Learning on Social Media by Chloe

Learning on Social Media by Chloe - March 2022 Scholarship Essay

The influence that social media has on the human mind has expanded far beyond what the generations before us could have ever imagined. The brain is constantly receiving and processing the information that social media presents it with. It is hard to tell if the human mind was even meant to deal with the effects that social media can have on a person. Social media can be a positive thing, but it can also influence us with lies or manipulate how we view ourselves and others. Social media has helped me learn life skills that school cannot teach me, but you must have a strong mind for social media not to have a negative effect on you.
Learning from social media is extremely fast paced. With every swipe down the screen, you are obtaining more information. This way of learning has helped me to read faster and learn at a faster pace. To keep up with the constant flow of information, reading quickly and trying to learn as much as possible in a short amount of time is necessary to keep up with the pace. Social media has also helped me process information at a faster rate which is necessary as I have progressed through school and have had increasingly difficult classes.
Although on the downside, this way of learning has lowered my comprehension skills and shortened my attention span at school. At the pace that social media flows, it is almost impossible to comprehend as much information as is being presented. Social media is like instant gratification where we can find whatever we are searching for in an instant. It usually does not take more than a minute to read a post or watch a video on social media. The quickness of this has led me to struggle when I am trying to be mentally engaged throughout an hour-long lecture.
Nowadays, social media seems to capture the attention of students better than a teacher or professor can. Students often learn about news events from social media. Health and fitness also have a big platform on social media. Being a healthy person is not something that is really taught in school, and it is important for students to learn that to live a long and productive life. Learning about important subjects in everyday life often is better taught by social media than by a teacher.
Not everything that is posted on social media is true. That may seem obvious to an adult, but children usually believe everything they hear until they are told differently. This makes social media dangerous when young students can access it. It is possible that what they learn on social media contradicts what is taught in schools. This means that teachers not only have to teach what is true but also correct what students have learned on social media.
Social media has had an impact on the way humans learn that is difficult to even realize as we are experiencing the effects every day. Social media has helped me to become a faster reader and obtain more information at a quicker speed. Unfortunately, it has also lowered my attention span and comprehension skills. Social media presents important information about everyday life that will help students succeed after college, but students have to be able to tell what information is true and what is false. Social media can be a great tool for learning if it is used the right way.