The growth in technology and advancements in science led to the development and inventions of several digital tools, and applications. The most used one by people is social media applications. We all cannot imagine a life without social media. To connect with our loved ones, stay in touch with all, all across the world, learn and explore more about life, business and grow socially and professionally, social media help us learners in many ways.
But excessive use of social media can harm students in many ways. Along with positive aspects, negative impacts of social media too. It makes students spend a lot of their productive time wasted on leisure and fun activities over social media. Let us discuss some of the negative impacts of social media on learners and also some effective tips that students can follow to limit their social media time to become more goal-centric and achieve success in their lives.
Harmful effects of excessive social media use
Table of Contents
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Effects sleep schedule
When students get addicted to using social media and use it excessively, their night sleep schedules are affected a lot. Students keep on scrolling and using social media apps and accounts till late at night. And they have to take up early for their online teaching classes or conventional classrooms which deprives them of taking a deep sleep of seven to eight hours, furthermore affecting the health conditions of the students too.
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Divert students from their goals
The main goals of every student are to study better every day and achieve academic success. But the time which students must devote to achieve these is when spent on social media makes students less productive and diverts them from learning effectively to achieve their goals.
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Reduces productivity
Productive skills refer to the skills that help students to do a lot, complete all the tasks planned too effectively. But when students spend a lot of time scrolling and using social media sites and apps, they become less productive. After this, they are left with very little time to do all the learning tasks, self-studies, and duties. This affects both the learning and productive skills of the students.
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Affects physical health
Excessive use of social media means more screen time too. More screen time via phones, computers, and laptops gives students a headache, strain on the eyes, and weak eyesight too. This affects the physical health of the student’s further reducing their work effectiveness too.
Tips for students to limit their social media time
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Go on a social detox
Yes, social life for enjoyment, fun, better work, and connecting with our close ones is important. But excessive use of anything causes and affects students’ learning and precious time in several ways. To overcome this problem, the best tip is to go for a social media detox. Only thinking not to use it will not work that better as you will keep feeling like opening social media apps from time to time every day.
Some more needs to be done and in this regard, what additional students can do is to delete or uninstall the apps for some days. Keeping the notifications off can also be done. When you will get a social media break for a few days, you will see the positive changes and improvements in your lives. This will help you to balance the use of social media and other learning duties.
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Replace the apps
Many students use social media for longer to have fun and break from regular learning. But excessive fun and use make students less effective at learning. To prevent this from further happening with you, students can replace the social media apps with other interesting learning applications.
For example, to play quizzes, riddles, watch educational movies, puzzles, and other visual aids, students can use an interesting education app of their choice. This will make students less addicted to social media and do something more productive and beneficial.
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Keep trying
Initially, staying away from social media can be challenging for you. You might feel like checking your phone and opening social media accounts quite several times. But with consistency, trying, and giving up, students can improve their habits. Develop self-control so that you limit your social media time.
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Give importance to face to face meetups
Many times use social media excessively because they keep on chatting and interacting with their friends and closed one digitally. But the values and emotions are missing here. To connect better with your friends and family, have a good and enjoyable time, all must consider meeting face to face as per convenience and time availability.
Conclusion
With better connectivity with our loved ones, social life, interactions, and fun in life, social media benefits us in many ways. But excessive use of it can be harmful too. Lack of proper sleep, poor physical health, less productive skills, and difficulty in achieving goals are some of the harmful effects of excessive social media use. But every problem has a solution. And therefore, by following the above-mentioned tips, students can limit their social media time to live a better life.
