The Effects of Facebook Habits on Academic Success
Britany Helton
Facebook is a social networking site that has become so popular among
college students that it is not too farfetched to believe that social networking
of this magnitude might have some negative effects on college life. There
have been many studies about using Facebook as a learning tool. One
study showed that “most students joined Facebook because Facebook
was associated with university-level education” (Madge et. al., 2009). This
same study also found that Facebook is mainly used to keep up with social
aspects of college life and it is a part of most students’ daily routine (Madge,
et. al., 2009). However, students also did not seem to agree that Facebook
helped their academic life (Madge et. al., 2009). Other studies have
found that when students are asked why they did not put more effort into
schoolwork that Facebook distraction was a regular explanation (Yazedijan
et al., 2008).
Facebook offers many different options for social networking and
entertainment. As far as communication goes, Facebook offers a chat option
in which people can send messages instantly to one another. You can also
talk to several people at the same time. Another way of communication
is using a private message option to write messages to another person.
Facebook also offers the option to write on another person’s profile where
other people may view the message. However, these are not the only things
Facebook does. Many applications and games can also be found on this
site. There are ways to post items in other people’s profiles. A person can
play interactive games that involve playing with other people on the site. The
things that this website provide continue to grow and in turn it continues to
keep people intrigued and keeps them coming back.
Therefore, it is obvious that Facebook has become a very important
feature of college life. However, what are the effects of so much Facebook
use on academic success? Academic success is usually measured by
grade point average (GPA). The following study examines whether or not a
student’s Facebook habits are at all related to the student’s GPA and if so
how exactly they are related. Opinions on the different uses of Facebook
might also be related to just exactly how a person uses Facebook. It might
even be possible that certain uses of Facebook cause more distraction than
others. This study examines all of these questions.