How Has Social Media Affected Education, Knowledge, and Literacy Rates?

Introduction

The contemporary world is experiencing rapid changes in technology with new inventions and innovative ideas cropping up frequently. The biggest change to the lives of most human beings has been the advent of the internet technology that has opened up doors to a world of unlimited access to information. Leveraging on the internet technology has been the emergence of numerous social media platforms that have made the world a truly digital village. This analytical essay will explore how the education sector has also felt the impact of the extensive use of social media by the modern day generation because these platforms have made it relatively easy to access education, acquire knowledge, and gain higher literacy levels.

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Various governments around the world strive to increase the literacy levels of their citizens through the provision of free or subsidized education. The emergence of social media has helped accelerate the penetration of education among the people by creating online classrooms that are not limited by physical of geographical boundaries. This means that more people can now access education and acquire crucial knowledge through online classes where they can learn remotely through distant learning programs (Greenhow, Sonnevend, & Agur, 2016). Social media has been the ideal platform to accelerate the access to quality education to all people at affordable rates or no cost at all.

Social media is an effective platform to impart knowledge and literacy on students because it is a multi-modal approach to teaching. The use of textbooks to learn in a classroom is limiting because they only contain texts and pictures. This is in stark contrast to the various options availed through the social media where examples and illustrations can be pictorial, texts, videos, or in music format ((Patrut, Patrut, & Cmeciu, 2013). It is a departure from the monotonous textbooks in favor of the more appealing social media websites.

In addition, the current generation of students are tech-savvy such that they always keep abreast with the latest technological changes and devices. They are always looking forward to the latest release in the world of technology and this makes the social media the perfect avenue for teaching them because it is a tool that resonates with the contemporary generation (Nielsen & Webb, 2012). The students deem the social media platforms as cool since they get to network and engage with all their friends as well as distant acquaintances through the social media. In other words, the social media is a 'cool' tool that the twenty first century students can identify with during learning sessions.

Social media has accelerated the access to education and improved the literacy levels among the global citizens because the platform consists of numerous people from all over the world. These people form a global community of learners who are eager to learn and share ideas through the comparison of notes in their respective disciplines. Discussions and brainstorming over the internet has become possible thanks to the social media communities. Modern learners do not have to face difficulties with their academic work as they can consult their social media peers who are undertaking a similar course to theirs.

Social media has also impacted literacy levels within the education sector by availing the tools and opportunity for students to be creative. Learners are more creative when they internalize knowledge given to them through the social media because they can combine different ideas to come up with possible solutions for the various challenges that they face (Patrut et al. 2013). It has become possible for students to find creative ways to tackle the difficult subjects and tasks that they deal with in their academic work. Social media has been integral in ensuring that the students unleash their creative energies towards addressing various academic and social problems.

The social media has become a phenomenon in the world of academia due to the unlimited access that it grants learners in their pursuit of knowledge. There are millions of avenues through which students can conduct research on different topics which they are studying. Social media platforms are also linked to numerous online libraries and academic databases that contain vast amounts of knowledge on various disciplines (Greenhow et al. 2016). The social media websites have been at the forefront in accelerating the acquisition of education through enhancing the knowledge of students who utilize the available resource centers.

Equally effective is the use of social media and the internet technology by teachers to extend education to their students. They take advantage of the social media to refer to current social events through which they argue their concepts during lessons. Teachers improve the literacy levels of their students by using practical examples derived from social media platforms to drive their point home. It has become much easier and convenient for teachers to disseminate knowledge to their students through the use of social media websites.

On the flip-side though, there is no denying that social media has had an adverse effect on the education of students. This is mainly because most of them spend the better part of their free time on technological gadgets browsing through the internet. In turn, they waste a lot of time that could have been productively channeled towards their academic work (Nielsen & Webb, 2012). The time wasted on social media platforms only serves to hinder the full potential of students in their studies. Another disadvantage of fusing social media websites with education is the high likelihood of students consuming the wrong kind of information. Social media platforms are awash with propaganda content that seeks to either brainwash or misinform those who access such information. There is a need for guidance so that students do not access unintended content which includes straying into obscene adult content. Various sources of information also need to be verified before the students can use the information as a credible source. Lastly, the social media are full of information that which constantly gets updated as events keep taking place in different locations around the universe. Students are likely to get exposed to surplus information that is neither relevant nor necessary for their studies. This concept has come to be known as 'infobesity' to mean an overindulgence in excess information. It is upon the teachers and students to learn to sift the content that is material to their studies.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the above discussion contains weighty talking points that only prove that the social media has had a huge impact on education, knowledge, and literacy levels. Social media has helped widen the learning audience making education accessible to many people unlike before. The integration of social media in the learning sessions is productive because the majority of students can relate to this contemporary advancement in technology. On the other hand, time wastage and misinformation are the main challenges facing the use of social media in the academic world.

References

Greenhow, C., Sonnevend, J., & Agur, C. (2016). Education and social media: Toward a digital future. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1c2cqn5

Nielsen, L., & Webb, W. H. (2012). Teaching generation text: Using cell phones to enhance learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Patrut, B., Patrut, M., & Cmeciu, C. (2013). Social media and the new academic environment: Pedagogical challenges. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.