Social media ‘ruining students’ study time’
SOCIAL media are undermining teenagers’ chances of exam success as students are glued to phones and tablets while studying, the author of a popular study guide has said.
Kevin Flanagan said that just one glance at Facebook or other social media sites while studying could interrupt an entire study session.
He said: ‘It’s called Attention Residue – when a study period is interrupted by a text or message, part of a teenager’s attention remains fixed on the message they have just read.
‘They cannot immediately get back to study as part of their brain is now occupied with the information they have just received.’
Mr Flanagan also said this could-lead to the Zeigarnik Effect – when people have intrusive thoughts and struggle to complete tasks.
He said: ‘It’s not just teenagers studying for exams who expose themselves. We have all done it.
‘You are enjoying a relaxing weekend when, against better judgment, you check your email only to find a work colleague unfairly blaming you for a bad job. Despite your best efforts, the news occupies your mind and can effectively wreck the rest of your weekend.
‘When I first wrote Maximum Points, Minimum Panic, smartphones and social media had not taken a stranglehold on our teenagers lives.’
Parentline’s Rita O’Reilly said yesterday: ‘ We’ve had feedback from parents who say their children wake up in the morning and the first thing they do is look at their phone, and then last thing at night they’re exhausted and still on their phones.’
She added: ‘ Talking to them is really the only thing you can do. Explain to them the damage and the danger.
Mr Flanagan offers a new online course on preparing for exams at examstudyplus.com.
WHEN it comes to social media, we are all aware of its inherent dangers, while at the same time appreciating the huge positives that such communication systems have brought to our personal and working lives.
Some of the dangers have potential for serious harm. For example, we have seen far too often the tragic outcomes of online bullying in relation to vulnerable teenagers in our own society and across the world.
But it seems that social media is also detrimental to our teens when it comes to studying and therefore to their ability to pass important exams.
Constant texting, checking Facebook, watching the latest YouTube sensation – all of these are time-consuming and a big distraction from the task in hand.
As outlined by expert Kevin Flanagan elsewhere in this newspaper, a teenager’s ability to concentrate in a study-focused environment is seriously compromised by the minute-by-minute interruptions and distractions from the likes of Facebook, Snapchat, and other social media sites.
Such a situation is undoubtedly having a negative effect and parents must become more aware of, and involved in countering, such effects.
As Parentline’s Rita O’Reilly said yesterday, talking to our teenagers about this is crucial. They must be made aware of the potential damage of such activity during study time – before it is too late.