Psychologists, experts and psychologists have agreed on the negative impact of six platforms in the social media, in the knowledge achievement of students. These platforms include “Instagram, Tik Talk, Snapchat, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Descord.”
They assured the Emirates Today that there are great risks to these platforms on students ’behavior and academic progress, and they called for the concerted efforts of the family, the school and society to protect children from the addiction of those platforms, which they described as” the enemy of learning. “
Students stated that the excessive use of these digital platforms negatively affects the academic achievement of their children, increases their social isolation, and influences the inappropriate content, stressing the difficulty of imposing controls due to the adoption of educational and recreational activities on digital devices.
On the other hand, students consider them an essential part of their daily lives, as it helps them to communicate with friends and express themselves, while some of them rely on them as a major source of news. Despite the impact of its excessive use in their study, they see it as a necessary tool for social interaction and survival in contact with the world, but they also saw that she feels lonely and dissatisfied after spending long times on it.
“Emirates Today” spoke to a group of students about their experience with “media outlets”, and a secondary school student Ahmed Al -Khatib said: “I spend long hours a day on applications such as Instagram and Tik Talk, but in the end I feel lonely, as digital relations do not dispense with friendships The real ».
As for the university students, Nora Ali, Laila Murad and Siham Abdullah, they said: “Social media has become a source of psychological pressure, as we always feel in need to keep up with what others publish, which makes us feel dissatisfied with our lives.”
He added: “We share the publications with the aim of obtaining likes only, and when we lack adequate interaction, we are frustrated as if we are not visible.” He pointed out that they depend on these platforms to communicate with friends, but they realize that real relationships require more time and effort than the screens.
The parents of the students, Maryam Abdel Mohsen, Khaled Hussein, Hind Al -Sayed, Mahra Hamdan, Abdullah Al -Balushi and Mr. Youssef, expressed their concern, saying: “Our children are spending most of the time on their phones, until we have been missing the family dialogues that were gathering us, as these platforms made the children in a state Permanent isolation, as if they were living in a world completely different from our world. ”
They added: «There are influential positions in the lives of our children because of the perseverance to follow these platforms, the most prominent of which are their exposure to electronic bullying, which caused their introverted at home, their constant feeling of impotence, and their inability to keep pace with the achievements of their colleagues on the means of communication, which takes them to dispersion and lack of self -confidence. .
Meanwhile, the teachers, Jamal Mohy El -Din, Mona Alwan, Sameh Ahmed and Siham Abdul Rahman, said: “We teachers are trying to enhance awareness among students of the importance of the balance between the virtual and real world, as we organize awareness workshops to explain how to use social media in a constructive way.”
They added: “We have noticed that students who spend longer on social media, especially (Facebook, Tik Talk, Snapchat and YouTube) are the most dispersed and less concentrated, less in academic and cognitive achievement, as well as their academic progress, as they are considered the least participating in sports activities And social, so we are trying to involve them in programs and activities that encourage them to interact face to face. ”
Iman Fouad’s mental and mental health advisor summarized the effects of those platforms on learners in various education seminars, in three directions, most notably the increase in dispersion, as the continuous notifications and attractive content on social media, including WhatsApp, Instagram and Descord, cause a great dispersion for students during the study, especially Those who spend more time on phones, which affects the quality of academic achievement, increases the postponement of academic tasks and the humility of the cognitive level.
She added: “Therefore, they have psychological and emotional effects due to the excessive use of these platforms, which increases their feeling of anxiety, tension, and isolation, all of which are factors that reduce academic focus, as well as sleep deprivation, as a result of using phones at night, which leads to a decrease in energy and focus on the school day ».
She said: “The more teachers and parents can understand the students better, the more effectively enable them to enable them to move in their social world to enhance their well -being and create influential educational environments.”
She highlighted the necessity of directing teachers and parents to the importance of enabling students to learn how to discover misleading information, and the sources of biased news, by exploiting devices settings, such as focus and lack of inconvenience, as well as applications such as the feature of determining the screen time in “Tech Talk”, to achieve the optimal balance and management Digital dispersal factors, and called for encouraging children to express their personal essence, reflecting their values, identity and interests in their digital behavior.
She stated that the role of the family in protection is based on determining the time of the screen and continuous control, following up the quality of applications and open communication content and encouraging alternative activities.
While the role of the school is to raise awareness and include digital awareness in the curricula and organize workshops for students and parents to clarify the effect of technology in mental and behavioral health.
Society must launch awareness campaigns and enhance legislation to restrict inappropriate content, ensure the safety of applications for children, as well as encouraging national initiatives, to provide safe and useful entertainment platforms.
She said: «As long as technology is an essential part of the lives of children in the modern era, the responsibility of the family, school and society remains a guarantee of safe use, and everyone must work together to protect children from the risks of recreational applications, and direct them towards a future that balances entertainment and learning.
“Although platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Tik Talk, Snapchat and Discard may be socially beneficial, in terms of communication and exchanging cultures between students, the non -committed use of them negatively affects students’ achievement and academic progress ».
She stated that these platforms are based on algorithms designed to attract the attention of users for the longest possible period, which impedes students’ focus on their studies.
She explained that the continuous movement between applications, watching short videos, and interacting with posts, weakens the brain’s ability to focus for long periods, which reflects negatively on the absorption of lessons and the completion of duties. She added that these platforms contribute greatly to learners’ addiction to rapid content and postpone study tasks; Especially since most students spend long hours browsing “Tek Tok” and “Instagram”, or watching YouTube clips, which leads to procrastination and postponing the completion of academic duties, instead of investing time in preparing for tests or completing projects, they find themselves stuck in a whirlpool From constant entertainment.
Hope window
The principals of a number of public and private schools stressed that “cooperation between the family and the school is the window of hope that enables them to curb children’s addiction to social media platforms and their content, as well as organizing periodic meetings with parents to discuss how to monitor their children’s use of these platforms, with transparency and clarity.”
Schools are a starting point
“Schools should be the starting point to raise awareness of the dangers of social media,” said a social worker in a school, Nesma Mohamed. We are working to provide psychological support to students who show signs of isolation or tension due to electronic interactions. ”
Enhanced study
A recent study prepared by the Institute of Family Safety via the Internet, which specializes in social and psychological research, based in Washington, showed that 75% of students depend on (Instagram, Tik Talk, Snapchat, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Descord) as a source of news, which increases their exposure For dispersion and transition between multiple sources without focusing on the study.
The study showed that 64% of students see that their accounts on these platforms reflect their true identity, and the majority of students of the third to the twelfth see that they contribute to developing their relationships, positively affect their society, explore hobbies and interests, and eliminate unity.
The study showed that half of the seventh graders suffer from pressure to respond to text messages within 10 minutes or less, which negatively affects their ability to focus on their tasks.
• Warnings of psychological and emotional effects due to the excessive use of these platforms, the most prominent of which is the increasing feeling of anxiety, tension, and isolation.
Experts:
• The safe use of “platforms” is a shared responsibility between the family and the school.
teachers:
• “Communication platforms” steals students ’time, increases dispersion, and hinders scientific progress.
Students:
• “Platforms” exposes our children to electronic bullying, and shake their self -confidence.
Students:
• We feel lonely and dissatisfied after spending long times on “social communication”.
