The Truth About Facebook And Grades

The Truth About FACEBOOK & GRADES It's not Facebook that counts - it's how you use it. About the Survey Over the last few years, sensational headlines about Face- book harming students have proliferated all across the web. But while it makes for a good story, the idea that Facebook affects students negatively has not been borne out by science. A recent study on college students, the biggest ever of its kind, finds that Facebook use itself isn't a problem - it's all in how you use it. 1,839 college under- grads at a 4-year public university responded to an online survey linked to in an email sent by the school. Information about their GPAS was provided by the school itself. The B+ Background Students & Facebook 92% 106 MINUTES Nearly all students report using Facebook. The amount of time the The average student visits the site 6 tỉmes per day. average student spends per day on Facebook. On average, they stay for 24 minutes each visit. The Findings MID TERM Tues. Time spent on Facebook negatively predicts grades. But the impact is tiny unless you use it all the time. 11am Daily Average Students' GPAS dropped .12 points for every 93 minutes above the average 106 per day they spent on Facebook - showing that Facebook use does relate to a drop in 3.0 grades - but that drop is small. In general, high school GPA is twice as strong a predictor of college GPA as level of Facebook use. 2.5 100 200 300 400 Minutes Spent On Facebook Daily Students' Favorite Facebook Activities Frequency of participating in Facebook activities. Never Somewhat Frequently (75%) Rarely (25%) Very Frequently (100%) Status Updates Sometimes (50%) Sharing Links Commenting Facebook Chat Checking Up Posting Photos Viewing Photos For grades, how you use Facebook Certain activities on Facebook were correlated with higher GPAS, while other activities predicted lower GPAS: Positive relationship with grades: Negative relationship with grades: matters most. Making Status Updates Sharing Links Checking Up On Friends Surprisingly, a lot of Facebook doesn't mean less studying. The study found no strong link between using Facebook and the amount of time that students I = F At = AM spent studying. The Conclusion Facebook is not an evil Special thanks to the author of this influence. study, Dr. Rey Junco. It's clear that Facebook itself is not an evil influence on To read more about the interaction between students - in fact, it seems to be the case that it can be beneficial. What matters is not Facebook use itself, but the social media and the lives ways in which it is used. Educators would be wise to take note of Facebook's potentially beneficial features: engaging students with the social media they already use could mean great things for the college classroom. of college students, visit Dr. Junco's blog at: blog.reyjunco.com For more detailed information on the Limitations of the Study methodology and results of the study, visit: http://goo.gl /RQ3FH Correlation + Causation Though there is a relationship between extensive Facebook use and a small drop in GPA, the study does not prove that either one causes the other. Students with lower grades could simply use Facebook more, or there could be a third factor that affects both but isn't studied here. Created By: OnlineEducation.net This work is licensed under a creative commons license. BY NC ND GPA