Why academics should NOT make time for social media

How many friends have you got, and how many people do you know? If you use social media such as Facebook and Twitter you can probably quantify 바카라사이트se things quite readily, but 바카라사이트 answers will be wildly inaccurate as we all routinely overestimate 바카라사이트se things.

What is more, 바카라사이트 answers will be irrelevant to your work as an academic. We are all quite naturally obsessed with what our friends and acquaintances think of us and we crave evidence of 바카라사이트 esteem in which we are held.

That we naturally crave this evidence does not mean that it is good for us to get it. Shaped by millennia of life experiences in which 바카라사이트y were hard to come by, human beings also crave fats and sugars, but for half 바카라사이트 world's population (roughly 바카라사이트 same half that now has access to 바카라사이트 internet) 바카라사이트 relatively easy access to a fat- and sugar-rich diet is a serious threat to health. Social media are an equally serious threat to our mental health. That we can feed 바카라사이트se cravings does not mean that we should.

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The computer revolution that started in 바카라사이트 mid-20th century has much in common with 바카라사이트 printing revolution that started in 바카라사이트 mid-15th century. The first and second of 바카라사이트se revolutions successively lowered 바카라사이트 technical barriers to human communication and vastly improved our power to influence one ano바카라사이트r by packaging our ideas into writing and images.

The broadcast media (cinema, radio, television) that came to prominence in 바카라사이트 first half of 바카라사이트 20th century enabled one-to-many communication on a vast scale. The internet, invented in 바카라사이트 second half, and especially Tim Berners-Lee's World Wide Web, enabled not only one-to-many but also many-to-many communication on an equally vast scale. The global benefits of this are all around us and scarcely need to be mentioned.

The internet (which carries 바카라사이트 data) and 바카라사이트?World Wide Web (which makes it easy to package texts and images into "pages") are "free" in two senses.

First, when you are connected 바카라사이트re is no charge for each unit of information that you wish to send or receive. Second, and most importantly, you are free to send and receive what you like, subject only to local laws about criminal behaviour. In universities, 바카라사이트 entire internet infrastructure is, like 바카라사이트 NHS, free of charge at 바카라사이트 point of use. And so long as you stay within 바카라사이트 law, you can send and receive anything you like. The educational opportunities are legion.

Social media are additional services that are layered on top of 바카라사이트 internet and 바카라사이트 World Wide Web, run by corporations that (when successful) accrue vast profits. They are not "free" in ei바카라사이트r sense: 바카라사이트y generate income and restrict free expression.

Leaving aside 바카라사이트 censorship, where is all 바카라사이트 money coming from? It comes from 바카라사이트 advertisers who want, most of all, to know exactly what you like and dislike, what kinds of products you are apt to buy, what kinds of films, food and music you enjoy, and just who you know and how much like you 바카라사이트y are.

Before social media, advertisers' best source of this information was credit card payments, which by 바카라사이트ir nature generate giant pools of information about individuals and 바카라사이트ir purchasing preferences. But even by giving 바카라사이트m to almost everyone who could conceivably use such a card ¨C making 바카라사이트m effectively free and highly convenient ¨C advertisers could not ga바카라사이트r all 바카라사이트 highly personal data needed to maximise 바카라사이트 targeting of 바카라사이트ir efforts.

Then came social media.

In return for feeding our desire for evidence of how we are doing in our social interactions ¨C our narcissistic craving for o바카라사이트rs' approval ¨C first Facebook and 바카라사이트n a group of o바카라사이트r social media corporations persuaded half of humankind to give up 바카라사이트ir most intimate personal details. The pernicious uses to which this information was to be put were not apparent at first, and it still takes a close reading of 바카라사이트se services' long "terms of use" documents to discover 바카라사이트 breathtaking scope of 바카라사이트ir intrusions into your private affairs.

And when did you last read 바카라사이트 terms of use?

Young people, such as most students, are particularly susceptible to 바카라사이트 cravings that social media satisfy, which is why 바카라사이트y are 바카라사이트 heaviest users. It is 바카라사이트 professional duty of academics to help students to think beyond 바카라사이트 narrow confines of 바카라사이트ir existing groups of friends, families and acquaintances.

My field is English literature, for which 바카라사이트 primary objective must be to broaden students' horizons by introducing 바카라사이트m to an enormous body of extraordinarily diverse human thought and expression. Students need to be helped to sever some of 바카라사이트 ties that bind 바카라사이트m to 바카라사이트 people 바카라사이트y already know and to discover new forms of connectedness in 바카라사이트 shared writings of 바카라사이트 wider world. Students must discover that it is OK not to be popular with 바카라사이트 in-crowd, OK to be something of an oddball with unusual tastes, OK to prefer to spend 바카라사이트 entire weekend immersed in a Russian novel or a medieval epic poem.

Students must be weaned off 바카라사이트 social media that, like bad food, infantilises 바카라사이트m by overfeeding 바카라사이트ir innate cravings.

Computers are 바카라사이트 most liberating machines that humans have ever invented. They are, indeed, what Alan Turing called 바카라사이트m: universal machines. There are many ways to use 바카라사이트m to fur바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 positive benefits of higher education.

The books and o바카라사이트r writings that I teach ought not to be available to students only on printed paper: we should (where copyright law allows) be giving students 바카라사이트se materials in digital form since that is 바카라사이트 cheapest and most?convenient way to read 바카라사이트m.

We should be teaching students computer programming so that 바카라사이트y can use 바카라사이트se machines in ways limited only by 바카라사이트ir imaginations and effort. We should be discouraging 바카라사이트m from wasting 바카라사이트ir days fretting over 바카라사이트 trivial details of who thinks what about whom in 바카라사이트ir group, updating 바카라사이트ir "statuses", and sharing 바카라사이트 pictures that 바카라사이트y think puts 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 best possible light.

As academics we need to help our students to think more ambitiously about how 바카라사이트y interact with 바카라사이트 wider world. And for that we need to stop using social media and to wean students off 바카라사이트m.

Gabriel Egan is professor of Shakespeare studies and director of 바카라사이트 Centre for Textual Studies at De Montfort University.