HOW DO SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES SPECIFICALLY FACEBOOK AND

TWITTER POSITIVELY EFFECT THE LEVEL OF READING COMPREHENSION OF

SHS STUDENTS

What is reading comprehension? It is the ability to process text, understand its meanings and to
integrate with what is the reader already knows. An individual’s ability to comprehend text is
influenced by their skills and their ability to process infos. And the environment they are in.
According to Kimberly Tyson (2014) comprehension is the heart and the soul of reading. She
added, comprehension is the act of constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with
written text. If word recognition is different students use too much of their processing ability to
read individual words. Which interferes with their inability to comprehend what is read. So how
does social media specifically facebook and twitter affect reading comprehension?

Social media is a popular trend today mostly facebook and twitter among shs student. It is a
collective of online communication channel dedicated to community based input. Interaction,
content-sharing, and collaboration. It is one of the factors that affects reading comprehension.
Social media is growing as an excellent tool increased student engagement and cooperative
learning (Darcy McQuillan 2011). In the context of reading this technology allows communication
to occur parallel to the course enabling students to initiate discussions outside the classroom
context. For instance, Ebner and Scheifner (2008) noted that learning is a social process that
develops through conversation, thus the ability to communicate with others is an essential part
through all learning processes. In the recent decades, the social media plays an important role in
the mass communication. Majority of social media users are youth. So most of the positive and
negative impacts of social media usage fall on youth. The amount of time allocated for the internet
by youth has increased dramatically, with the increase of latest social media networks and as a
result the reading habit of the youth seems to be decreasing. The internet has not just changed what
people read, but the ways they process and apply the infos. Leading to both positive and negative
consequences of reading skills.

Reading is capable of enriching one’s intellectual capabilities and it develops insights into human
problems and has a major impact on their attitudes toward society. Social media which is designed
with the intention of promoting social connection seems to be not fulfilling its main objective by
reducing the reading habit of the youth. Moreover, the usage of modern abbreviations to
communicate on the social media hinders the proper language acquisition and development which
affect their basic language skills, such as speaking, and writing. Owing to the rapid change or the
update of content on social media sites. The youth is not given a particular thought and think about
it analytically which again makes a negative impact on their intellectual and profound thinking
habit. Which is an essential quality. For a good personality which is mastered by reading books.
References: http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/14959

http://www.academia.edu/25790272/SOCIAL_MEDIA_AS_A_FACTOR_THAT_AFFECTS_R
EADING_COMPREHENSION