Research Paper Example: How Social Media Can Be a Useful Tool and a Hindrance at the Same Time

Have you ever scrolled on Instagram or TikTok when you know you should be working? Most students nowadays use social media and are exposed to these fast-paced short videos that can lower their attention span and also worsen their ability to focus. While social media can be distracting, social media can also be a fundamental tool for gathering information to learn new skills and teaching styles. This research would help show how social media can be a useful tool, but also can be a hindrance at the same time. Some studies argue that social networks and online learning make students more creative and productive, as they can learn in whichever way they think is best. The opposing side argues that social media’s addictiveness makes you less productive and can lower your attention span. The controversy of whether social media is a net positive or net negative is up for debate, but what are some examples of how social media and online learning can improve or worsen academic performance?

Due to COVID-19, schools all across the globe have had to temporarily close down and go online. Digital devices became at the forefront of education in 2020. “Positive and Negative Impact of Social Media on Education” by Tula’s International School discusses the topic from an all-online school perspective. The school shows how social media can be used as a positive for education by showing how much information can be gathered off of the websites you can access. The school also discusses how social media can be distracting to students and lead to procrastination and wasted time. Tula’s International School understands how much students are online and are on social media and tries to use social media as an advantage for learning. The school wants to use the connection aspect as a tool for students to get in contact with one another, so they can help each other out with studying and schoolwork.

In contrast, St. Cloud Technical & Community College discusses how social media rewards using the app for a longer period, which leads to less productivity. Popular platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter have an infinite scroll feature, which creates an endless stream of content. Social media also raises dopamine levels with instant gratification when you receive a text, follow, likes, etc. The addictiveness falls in the fact that these instant gratification factors happen randomly and when they do come in. It’s similar to a slot machine. You metaphorically pull the lever by being active on the platform, and when those texts finally do come in, it feels like hitting the jackpot. These addictive, dopamine-raising platforms can be a recipe for disaster in the education system and the workplace. Tasks that require a lot of focus and patience, like studying or intricate work can be difficult for someone who is addicted to instant gratification.

Both of these authors come at the topic from different perspectives. St. Cloud speaks mostly about the science of what makes the apps addictive and how that can be detrimental to your educational and workplace health. On the other hand, Tula’s School discusses how social media can be a useful tool for finding information and a healthy way for students to reach out to one another about school. While Tula’s article may have some merit, it fails to fully convey how some may fall into the addictiveness of the apps. St. Cloud dives deep into the topic of addiction and infinite scroll, which is one of the main factors of social media users wasting time scrolling, while Tula’s does not discuss this topic. Lastly, while both articles agree that social media can hinder a student’s ability to focus, St. Cloud provides more solid proof to show how exactly the apps create a lack of focus in their users.

Overall, both sources have credible reasons for their views. St. Cloud Technical & Community College has more of a credible backing because the article uses multiple studies and scientific reasoning to state its points. On the contrary, Tula’s International School uses their experience with the software and student interaction. From these two points, even though social media does have some promising factors for education, the cons stated by St. Cloud outweigh the positives stated by Tula, by showing how social media rewards staying on the platform with dopamine highs. St. Cloud gives examples from studies from around the world on student productivity when exposed to social media.

While Tula’s International School and St. Cloud have gotten their sourcing for their findings in the United States, ScienceDirect’s study takes place in Abu Dhabi. The study discusses the introduction of devices in younger children and how social media affects their social life. ScienceDirect brings together dozens of analysts and combines the opinions of the analysts and the studies performed to come to a conclusion. Deng & Traves state that social networking has become one of the integral parts of a child’s social life and also allow students to use it as a learning tool. Badri et al., 2016 examined the usage of applications and social media divices among more than 31,000 Abu Dhabi students and found that children mainly use social media to keep in touch with family, friends and also use it for learning purposes. Al Sayugh (2013) states that “The new communication revolution has affected a major change in the culture and the lifestyle in the youth, and can cause introversion and social isolation.” The conclusion found by ScienceDirect is that social media can be a great tool for finding and sharing information and getting in contact with friends and family, misuse of it can lead to a decline in academic performance.

On the other hand, Creative Loafing Charloette (CLC) discusses their topics in a short, concise format. The study is to find how social media has an influence on academic performance. Some of the positive effects of social media on education stated in the article are diverse thinking and interactions, ability to reach experts, and improved collaboration. With how many people are online, you can learn the perspectives of thousands of people and reach out to people you otherwise couldn’t before. Some people also use social media to teach skills and are open for questions and are ready to help students on any topic. Most social media nowadays has a group chat feature, which allows the user to add multiple people to a chat or call. This factor makes group projects a breeze because you don’t have to meet up to all work on the same project, saving precious time. While they do list some positives, there are also negative uses. Lower retention rates, weaker writing skills, and overreliance on the internet have been big issues. Fast paces content and short videos, similar to the ones seen on TikTok, have been lowering the attention spans amongst young people because there is so much happening at once. Writing abilities can become worse among students that text too much using slang and short form sentences because they aren’t used to formal writing. When you have a question in your head, a popular instinct nowadays is to just look it up on Google, but that prevents you from critical thinking on the issue by just giving you the answer. The conclusion reached is that while social media keeps students in touch with one another and is an amazing tool to gather information, overuse can lead to some serious long term issues. 

Similarly, both of the articles come to the conclusion that while social media can be a great tool to contact people, overusing the platforms can lead to negative consequences. However, ScienceDirect used more research and studies to reach their conclusion by using dozens of researchers and performing studies with thousands of participants to see how students used social media in their day-to-day life.  In contrast, CLC keeps the findings short, but at the cost of coming up with a less thought out conclusion.