The Ultimate College Distraction
College students everywhere are plunging into the social networking world that is Facebook. It is affecting their grades and consuming their time when they should be studying.
John Dias
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The biggest diversion to college students since the invention of the radio, Facebook and other social networking Web sites are affecting the study habits and grades of college students everywhere.
"Social networking is so appealing and so much fun that it can be tempting to dip into the network and stop you from other activities that you might be doing," said Dr. William Husson, a Communication Professor at the University at Albany. "That might hinder your ability to study or complete a task."
Techcrunch.com reported in 2004 that 85 percent of college students use Facebook and this social networking website supports 882 colleges today. That means that roughly 44 percent of colleges throughout the United States, including community colleges, are supported by Facebook.
With the number of college networks that Facebook offers, distraction from studying and other school-related tasks are bound to occur. "If I'm studying in the library for a couple of hours, I will probably brake on Facebook for like 45 minutes," said Alexis Hausler, a junior at UAlbany.
"Students are spending the same amount of time studying as they have in the past but if there is a difference, it's probably not in the total amount of time studying but in the flow of studying," said Husson, who openly admitted to radio being the ultimate distraction when he studied in college. "Students today probably study in shorter stretches because they are doing different things such as checking text messages or visiting Facebook."
When Kevin Welsh, a senior at UAlbany, was asked whether or not social networking Web sites affect his study habits he responded no but said "You need to learn how to control it."
The students who join the comedic groups on Facebook such as, "I was doing homework, then I ended up on Facebook," "Facebook ruined my GPA," and "Facebook Should Be Banned Before Exams," may disagree. With the popularity of students joining these clusters, it is obvious that college students realize that this social networking website is affecting their grades and studies.
Aryn Karpinski of Ohio State University and Adam Duberstein of Ohio Dominican University conducted a study that found the GPAs of college Facebook users typically ranged a full grade point lower than those of nonusers; the difference being 3.0 to 3.5 for Facebook users versus 3.5 to 4.0 for their non-networking classmates. But what some UAlbany students have to say about Facebook and what some studies may show, differs from what some UAlbany faculty members think about Facebook.
"I've been really surprised lately that there is more work going on and not too much Facebook activity," said Candace Merbler, a Reference Support Associate in the University at Albany Libraries. "I think that the students of today have a different social ethic and that why they participate with Facebook. I don't think negatively effects them. My only concern is that they don't use it in a negative way."
According to Facebook.com, there are more than 300 million active Facebook users and about 50 percent of them check their page each day. It has become a Web site that has transformed itself into something so much more than social networking as it collaborates with different sites like blackboard.com, an educational tool used in countless colleges, including the University at Albany. Yet, as this networking tool develops into a world-wide phenomenon, the grades and studies of college students everywhere may be affected negatively.