Social Media and Nursing

I am having a ‘broken relationship’ with the social media sites due to some of their upshots. Barely five years ago, were the number of social sites undoubtedly known. Right now and as time goes by, their quantity endures to increase and consequently a lot of care needs to be taken. Using these sites is convoyed by massive spend of productive time and humongous internet billing. Though both genders tend to overuse these platforms, the ladies are the most affected by far.

You have settled on to get into a career  whose market will be governed by the level of your intellect in the field, therefore a lot of time needs to be dyed-in-the-wool to study and research works. Some time back, a nursing student was expelled from a university in Kansas for posting a placenta photo on his Facebook wall. Others were fired in Oceanside, California after they discussed patient’s matters on the same site. This are some shocking examples that portray how social media can harm your career.

Pamela Resler of The university of Massachusetts, college of nursing and health science said, ‘’you’ve got to learn how to use it correctly just like any other tool” I cannot overlook some of the plusses of these sites in the nursing profession. Most of the advantages always materialize after completion of the course, then since you are still learning, believe you me that the cons would always take over at this stage.

Know your priorities for now, your career is worth it.

The adverse reasons why you should avoid these sites is that; you cannot ascertain the validity of the information that goes viral on these sites, mainly Facebook, one can easily feed on a lot of crap. Also, your confidential life can be breached to the public. If you happen to be that character who keeps posting the latest photos of your little niece who had their first day in school, be aware that not all the world at large wishes you well and thugs can easily target you. As pointed out earlier, individual career can be ruined and the public trust in nursing is compromised. Use social media for educational and professional purposes again make a great privacy settings on the sites. I personally set aside 10 minute only for facebooking every week. I accomplished this by scrapping their apps from my phone. I no longer get disturbing continuous notifications and I only access them when I get to my computer.

I can’t blot my Family and friends as I prioritize them even on this site. I only can add myself to some important groups in Facebook and whatsapp. At a snail's pace reduce and then finally wipe out your contact with social media and start dedicating the saved time in serious studies, research and practical work.