Ohio State University doctoral candidate Aryn Karpinski has conducted the kind of statistical study that guarantees headlines, 20-second mentions on network and local newscasts (usually shoehorned between weather and sports), and lots of comments on tech news Web sites and blogs. She knew she was writing about a media-friendly topic, but she still confesses to receiving a crash course in sudden news exposure.
The name of her study: “A Description of Facebook Use and Academic Performance Among Undergraduate and Graduate Students.” While her findings do not show any direct causation, the survey of 200-plus students shows a possible link between Facebook, lower grades, and less time spent studying.
Monday’s release of the study’s findings prior to her presentation at this week’s annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Diego has resulted in interviews with media outlets ranging from Time Magazine and USA Today to Computerworld. It’s also sparked comments like “Well, duh” on Web sites like TG Daily, which used the headline “Facebook Dumbs You Down.”
“Oh my gosh, I am a doctoral student,” Karpinski, 27, told TechNewsWorld. “I’ve never had any exposure like this. It’s completely new to me. This is not even my dissertation topic. I may have to put that aside for a while.”
What’s Your Status?
The highlights of her findings:
- Facebook users in Karpinski’s study average grade point averages of 3.0-3.5. Non-Facebook users: 3.5.-4.0.
- Facebook users averaged 1-5 hours a week studying; non-users 11-15 hours per week.
- Seventy-nine percent of those who said they used the social networking site said it did not impact their grades or study habits.
- Eighty-five percent of undergrads in the survey said they had a Facebook page; 52 percent of the graduate students had accounts.
- The group most likely to use Facebook: Those majoring in science, technology, math, engineering, and business.
Facebook’s Reaction
Facebook hasn’t had a chance to review the study, so it doesn’t have a specific response, according to spokesperson Kathleen Loughlin. However, the social networking site, which recently celebrated its 200 millionth member, does have its own academic study to rely on for refutation: a University of Melbourne survey claimed that Facebook helped office workers focus their energies and increased work productivity.
“It’s equally convenient, meanwhile, to characterize TV and video game usage as time-consuming distractions,” Loughlin told TechNewsWorld. “Yet there’s academic research that touts the benefits of these activities and services like Facebook. Regardless, it’s in the hands of students, in consultation with their parents, to define priorities and decide how to spend their time.”
So what’s on Karpinsky’s mind? “I acknowledge the limitations of the study, and of course, the media’s not going to put that in there,” she said. “The correlational aspects, the small size of the study — I’m in a statistics program; I’m not oblivious to these things.”
College students, Karpinski is aware, have found ways to avoid studying and hurt their GPAs long before the Internet came along. “I completely agree with that. Conceivably, anything that takes away from study time may correlate with your GPA. I do put that in my explanation and in my paper. If it wasn’t Facebook, it might be something else. Every generation of college students has its major distractors. When I was an undergrad, it was AOL.”
Validating the Study
However, Karpinsky’s study did turn up enough statistical findings to warrant further discussion and examination of the social networking phenomenon and its impact on young people. She knows other researchers in academia are doing just that. She chose Facebook — not Twitter or MySpace — because it originally targeted college-age students. She found 55 percent of those she surveyed access their pages several times a day or at least once a day for a long period of time. “Just that fact, 55 percent — that has to eat away at study time. But it’s one of a multiple of factors, variables, influences, whatever you want to call them, in this intricate relationship.”
Karpinsky is also aware of positive uses for Facebook for those students who want to use it as a tool for help with projects or as a resource. Many students send links for journal articles to each other, “and they have healthy academic conversations about topics. I know college students are using it that way. But I do think it was initially set up as a social network, and it will take some time to translate and be used as an educational tool.”
Apparently, it’s also taking some time for those who teach to discover what their students are doing with their spare time, much less their study time. Karpinsky sent a separate survey to faculty and staff and found that many didn’t know what Facebook was.
“They (faculty) need to be aware of what is popular and see what students are doing. They don’t need to be spying on students, but they need to be aware of what the fads are, and starting a dialogue would be helpful because nobody’s talking about it. I actually think professors and administrators should ride the wave and maybe consider harnessing Facebook’s popularity to use as a learning tool.
“I’m not anti-Facebook. If it is popular, and it can be done, maybe we should use it for good.”
Loading ...
How do we know that these same students wouldn’t just be doing something else besides study even if Facebook were not available? Solid, real conclusions cannot be drawn from this study. There are too many other variables – obvious and hidden – that can be a factor in grades and time spent studying. Are we to believe that not studying leading to bad grades is some sort of new phenomenon? Just something else for people to wring their hands over…..
Let’s don’t be naive. You know this must also happen to elementary and secondary students. I, for one, have a teenager who would live on the Internet if my wife and I allowed him to. Now, if he has friends over to the house, they usually split up and head back home so they can all get on the Internet TOGETHER and play. Wow! Things have changed!
While searching the web a few weeks ago, I did find a tool which appears to be putting the "earn" before "play." I found something called Pass2Play (Pass2Play.com) which looks like it makes kids do their homework to earn Internet time. Wow, I wish I had thought of that! Just as I had to earn money buy cutting neighbor’s lawns to buy that bike, kids have to earn playtime by doing their homework. What a novel concept. 🙂
…all kids in grades K-12. Let’s just face it, as parents today we are fighting and ever increasing battle trying to keep our kids off the Internet and focused on their studies. My son would live on the Internet if my wife and I allowed him to, even to the exclusion of going outside (most of his friends are now on the Internet and they socialize that way).
In my web searches, I did find a tool that might help combat this. I found something called Pass2Play (Pass2Play.com) which makes the students study before they play. Doesn’t that get back to how we were taught…you must earn money for that bike, car or whatever was important to us? I’d like someone else to check out this Pass2Play and let me know if it is what I think it is.