THE ADDICTIVE NATURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

By Japhet Ruto

Referring to Isaac Meso's article "Half-baked graduates who is to blame?", it is my opinion that social media is to blame for being too addictive. Most university students can't do without it. The desire to text frequently, tweet, Facebook, among other social networking activities is higher than that of the desire to take alcohol or smoke cigarettes in a day. According to my observation from a sample campus population, about 90 per cent of the student population access the Internet daily. 

We are in a digital world and communication has been made easier these days. However, our ability to think is now driven by social media such that if we were to be disconnected from it for a day some of us may fall sick. We no longer read widely, we use Google whenever we have assignments.

The reason behind most university students using 'mwaks' is attached to social media. We spend most of our time on Twitter, WhatsApp, 2go and other social networking sites instead of taking time to concentrate on academic work. I can firmly say that social media has deprived us of our talents. We can't go to the field to play because we are stuck to our phones. The essence of social media is to make communication easier, not to create laziness among us. Remember, no employer in the job market will recruit you based on the time you access social media sites.