Students of the present times are very lucky because they have the Internet. The internet affects many aspects of their life such as study, communication, work and so on. Using the internet for accessing social media sites, search engines and website is becoming very popular over the world.
Social media and Search Engines
The internet is such a knife which has 2 different sides(positive and negative effects). Both of them have important influence on every student in many aspects. Some benefits students can get from the Internet can be shown as below:
- Getting updated information: The internet helps students to get updated information: By using the Internet to support learning process, students can access a large amount of information fast. In the past, students usually rely on books or libraries to access information. Nowadays, students can access information by using search engines like Google, Bing to get the relevant information that they need. Can you imagine how much of time you save with using of the Internet? This surely will help you to save time for getting updated information. The internet technology has changed the way students access information and gain knowledge.
- Maintaining communication without direct meeting: By using the internet, students can access social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, communication apps like Skype or using email to communicate with others. If you are a student, you can communicate with lectures outside class to get more information about lessons. You can also connect with friends for sharing knowledge or chatting with them. The internet helps students to communicate easier and faster, supporting for both their learning and social life.
- Creating opportunities for jobs: More and more students use the internet to search job, especially part-time jobs. Many employers post recruitment information on the internet and students can access these information easily and quickly. As a result, they can find a suitable work for them to enhance their experience and earn money. The internet also offer to them chances to work online. They can stay at home and do their job through using computers which are connected with the internet. By this way, students can save costs such as transportation and use time more flexible.
Besides, the internet also has some negative effects on students. Some main negative effects which can be listed as below:
- Distraction: We cannot deny that the internet helps students so much in finding information and communication. However, spending too much of time on the internet leads to distraction. For example, students can spend 8 hours per day on Facebook or any game online for entertainment. Can we imagine how much of time they waste of? It is too much time for using the internet with the purpose of entertainment.
The internet can distract students from their study and other activities. This adversely affects their academic performance and makes them be more passive in outdoor activities.
- Negative effect on face-to-face communication: Using social media and other communication apps to communicate is becoming more and more popular in students. The internet can make communication faster and easier. On the other hand, students tend to hesitate or rather shy away from talking to anybody face –to- face.
In the long term, their communication skill will be affected negatively because overusing of the internet for communication. The advice is that students should be more active in face- to- face communication and just use the internet if it is necessary.
The impact of the internet on students is becoming a popular issue in the modern society. The internet is necessary for study, entertainment and social life of students over the world. However, it affects students both in positive and negative ways. This article has pointed out some benefits and drawbacks that the internet brings to students. The question is that how to use the internet effectively in order to support for their life and avoid of depending too much time on the internet? In order to do that, family and school should educate them to avoid of overusing of the internet. It is also the time for every student to think about the way to use the internet effectively to maximize benefits from it and reduce negative effects on their life.