In the modern society, social media has become the most prevalent means of entertainment for children and teenagers. There are schools where phones and digital devices are banned from being used in classroom, while social media sites like facebook and twitter are blocked from the use on school computers. However, some schools have started to take a completely different approach to social networking. Specifically, some schools have introduced social networking into the educational system for a number of reasons. The current essay on social media will explain why schools have chosen such an approach. The following argumentative essay about social media will provide pros and cons of such strategy in order to understand how beneficial the new approach is for school students. Like all social media essays, the following essay about social media will examine the effects of social networking on students within the boundaries of the school environment. Similarly to some other existing essays on social media, the current social media essay represents an attempt to clarify whether it is advisable for all schools to introduce social networking into the educational process.

The topic of the social media argumentative essay provided below is limited to the impact of social media on the learning process. Therefore, the general impact of social networking on kids and teenagers is not emphasized in the current paper. The following argumentative essay on social media will start from examining the pros of using social networking in classroom.

                Pros:

• One of the positive sides of the social media introduction into the classroom environment is that social networks are likely to increase the level of cooperation between students. Through social networks, students can contact each other and consult on various educational projects, homework or groups assignments. Therefore, social networks prove to be beneficial for students as they encourage greater collaboration between students making their performance more productive and efficient.
• The use of social networking in the school environment is likely to result in greater level of participation among students. This is especially beneficial for those students who do not participate in classroom activities on a regular basis. Social networks help this category of students to express their ideas and thoughts. Although social media communication should not replace the participation of students completely, it might help to boost the students’ confidence for them to be able to take part in classroom activities.
• Another benefit of social networks is that they can be helpful when doing homework. If students have some concerns or questions regarding certain assignments, they can send a message through social networks and ask someone for help with much ease. Besides, students can express their doubts to the teachers on a wall, and other students will also see this message. This will allow the entire class to learn what their teacher has answered. In this way, all students will have a chance to have their questions answered without additional efforts.
• Social networks also help to share the required resources quickly and efficiently. This enhances the learning process and speeds up the sharing of information. If a teacher wants their students to have access to specific online resource, they can use social media websites like twitter to do so. When a teacher wants their students to access certain website, they can tweet this site and the whole class will be able to see it.
• Besides, social networking helps to contact parents and students using the same page. It is especially useful for teachers when they have to post some materials regarding homework, school events or classroom activities. This encourages the collaboration between teachers, students and parents so that all of the parties can learn what is currently going on at school. Such websites as facebook also help teachers to communicate with students and parents through text messaging without a need to send messages by telephone and wait for the call back.

Despite the positive effects of social networking in classroom on students and teachers, social media also has certain negative sides as will be analyzed below.

Cons:

• One of the negative sides of social networking in classroom is the fact that they can distract students from the learning process. This is the first concern regarding social media that comes to mind. Social networks appear to be the main distraction for children during the lesson. Students can be diverted from accomplishing the task and it might be difficult for teachers to make students pay attention to what is going on in the classroom.
• In some cases, social media sites are used inappropriately and for a wrong purpose. Students might try to take advantage of the easy access to social networks in classroom. Therefore, they might use social media sites for personal interactions with friends rather than use them for classroom activities. If students are not strictly supervised by the teachers, it will be quite hard to understand whether they use social media appropriately during the lessons.
• The use of social networking might detract students from face-to-face interaction with people. If students are stimulated to take part in classroom discussions through social media, it could have a negative impact on their interaction in the face-to-face circumstances. Students have to learn how to communicate with people even in today’s technology driven world.
• Besides, social networking in classroom is associated with a threat of cyber bullying. Certain students might suffer from cyber bullying because of social media sites. If it is allowed to use social networking in schools, it could increase the risk of cyber bullying so that some students would write abusing messages to other students causing harm to their educational experience and welfare.
• Finally, students might post improper content on various social media sites. This is one of the reasons why social media is not allowed in certain schools. It is difficult to keep track of how students use social networks. A student might post improper content including foul words or pornography which would be distracting and harmful to other students.

The above paper has shown that there are many negative and positive sides of social networking in classroom. So, should it be allowed in schools? The right answer would be that the use of social media should be strictly monitored by the teachers in order to ensure that social media sites are used only for educational purposes. This will guarantee protection of students from cyber bullying and inappropriate content that might be posted by some students on social media websites.

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