A genre refers to a set of activities that communicate to the audience or viewers. The rationale of which is defined by the purpose of the genre. This rationale gives the genre its impact and affects the content of the genre. Social media comprises modern technologies that allow making and distribution of content and innovations and other forms of communications through a network or personal accounts computer being the basic technology used. College students use social media to communicate and socialize and to get latest information circulating. Some of the commonly used social media platforms are Facebook, twitter, Skype and telegram. Students are able to plan their work, discuss home works, and class assignment through the messaging media. Use of social media allows student to voice their opinions.
Social media has widely replaced the old ways of getting information and news. Consumption of news has vastly moved online which makes information easier to find and share. It also provides variety and allows for longer periods to view the information. Low costs of social media give it wider usage over traditional media. Social media is easy to use and allows for improvement over traditional media. Social media empowers student because of the wide variety of information as it gives a platform for communicating and sharing contents for example it empowers clothing designs and tastes as it changes others opinions. Empowering could be positive or negative due to the permanent nature of posted information on social media. Student and teachers are empowered by being able to share content in many ways across the world and this widens the scope of available information to learn from and share amongst the students and even the parents.
The information on social media can be misleading and false or even misinterpreted because it spreads information very fast at times without editing. Lot of false information has found its way into the social media platforms for example a student can cause panic within the institution about a terror attack by posting distorted and misleading information. Online rumors spread so fast on social media as people tend to believe them for example a rumor about a scientific invention can go viral and mislead people.
Excessive use of social media affects both mental and physical health of students because it’s addictive and you can easily become a victim of the power of social networking. Social media addiction has been known to cause anxiety and depression and at times leads to cyber bullying which affects physical and mental health of students. Some online attacks have caused permanent damage on students others even resorting to end their lives as a result of bullying and harassments Because nobody wants to be left back the anxiety rises as students tend to feel they are missing out on information and this affects their mental health. Increased use of social media has been proven to have effect on sleeping patterns which eventually causes physical fatigue and migraines and these impacts on students’ performance and general well-being.
Harassments and abuse are common in social media platforms this cuts across the gender. We should not however take blames for harassment and abuse to avoid continuity report and block harassers. Social media users should be educated on the problems that come with social media use and advice on safe use of social media.
Works cited
Bertot, John C., Paul T. Jaeger, and Justin M. Grimes. “Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies.” Government information quarterly 27.3 (2010): 264-271.
Ellison, Nicole B., Charles Steinfield, and Cliff Lampe. “The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites.” Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication 12.4 (2007): 1143-1168.
Sutton, Jeannette N., Leysia Palen, and Irina Shklovski. Backchannels on the front lines: Emergency uses of social media in the 2007 Southern California Wildfires. University of Colorado, 2008.