5 Advantages and Disadvantages of YouTube for Students | Drawbacks & Benefits of YouTube for Students

Being started in the year 2005, YouTube is a platform that allows videos to be watch, create and share. It is a website that is open for the public. This includes students as well. 

In fact, learning from YouTube has been popular ever since the growth of education. From Pre-school to higher education, all the videos related to studies are available in YouTube. Particularly, there are numerous how to tutorials that makes it possible the technology enhanced learning. 

Irrespective of genders and age groups, YouTube includes many benefits to the user. However YouTube learning aren't flawless. Depending on how you are going to use this platform, YouTube contains many positives as well. It is a must to evaluate these key points before using this platform for studies.

In this article, I will be illustrating about 5 Advantages and Disadvantages of YouTube for Students | Drawbacks & Benefits of YouTube for Students. Through this post, you will know the pros and cons of using YouTube for students.

Let's get started,

Advantages of YouTube for Students

1. Improved Learning

YouTube can be used by the students as a platform for learning. For students who are preferring to work with visual components can use these videos. Professors in various parts of the world upload videos in YouTube related to studies. Hence, multiple videos of the same course are available in YouTube so that students will be able to choose that is best suited for them. 

For certain problems, videos in YouTube are equipped with step-by-step instructions which makes them easily understandable.

2. Remote Access

YouTube is a platform that is available 24x7 as long as the students are having an internet connection. This is especially useful during the times of a pandemic like Covid19 where social distancing must be maintained. 

In the same way, teachers doesn't need to be confined in a specific location for uploading a video. This makes YouTube an ideal tool for distant learning.

3. Cost Savings

YouTube is entirely a free platform. It does not involve any kind of subscription fee or payment in it (Unless it is a Premium version). In fact, there is no need for a Google account as well. Therefore, students can use this opportunity for studies without needing to worry about the expenses. 

4. Stress Relief

Apart from studies, students can also watch videos related to entertainment in YouTube. YouTube is a source of entertainment where videos from games, music and other shows are available. Students can watch these videos to relieve stress they often face from studies.

5. Talent Expression

YouTube is also a place where students will be able to showcase their talents. Whatever it can be education or entertainment, YouTube provides a chance for them to upload their own videos and become famous. 

With a successful YouTube channel, students can monetize them with advertising platforms such as Google AdSense. There are many youtubers out there who started their journey with 0 subscribers and ended up earning millions of dollars.

Disadvantages of YouTube for Students

1. Individualism

Unlike Google Duo and Zoom Apps where students will be able to communicate with teachers face-to-face, YouTube lacks this kind of communication. YouTube solely promotes individualism. 

While this can be beneficial in terms of privacy, it can be one of its drawbacks. Students are left with no option to build team work and solve problems communal.

2. Vulgarity

YouTube is known to be a free site that does not restrict the users to post videos. This makes some videos to be of both violent and explicit content. Certain videos on YouTube are not suitable for all the children, particularly teenagers. Even without warnings these contents could be shown to the children. 

However by implementing a parental block, parents will be able to safeguard their children from such contents.

3. Reliability

Not every video on YouTube comes from reliable sources. Some videos are uploaded just for the sake of business. And all the videos those are popular, doesn't necessarily contain the right information. Therefore, students must spend some time researching in the videos that posses correct information about the subject.

4. Internet Access

YouTube education completely relies upon an internet connection. There is no means of accessing the YouTube study contents, if there is no access to the web. Moreover, using videos for a prolonged time may cost significant amount of cellular data. Not all the students will be able to afford this much of data.

5. Advertisements

Since YouTube is a free platform, the only option for the users to make money is by showing ads. While using YouTube, students may come across numerous advertisements that won't be pleasant for many. Even some advertisements are extremely lengthy that doesn't come with a skip option. And not all the advertisements shown are relevant to the content posted.