Facebook, Instagram & Snapchat Impact on Academic Engagement

The internet came into the lives of humans in the 1990s, bringing up major transformation in the process of communication. However, the world of communication gets completely revolutionized after the introduction of social networking sites, including Facebook, Instagram, Snap chat, Twitter, and many others. Today, we appreciate and celebrate its improvement in all fields, ranging from the education sector to small-scale businesses and multinational companies. At the end of 2019, the world population was 7.8 billion, and the number of active social media recorded was 3.75 billion, almost half of the total population. It is evident that this number is definitely going up in 2020.

As we know, there is nothing in this world which is either wholly beneficial or harmful. Similarly, social media comes with both positive and negative effects, especially in the lives of students. There is a crucial connection between social media usage and academic performance of college and university students. The more social app's use, the more negative impact on academic performance. According to the EMarketer 2019 report, 90.4% of Millennials, 77.5% of Generation X, and 48.2% of Baby Boomers are active social media users. On the other hand, the Global Web Index revealed that an average of 3 hours is spent per day per person on social networks and messaging.

The facts and figures about social media usage are telling that the youth spend most of the time scrolling Facebook, Instagram, and Snap chat. It is affecting in a wrong way on students' academic engagement, making students procrastinate when it comes to taking classes and preparing assignments. To get the assignments done perfectly and on time, many of the UK and the US students look for 'best assignment help,' 'best essay writing services,' HND assignment help,' 'best law essay writing service,' etc., etc. Today' Students find it easy to spend some money and hire an expert who makes their assignment instead of taking every assignment as a challenge and putting his or her efforts to make one independently.

There is no denying that social media has made communication as more comfortable as ever before. Whether it's a conversation between individuals, groups, or B2B meetings, you can communicate with anyone from any part of the world at any time of the day. Communication with someone's miles away is now as easy and straightforward as walking in into a neighbor's house to deliver a message, even more comfortable than this as you can convey your message from the comfort of your home. The key factors behind the adoption of social media by the masses include its ubiquitous access, convenience, functionality, and flexibility. Undoubtedly, these factors have made the adoption pretty easy for everyone and incredibly upgraded human life by offering new and fast ways of generating and sharing information. The most significant benefit of social technologies available on the internet is they are free, or some cost you a dime.

According to a study, there are different views and opinions about the impact of social media on students' academic performance, revealing some significant benefits, including enhancing relationships, improving learning motivation, offering personalized course material, and developing collaborative abilities. Besides, some experts think that social media has given opportunities to improve their communication and learning abilities by connecting and sharing daily learning experiences via Facebook, Instagram, or Snap chat; whichever suits them best. Additionally, students can also use social platforms to discuss various social issues and topics, spreading awareness about a different aspect of societies.

However, there are a lot of experts and think tanks who argued that social networking sites grab students' attention and divert them toward non-learning activities and inappropriate content, including useless chatting throughout the day or watching time-wasting videos. Different studies have proved that there is a heavy presence of social media usage among students. According to one research, more than 90% of tertiary students are active social media users. Minimum time spends on social apps by a student is 30 minutes as part of their daily routine life, indicating the level at which students are patronizing Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snap chat. It is bringing both positive and negative impacts on students as far as their academic performance is concerned.

It's a fact that the internet is the top source of information in this digital era and the growing dimensions of social media usage by students can't be overlooked or underestimated. It has been found that students tend to spend more time on scrolling Facebook, Instagram, and Snap chat and chatting with strangers than the time they are giving to their studies. Apart from this, another study revealed that usage of social media resulted in low academic performance, low self-perceptions and low college-oriented carriers.

It's time to make students realize the importance of academic excellence. Students should understand that whether it's a family gathering, social gatherings, or workplace, they can't get success at any stage of life without giving their 100% during academic life. They should look for ways that help them boost their academic performance. They should use social media for learning purpose by joining online communities offering free courses and help in getting freelance work. There are many ways to adopt social media positively; all you need to do is to make your mind how to utilize it.