How Social Media Fuels School Violence: The Alarming Impact from Wihkum's blog

In the context of globalization today, social media has embraced our lives most especially the generation of the young ones. To most learners, Instagram, TikTok and snapchat are some of the most important tools they use in expressing themselves. Nevertheless, the increasing use of social media by students has become a worrying factor in this regard as regards whether it is facilitating escalation of anarchy and violence in school. On the plus side, such sites facilitate contact between people and thus interaction; however, on the negative side, these services open new possibilities for such vices as bullying, aggression and escalation of conflict between school students.

Perhaps one of the worst things social networks have brought us is being able to turn tiny arguments into huge ones. [Arising from the same source of disagreement] a simple disagreement in person can be escalated very easily when online. For instance, what starts as a fight tends to escalate to an online feud, in which a lot of people can comment, gossip, or support one side of the story. This is in comparison to face to face conflicts as once messages are posted on sites the information can circulate fast within the social circle of the first recipient, within the first hour, the recipient could have shared it with hundreds if not thousands of people.

This aspect of social media is very public and can lead to embarrassment, escalate hostility and expand the conflicts’ circle to encompass the students involved. The more “likes” and “shares” a conflict amasses, fewer chances many students have of stepping back as their fellow-students’ esteem appears to be involved. When such incidents happen, physical fights occur in school since the confrontation already started in cyberspace.

Pupils suffer from one of the most conspicuous types of social media, which is cyber bullying. Having to face bullying is wearisome enough, but with cyber methods, the perpetrators can get at the victims whenever and wherever they want. Cruel words, awkward pictures or deteriorating gossip can be posted in a moment, and it’s okay to remain anonymous. It is unfortunate that for most individuals, this cannot be done, as the assaults are often carried out cyber-physically through phones and computers.

In his research, we found that those learners who have been bullied through cyberspace are prone to developing feelings of isolation, anxiety, and depression. This type of bullying has been stated to have got to the extent where students aggravated to the extent of committing suicide or even attack people in school. The effects of cyberbullying are so damaging in the psychological deprivation of victims, and being carried out in the social realm may not have an easy solution.

In this case, social media has been criticized for promoting violence or in other ways supporting violent behavior. People tend to share videos of fights, confrontations, or aggressive actions on any platform the clips can go viral. For some students, this can mean FYP can perpetuate violence as not only acceptable, but desirable. If students receive threats they feel like reciprocating such a gesture in real life to be able to receive likes, positive comments among their peers.

Also, unhealthy tendencies are observed since some social media influencers, celebrities or content creators enable drops that justify violent conduct or performable hazardous stunts. Failure to monitor the content of such trends, youths can be misguided, have the perception that they have to engage in the Emerging Negative Adolescent Trends just to be associated with some group or attain certain status.

In this paper, there are recommendations for the schools, parents/communities on how to deal with the effects of social media on school violence. It is necessary to teach students about the use of social networks in a proper way. It is possible to have classes that students learn about the hazards of being sarcastic, arguing, or posting things dangerous on social media. Another way of addressing the challenge is to facilitate communication between student teachers, teachers and parents because once they realize we exist, challenges can easily be reported before they become bigger.

Further on, parents should oversee the use of social networks by their children, as well as address matters concerning proper conduct on the Internet. While it may not be feasible to completely lock out the student from these platforms it is hopeful that establishing on how to be responsible when handling these platforms greatly reduces chances of having conflict transform into real life aggression.

It is, therefore, impossible not to notice the role that social media plays in the incidence of and planning for school violence. It gives a platform for communication and expression and art but at the same time, it opens doors to features such as arguing and bullying. With the growth of students’ usage of these platforms, explaining and countering the impact of social media on school violence makes a lot of sense. Schools and communities should combine efforts to change or minimize the repulsive impacts of social media, holding a healthier environment, keeping young generation safe from such impacts.