A recent study suggests that your grades will suffer if you’re a heavy Facebook user.
Researchers from the US have found that students prone to accumulating friends, uploading photographs, chatting and “poking” others on Facebook may devote as little as one hour a week to their academic work.
“Our study shows people who spend more time on Facebook spend less time studying,” said Aryn Karpinski, a researcher in the education department at Ohio State University.
They found that 68% of students who used Facebook had a significantly lower grade-point average than those who did not use the site.
Correlation is not Causation
Is it the use of Facebook that affects people’s grades?
Or is it a lack of studying that affects people’s grades? This is most likely the problem.
If it wasn’t Facebook, it would be MySpace, or video games, or television, or even Frisbee and Hacky Sack. Sometimes instead of studying, kids want to be doing something else.
Or perhaps the correlation might suggest that less intelligent people are using Facebook more? The smart people happen to be spending more time doing their classwork, and so they don’t have as much time to spend goofing off on Facebook.
It’s Seems Almost Obvious
There are only twenty four hours in a day, and if you spend too much time doing certain things, then you’re not going to have enough time to do others.
People need to spend less time doing unproductive tasks, and spend a little more time doing productive things. For a student, that translates to making sure you’re adequately studying. If you have to study using your computer, or if you’re writing a report, shut off your distractions! All of them. Email, Facebook, IM, Twitter, etc. They will make it impossible to think straight!
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My kids spend as much time on facebook as they want. As long as they finished their chores, did their homework, read three books, exercised……
…..washed the car, spent time outside with their friends, volunteered some time at the pet shelter, etc, etc.
Ya, important things first. With my kids sometimes “I’m busy” means doing things like digitally communicating with their friends… I’m trying to get it through their heads that what I really mean by that is I need them to be productive first… then once they’ve gotten all their productive things done, they can then be busy doing whatever.
My kids find the computer boring. That’s probably because it’s not connected to the internet!
I think you’re right on the money when you say “Sometimes instead of studying, kids want to be doing something else.”
When i was in college, the first time around, i went off to Provence, RI from Long Island, NY. Since i was the oldest of four, I wanted to live independently and taste a little freedom. No one told me freedom cost so much. I worked part time at the school’s “cooler” cafeteria at night and went to class during the day. I didn’t always have money for books, and tried my best to make ends meet. To cheer myself up, i would go to chat rooms where i had “online friends” from high school.
We had “regs” or regulars that would come into the rooms every day and knew each other by nicknames made up from our screen aliases. It was a welcoming feeling when greeted by these virtual friends and gave me some sense of belonging. Since these chat rooms were the only places i could feel this way (without taking a bus 4 hours back home), i spent copious amounts of time online.
My grades suffered because i was unhappy, not because i was addicted to the internet (which i was). If i had thought more about where to study, what major would suit me best and sought after what i really wanted – to belong to something larger than myself, perhaps i wouldn’t need to go online.
The real question is, what are Facebook and other distractions providing that people seem to be missing in their lives?
I think it’s the growing need to communicate with others, to feel like they belong, and to be liked.
Attention.
Perhaps those that study more and have better grades are getting the healthy attention they need.
Hi Marj! Welcome back. It’s been a long time!
Thanks for sharing your story. You ask some good questions. I work from home a lot, and I have days (too many of them sometimes) where I have an abundance of work. Sometimes, when I work too much if my kids don’t get much of my attention, then they will turn to their online world. They get “bored” they tell me, and so they will go online.
Of course, I want to kick them off of their computers while I’m working and would rather see them outside a bit more on their own initiative. (Do as I say, not as I do.)
When I was my kids age, I could find many things to occupy my time. That was in the pre-digital age. I’m sure if I had all of this tech at my disposal, I would have been drawn to it too. But I also had two working parents.
I guess the point is that kids need good role models and involvement. Maybe if they had somebody to show them how to do things, and that person also did those things with the kids, then the problem might just be solved!