ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE CITY
Social Media & Urban Education
Introduction
The true definition of social media? People do not really know the true meaning of social media. The reason why is because people only know that social media are application on our cell phones to entertain us. Social media true definition is “collective of communication channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration” Social media is basically a style of communication by many different application that you can download to your cell phones from the app store. Some social media application that are mostly used are Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, google+, YouTube, and so many more.
Don’t know what they are? Allow me to tell you about a few of them.
Don’t know what they are? Allow me to tell you about a few of them.
Facebook is one of the many popular apps that provides free social networking websites that allows register users to create a profile, uploads photos and videos, send messages to friends and family, keeping in touch with them and being able to meet new people online. Also can play games with your friends as well.
Instagram is an app that allows everyone to photo share with their friends and family online. Post a picture of whatever you like and you will get likes from family or friends and will also receive comment about your picture.
YouTube is another app that have over millions of videos of literally anything. YouTube has so many videos that can make you laugh, cry, dance, and so much more.
However, before social media became such a huge hit, people all over the world would communicate to one another, face to face, not by emails, FaceTime or text messages. Education were being taken seriously by children by studying for spelling bees and memorizing their 1,2,3’s. Studying for any quiz was not so bad if there were good notes and understood all the information that was given. The effort towards education were taken more seriously than it is today, especially the younger children. This contribution suggests that social media has a huge impact towards students in school in a positive way but mostly in a negative way towards their education.
Pros of Social Media towards Education
Social Media had changed the world of Education. The uses of paper are decreasing, meaning that forests are not being destroyed so much as it was before for the need of paper. Every class subjects that were written into textbooks are now available online, in our laptops, iPad, cell phones and tablets. The media and the internet had changed the style of Education by using programs online for students to use to complete their work for class. Also, instead of writing the work down into a piece of paper with a pen or pencils, just type the work down on Google Docs, or Microsoft Word document and print it out for class. Students now do not need to waste money on buying books or renting books anymore. Thanks to the internet, all the information the students needs are available online and it's free and EASY. Social Media is good for students because they can stay in contact with their friends. Students can call or FaceTime their friends and help each other with school work or with a project. Social Media allows students to keep up with school as well. For example, if a student is not able to go to school due to a certain situation, they are able to check on their school program or website to see what notes were given that day and what homework the teacher gave that day. There are no more excuses for students to not get their homework done or complaining about what work they are missing. The internet is not only great for students but for teachers as well. Teachers are able to upload their notes for the whole school years to all their students. Teachers also can learn new ways to make their lesson more interesting and fun for the students. Teachers can learn new skills to improve on their teaching as well. There are so many great impact social media has towards today's education system. However, people does not see the negative impact social media causes towards children Education.
The Climate
Having Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat is fun to have because you get to meet new people, post funny pictures and conversant with your friends and family. But sometimes, people uses social media in a negative way and abuses it.
Social Media had changed people mind set in a whole different kind of level. Before social media existed, people went to school to get an education and a career. People would not be on their cell phones 24/7 in class or at work. Social Media had changed people life style. Today, people only care about...
- what is trending on social media.
- what is going on in other people lives.
- how does the media want them to appear as.
- judging everything and everyone.
Social Media has a huge negative impact towards kids and their education. At the age of 7, children would already own a cellphone or an Ipad. Parents nowadays give their children a cell phone to distracted them while going shopping or visiting family. However, parents does not see how bad having a cell phone can impact a child mindset. Children would stay up late on a school day playing games on their cell phone and when it is time to go to school in the morning, the kids would be cranky and does not want to go to school. As children start to grow up over time, their mindset and behavior start to change due to the impact of having a cell phone.
Did you know that 80% of teenagers on social media are getting cyber bullied? It may seem that social media is fun to use but not everyone enjoys it as much as you think they do. Children and teenagers get cyber bullied every single day on social media about their looks, weight, personality, expressed emotions, popularly and so much more. Cyber bullying is one reason why many students does not want go to school. Those victims start to think negative about themselves and get depressed. Due to depression, students start to harm themselves and hide it from their parents and friends. They start to believe that their life are not worth living and it is sad because people does not see how bad social media can cause so much pain to young children and teenagers. Cyber bullying is not the only negative impact social media has on children. Another negative impact is that children are not developing the life skills you need for your everyday life. Social Media keeps them from developing intellectually and social skills. Children and teenagers be on their cell phone so much that they do not even read books anymore. Reading books helps children learn new words and help their brain grow and being able to learn new words faster, depending on how much you read. Another negative impact social media has is the change in character. What that means is that there are kids and teenage who acts one way in school and act another way in social media. Most of the time is in a bad way because due to that change in character, they become a main course of spreading rumors about whoever they saw on social media, bringing people self-esteem low, and exposing people secrets to the world. Another example of a negative impact of social media is how important social media mean to so much people. So many people on social media care about how many people follow them, how many likes they got on their pictures and try to become social media famous. People take it social media so serious that they do not go to school or take school seriously. Social media had impacted people life style in such a negative way that people try to avoid it. There are so many negative impacts that people would be so surprise on how much social media can affect people lives in such a negative way. It is time to make a change towards social media.
I did an interview with a young teenage girl who goes to college. I asked her a few question about social media and its impact towards education. Her answers were very similar to the information I had gathered. However, she told me a personal story that she would want to me share with everyone. She has a little cousin who is 7 years old. Her cousin only cares about playing games on her tablet and watching YouTube videos. The little girl does not know nor like to read books, she does not go to school and she does not pay attention to her mother or anything around her. Her cousin is very disrespectful. She is a lost little girl in a social media mindset. It is her cousin mother fault because if she did not give her cousin a tablet, her behavior at home and at school would have been completely different. It is very difficult for parents to talk to their kids about what is right and and wrong.
CONCLUSION
The effect of social media had changed the world. Years ago, people did not have cell phones nor social media to talk to their families and friends. People would communicate with on another face to face about anything. Talking to someone face to face about anything is so rare nowadays because all people want to do is text all day. You do not really meet or know the person if you text them all day and not hang out with them. Social media had become such a huge impact in this world that social media is a need instead of a want. People need to have to social media, it not an option anymore. That is why many kids are not doing well in school. They believe that if you don't have social media or a cell phone, then you will get bullied and judged for not having it. A change need to be made where parents need to learn that giving their kids tablets and cell phone at such a young age is not good for them. People need to understand that kids education are more important than being famous. But we all know that social media will only keep growing and keep developing.
WORK CITED
- “What is social media? - Definition from WhatIs.Com.” WhatIs.com, whatis.techtarget.com/definition/social-media.
- “The 10 Best and Worst Ways Social Media Impacts Education.” Edudemic, www.edudemic.com/social-media-education/.
- Personal information
- Interview information