Tagging pictures, “creeping” and sharing links are common uses of social media for nearly every college student — but a recent study shows some of these actions might not be hurting students’ grades.
Reynol Junco from Lock Haven University recently conducted a study and found that habitual Facebook use among college students does not necessarily lead to a low grade point average.
Ohio University students said that they were not surprised by the idea that Facebook does not have to be detrimental to their grades.
Junco's paper is titled “Too much face and not enough books: The relationship between multiple indices of Facebook use and academic performance.” It was published early last month. The paper describes the results of the study he conducted with 1,839 undergraduate students.
The paper concludes that the more time college students spend on Facebook, the lower their GPAs are. Despite this finding, the study found that not all activities on Facebook negatively affect GPAs. Junco found that activities such as sharing links and information with friends through Facebook had a positive relationship with GPA, while time spent chatting and updating statuses was associated with students with lower GPAs.
“Using Facebook in and of itself is not detrimental to an academic outcome such as GPA,” the paper states.
It goes on to say that large amounts of time spent on Facebook tend to take away from time students spend on academic work. The average amount of time spent on Facebook among the students participating in the study was 106 minutes a day. As time increased, a student's GPA steadily decreased.
Tyler Barton, an OU senior studying chemistry, said these findings made sense.
“If you're using (Facebook) to ignore academic responsibilities, it can have negative effects,” he said.
Aundrea Bentley, a junior studying journalism, also agreed that the results were relevant.
“When you spend time to socialize (on Facebook), obviously being social is more important to you than your academics,” she said.
Bentley emphasized the importance of networking on Facebook. Using social networking to connect with a certain brand or company can open doors for students, she said.
Junco wrote about his finding on his blog, saying educators should find ways to integrate Facebook in “educationally relevant ways.” He added that students are more likely to succeed academically when they are able to communicate with their peers about class content. Using social media to present information to students would be much more accessible and relevant, Junco's paper states.
Barton agreed that professors should try to connect with students through social media.
“This could be an innovative, adaptive technique of teaching,” he said. “If you bring education into everyday life, it'll stick more with students.”
Bentley disagreed and said that students should take advantage of office hours to connect with professors instead of connecting with them through social media.
She added, however, that making a class group on Facebook could be beneficial for connection and discussion among students.
Young Joon Lim, a journalism student and instructor, said that using social media to connect educators and students was a fine idea when used appropriately. He agreed that it could provide convenience for students.
“Social media is about building relationships,” he said. “We don't have time to see each other every day.”
aw317609@ohiou.edu
