Maurisha Shelton

Dr. Anthony
English 1000
October 4, 2016
Does Social Media affect you?
In this paper I will discuss the impact of social media on students, I also will be using two
articles. The first article is " The impact of social media on the academic performance of second
year medical students at College of Medicine, University of Babylon, Iraq by: Ahmed Tawfeeq
Alahmar. Alahmar arguments is that social media is a negative effect on students grades and
studying. The second article is "Student Awareness of the use of social media screening by
Prospective Employers By: Terri Root and Sandra McKay. Their argument is that social media
can be a big access of getting a job, so many employers look at these social media sites and thats
why few people get jobs. Social media can have an effect on students ability to do work and get
a job.
In the "Impact of social media on the academic performance of second year Medical
Students at college of Medicine, University, the author discuss how social media is a negative
impact on students but the students disagrees. The students believe that social do not have no
effect on their academics. The students are saying it keeps them update Killing spare time,
studying in groups on Facebook messenger, news, fashion, and styles, and sports (Alahmar 80).
According to the Alahmar studies show that social media does have effect on students, and their
academics. Study reported that excessive use of social media ultimately lead to gradual decrease
in students grades"(Alahmar 78). Student spends more time on social media than studying.
"Major concern for professor and parents is the excessive time spent on Facebook or other social
media at the expense of completing their academic tasks (Alahmar 78). Myself being a

teenager in school I can agree to what the author is saying about social media. I can agree
because social media is a big distract, I can be doing homework, and I see a notification from
Facebook or any website pop up on my phone or tablet, I would stop doing my work and engage
into that notification. Social media can also have effect on student communication. Social media
also bring down communication and distance barriers and allow real time conversations and
interaction (Alahmar 77). You can meet numerous of different of people on social media, but
thats the only time you will talk to them is when you are online. There are less face to face
communication nowadays because of social media.
In the Student Awareness of the use of Social Media Screening by Prospective
Employers" the author discuss that jobs are using social media to select people. According to the
Root, and McKay "companies are not only using social networks to market their companies and
brands, but also are using social networks as a tool in their employee recruitment, screening and
selection progresses. When student get on social media, and post things they do not think about
who would look at the stuff they are posting would be important to employers. The reasons why
hiring managers look at social media pages because "to see if the candidate presents him or
herself professionally, to see if the candidate is a good fit for the company culture, to learn about
the candidate qualifications, and to see if the candidate is well rounded"(Root, McKay 203).
Managers do not want to hire a person whom always posting things like drugs, alcohol, sex,
profanity and negative comments, because you are reflecting them.
I agree with everything that the author was saying in this article because, I remember my
senior year of high school, and I was in a JCG program, and there were two men that were
coming to talk to us. They were telling us that we need to watch what we post on social media
because we do not know who are watching us. They showed us a picture of a woman that post a

picture on Instagram, she were smoking, and she looked drunk, and her caption was "White girl
wasted". As we observed the picture they asked us did she look like a Middle school teacher we
all said no. Thats when they said well she is, and she was fired from her job, because a student
mother in her class saw this picture, and reported her. So, they told us when we post things
online think "would this effect anyone or me", "would I say this in front of my mother and
grandmother", and lastly " Is it negative or positive". I took what they said into consideration
because it was so good advice.
In these two articles I choose the authors have certain things in common like social media
and its effect on students. The authors feels that social media is a negative thing. Also the authors
express that social media can be a downfall for students to be successfully, and receiving
opportunities like getting a good job because they are wasting their time on social media. The
difference that they have is one author is stating about students academics and the other author
are talking about employment.
From reading these articles, I thought to myself be social media really that important.
Does it benefit me in a way? I took away some important points from both authors. One thing I
took from Ahmed Tawfeeq Alahmar, is social media will always be there, and having an
education will take me places that social media wouldn't. Social media is not that important. One
thing I learned from Teri Root, and Sandra McKay, is I need to watch what I post because it can
be a lot of consequence that comes with it.

Writing Response Journal

I think I did well at including personal experiences, and having explicit details. I had
problems with my conclusion, I think my conclusion is not strong enough. I met the

requirements it was just the conclusion part for me in this assignment. I didnt create an
outline for this paper. I used the handout and that had the block method and point method
to guide me through this paper. I wrote down some key points that I need to hit in this
paper. I didnt visit the writing center, but I did use my friends for some help. I wrote this
paper in class, at home and in the computer lab. I believe it went really well. This paper
was kind of in between easy and difficult because it took me a longer time to come up
with something to discuss. I listen to music from here and there. No I didn't pull an allnighter.

Works Cited
Alahmar Tawfeeq Ahmend. The impact of social media on the academic performance of second
year medical students at College of Medicine, University of Babylon, Iraq". Journal of
Medical and Allied Sciences, Vol 6, No.2, July 27, 2016, pp.77-83
Root Terri and McKay Sandra. "Students Awareness of the use of Social Media Screening by
Prospective employers". Journal of Education for business, vol 89, 2014 pp.202-206.