Study Links Facebook Use To Academic Performance.
USA Today (4/14, Marklein) reports that "a study of 219 students at Ohio State University being presented at a conference this week" strongly "suggests a link between" Facebook "and academic performance." According to the study conducted by Ohio State doctoral student Aryn Karpinski and Ohio Dominican University graduate student Adam Duberstein, "Students who said they used Facebook reported grade-point averages between 3.0 and 3.5; those who don't use it said they average 3.5 to 4.0." Furthermore, "Facebook users said they studied one to five hours a week, vs. non-users' 11 hours or more." Karpinski clarified, "'It cannot be stated (that) Facebook use causes a student to study less' or get lower grades...'I'm just saying that they're related somehow, and we need to look into it further,'" she added.
In an interview with Time Magazine (4/14, Hamilton) on Monday, Karpinski said that she was not "surprised by her findings, but notes that the study does not suggest Facebook directly causes lower grades, merely that there's some relationship between the two factors. 'Maybe [Facebook users] are just prone to distraction. Maybe they are just procrastinators,'" she added. But Time points out that "Karpinski and Duberstein's study isn't the first to associate Facebook with diminished mental abilities. In February, Oxford University neuroscientist Susan Greenfield cautioned Britain's House of Lords that social networks like Facebook and Bebo were 'infantilizing the brain into the state of small children,' by shortening attention span and providing constant instant gratification."
Nevertheless, Karpinski acknowledged that "there are a host of other variables that could be influencing the relationship, such as visits to different websites, like YouTube," Canada's Toronto Star (4/13, LaRose) added. Karpinski and Duberstein's survey included questions about "what other kinds of academic and non-academic websites" students use, "and Karpinski is hoping to analyze those responses in the future."
So how much time do you spend in on Facebook and how are your grades?
