Today, I will be looking at how our obsession with social media has become a huge distraction. There’s no denying it, most of us (myself included) are distracted by our social networking accounts. Whether we be at home, at School, at Uni, at work, or even just out with friends, we somehow manage to become so absorbed in our accounts that we divert attention away from our daily lives. It’s almost like social media attracts us by it’s somewhat addictive force.
Experts are the first to claim that by social media being such a distraction, it causes us to become addicted. We are so attracted to this distraction that we don’t even realise the impact it’s having. Think about it, have you ever had a glance at Facebook during class, pulled up your twitter feed on the computer at work, or even taken a photo with your friends and immediately posted it to Instagram? I think I know the answer. Don’t worry, I have too at some point or another!
However, it’s one thing doing all of these, but when you begin to lose track of what’s going on and you fail to live up to all that daily life demands, then it’s an entirely different story.
Distraction from Education
Students are thought to be at the core of the social media issue. According to Dian Schaffhauser in her Campus Technology article, one fifth of students’ class time is spent using their devices. With this in mind, 70% of students also admit that social media is the biggest distraction. One fifth may seem quite a small number at first, but let’s put this into perspective. Based on his University study in America, Professor Barney McCoy claims:
“During the typical four years they’re in college classrooms, the average student may be distracted for two-thirds of a school year”.
Considering many of us are paying to study, this is a lot of time and money to waste! Even though this study is American, it also applies to UK Students who are “most distracted by social media” as revealed by a Global survey in a Telegraph article.
Many students (like myself) use social media for enjoyment. But currently, many of us seem use it to procrastinate or to look at during assignments when bordem strikes. This all seems good and fine. But when social media addictions cause quality of work and grades to drop, it becomes a real problem. It means that it distracts students so much that they can’t keep up with the requirements of daily life at Uni. It’s something we should all think about, whether we’re students (of all ages), or parents.
Distracted in the Workplace
For some of us in proper jobs, technology may be an important part of the job description. Don’t get me wrong, in many ways this can be great. But, it is important to stress the fact that there’s a major downside. Chad Brooks’s article states that “smartphones, the Internet and Social Media” are among the worst “workplace productivity killers”.
Like students, addiction to things like social media and the internet can cause a loss in work quality and failure to meet deadlines. For workers, this may also strain “boss/ employee relationships” (Chad Brooks). At work, employees are expected to work at a professional standard. Terrie Campbell claims that “indulging in tech distractions” blurs the “boundary between an employee’s work and personal life”. However, many employees continue to surrender to their social media obsession. This is an increasing problem.
In extreme cases, the level of distraction that addiction brings can drive people into social isolation. This can escalate, so much so, that they don’t even turn up to work. This is another example of how some people push life aside in order to satisfy their addictions. It may not seem serious, but being fired is definitely something to be cautious of.
I hope I’ve helped to outline this issue and show just how this kind of distraction is impacting our lives. Stay tuned to find out more about the effects of social media addiction, specifically in terms of physical and mental health.
Leave a Reply