What are the disadvantages of social media in education

Social media is an important educational tool which enriches the learning experience by allowing students and teachers to connect and interact with each other in new ways. We covered this in our article What are the benefits of social media for youth?. However, the use of social media in education also has its disadvantages.

as well because students can get distracted and start using social media for purposes other than those related to education and not pay attention to educational content. Distraction is going to happen to a certain extent, and there is not a lot the faculty member can do to prevent it. The key is to explain to the students that faculty members use social media as an educational resource, and they need to stay focused on those tasks during classroom participation.

Other disadvantages of social networks in education:

Distractions and poor self-regulation

As the Internet and social media is a hypermedia environment, it’s not surprising that students may get distracted by non-academic content. Yet, this could be an opportunity to train students’ self regulation – the ability to manage distractions and the need for instant gratification.

Notwithstanding the fact that distractions can occur when using social media for learning, educators can do their best to steer students towards good habits and practices and reap the benefits that social media offers.

With massive amounts of content on social media, educators may find it hard to manage and regulate students’ activities. No doubt, it would be hard for them to go through all posts and comments made by students.

It can be an interruption

It is the biggest disadvantage of using social media in the classroom that can distract students from their studies. Social media networks like Facebook can turn students’ attention away from what is happening in the class and it affects the learning process.

Cyberbullying

At one side, social media offers a great way for students and teachers to connect, on the other side; they can be a tool of malicious behaviour. Social media makes it easier for students to abuse or bully their peers or even their teachers.

Posting unsuitable content on social media

This is one of the major reasons social media is not permitted in schools because it is very challenging to keep an eye on how students use social media.  A student can post unsuitable content which would be distracting and harmful to other students.

Lack of face-to-face communication

Some educators are worried that although real-time online stream creates a safe way for learners to express themselves yet, students are missing valuable lessons in real-life skills. For development of personal relationships and social life, students need to be efficiently expressing themselves and meeting with others in person.

For students who do prefer to interact with people on social media to clarify their study-related doubts. Some studies have found that this affects them in a way that they are not able to socialize with people they meet in person and may begin avoiding face-to-face communication altogether.

Additionally students that get used to looking for information on social media may find that they lose learning abilities to solve queries manually through different thought processes.