Final answer:
Social media can have both positive and negative impacts on students. On the plus side, it promotes social and political participation, enhances learning and contributes to social capital production. However, it's unregulated nature can also foster the spread of misinformation and cause social isolation.
Step-by-step explanation:
The topic of social media’s influence on students is multifaceted. Positive impacts of social media on students include cultivating social and political participation, supporting information recall and short-term learning, as well as creating social capital. Yet, these positive effects do not eliminate its negatives. The unregulated nature of social media platforms can lead to the propagation of misinformation and the ubiquity of these platforms might lead to excessive use, potentially contributing to problems like social isolation, stress, or unhealthy comparison with others.
Research with university students from the United States, Australia, and Britain showed that these students were aware of how to use social media effectively, understanding both its practical value and its limitations. Social media platforms also provided a significant sphere for political messaging, discussions, and even organization of political movements. For instance, during the Arab Spring, social media played a crucial role in organizing wide-scale protests against various governments across the Middle East and North Africa.
Moreover, social media has a role in producing social capital. According to a study done by researchers from the University of Salamanca and Penn State University, a positive correlation was found between seeking information via social networking sites and social capital production, along with civic and political participatory behaviors.
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