Challenges University Students Face from Widespread Use of Social Media - Research Proposal Example

Because of its widespread use, social media should be taught as topics in the common courses. Doing so will make students to appreciate the benefits of social Media as well as to be knowledgeable on disadvantages of its overuse and the criminal activities it attracts like terrorism, cyber bullying, scamming, blackmail, among others.

Conducting thorough orientation of new students on social Media

It is highly possible that most universities focus on old and routine areas when orientating their new students forgetting that social media can affect the health of students, cause suicide or promote activities of terror groups, which are major concerns of any university. The university should identify social Media as a significant factor in the lives of students and should be informed on what to and what not to use it for and repercussion of using it for wrong things.

Guidance and counseling personnel should become more alert on social media related challenges

Guidance and counseling offices exist to lead students and staff to find solutions to their life problems. They therefore need to research further on social media and its wider impact on the lives of students, academic or otherwise, so they can design proper approaches to deal with it. The counseling can also help administration discover use of social media by students in promoting criminal activities, among them terrorism and soliciting funds from unsuspecting victims.

Selection of the best strategy

Formulating or strengthening policies to address social media related challenges is the best strategy to deal with social media problems faced by students. This is because a policy provides a formal and official way to handle almost all the above challenges. A single policy can provide ways of dealing with the spread of wrong information, spread of hate speech, cyber bulling, scamming, blackmails, promotion of terror groups, examination cheating, invasion of one’s privacy among others. A policy also assigns an officer to be responsible for an action so that in case a challenge becomes common the officer will be held accountable. A policy can provide legal backing in dealing with social media problems and this puts an organization on safe side in the face of law.

Implementation of the best strategy

In adopting a strategy of formulating and implementing a policy to handle social media challenges, a thorough research should be conducted to identify all the challenges. The policy should define the challenges adequately and establish the scope. The policy should consider the social, economic and legal implications of the suggested remedies for the challenges. Proper communication of the policy should be made to students and staff and the policy should be easily accessible online. The staff expected to implement the policy should be made aware of their roles and if possible their input should be considered when the policy is still being developed. These staffs are drawn from offices of security, ICT, dean of students, registrar, and guidance and counseling.

Conclusion

This report agrees with the findings and conclusions of many scholars who have recognized the benefits of social media to organizations and individual users. The report appreciates the benefits that universities and their students draw from social media, especially in supporting learning activities. However, many students and thus their universities suffer in silence due to the many challenges associated with the widespread use of social media. It is about time universities approached these challenges with courage and identify the best way to deal with them. A carefully formulated policy will provide a powerful weapon to deal with these challenges and provide a conducive environment in which every student and staff feels safe to use social media.