11(6), 1683.