Facebook - a Distraction to College Students?

Topic and Bibliography

English 100

November 1, 2015

Facebook, a Distraction to College Students?

I have chosen the topic “Is Facebook really a distraction to College Students?” Let’s face it; everybody that has a thing for social media, has a Facebook. It is the most popular social website on the internet! I spend at least a good 4-5 hours on Facebook every day, which I know is a really bad habit. I am basically on it whenever I have free time. Facebook is a big thing around the world for everybody to contact whoever they want, even if they are in a different country. They can also enjoy the millions of photos from people, and see what people are doing in their real lives by statuses. It is to help old friends and family reconnect and socialize for hours. Not everybody likes the idea of Facebook, especially faculty members in a school that want their students to learn. As far as I know, most high schoolers who have laptops from their school already have any kind of social media blocked during school hours. Many believe it is screwing with our heads and we no longer have privacy to ourselves. Can Facebook be a really big distraction to us college kids, or are people thinking overly too much and believing what others are saying around them?  

Facebook can be used for education according to college staff for resources, projects, sharing, collaboration, management, and along with the apps and groups. It should be used as a serious learning tool as high school and university students are engaged in energetic and intelligent debate, about scientific issues, in a voluntary Facebook form. When moving to a different area, you use Facebook to get in to contact with people in the area outside of work or school. According to faculty from University of New Hampshire find that students, who are heavily into Facebook, do just as well in their academics. Recent study shows that sixty three percent of heavy users (over sixty minutes) received high grades compared to sixty five light users (thirty minutes or less).

        We all can get distracted by one thing sometime in our lives of living. Just like walking your dog in the park and you see a bird fly by. As you are in ‘aww’, you realize you let your dog get away and you can’t find your pet anywhere. Well that’s just like college. You are in the middle of doing a paper, and you go to check your social media sites to see what everyone has been doing lately, or you try to get a hold of them. You do your thing, only to find out you have been scrolling through your news feed on Facebook for over an hour now, and there is no time to finish your work before class. You lose points for that work that was missing, so you can either quit the Facebook or only focus on getting the work in you missed, or you lose those points forever and you never see them again. Facebook is a big distraction to college students when it comes to academics. Although, many can agree and disagree with that statement.

        Every day college students can spend quite a bit of time on Facebook, and not even realize how much it is screwing with their academic performances. On average, freshmen spend two hours a day on Facebook, and just over half of the time, they are doing school work also (EAB 2015). With sophomores and juniors, the only thing hurting their academics were the time spent online while doing schoolwork. There is seen to be no effect on GPA for seniors, as they spend a lot less time on Facebook. A typical college student plays on their device for Facebook on average eleven times a day during class, according to a new study by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor (Reed 2013). Professors that allow the students to have laptops during class will find that the students put more use towards Facebook. Kids will be seen with two screens open: taking notes on one and Facebook on the other. Middle/High schools around the United States are blocking Facebook on their school laptops during school hours so kids spend less time socializing and more time learning.

Having a smartphone is an easier way to do it if that class doesn’t allow computers. Students, who are using their phones more, are putting the social media out there more. This causes students to study less and have lower GPA’s. Eighty percent of students admit that Facebook is a distraction and one fourth suffers from low grades (Reed 2013). Some professors allow five minutes of class time to check their phones. It has been surveyed from seven hundred seventy seven students at six universities in five different states. Sixty six percent of them say that Facebook is a distraction while seventeen percent say it is not a distraction to them (Reed 2013).Users of Facebook have a GPA of 3.0-3.5, while non users had a GPA of 3.5-4.0.Graduate students have usually a GPA of 3.5, users had a lower GPA. Students who didn’t use Facebook while doing schoolwork were found to have twenty percent higher GPA’s. Critics say excessive use of the site can distract young users from their studies, cause feelings of isolation and depression, and makes cyber-bullying too common (Ali 2012). Social media can also have a negative effect on emotional health when abused by cyberbullies who harass and torment peers.

        As many people believe it is such a distraction, many also believe it can help the student with activities in the classroom. It has been said that High School and University students like to engage in things like debate using Facebook voluntarily. Research from the University of New Hampshire find that students who are heavily engaged in social networking do just as well academically as students who are less interested (Bart 2009). Students ages 16-25 have voluntarily joined a Facebook group that deals with climate related science news, such as regulations and environmentally friendly housing (Ali 2012). There are a few things that could get one to believe Facebook is good for the classroom: being able to follow politicians if talking about the presidential election, book reviews that is created in groups for the students to talk about outside of class, gather news for the classroom that is happening in the world today, and most importantly make a page for the classroom to stay up to date on the assignments. Students who participate in a Facebook group that their professor had created; it could be that social network has a positive influence on education and spark student’s interests in a certain learning manner (Andrew 2011).

Facebook helps with learning complex subjects like Science and History. It is a firsthand research that students connect for genealogy assignments and use Facebook to connect with others in the community. Being able to connect to the people around them in their community can help boost their self-esteem even higher. It will feel like they are given a change to get to know people more by talking to them on Facebook and staying connected when they aren’t in class. Seventy-nine percent of students did not believe multitasking negatively affects their grade and twenty percent felt connected to their institution better (Andrews 2011).Students don’t find it messing with their grades, instead all they do is find it helpful in the long run. It is good for students to participate in group chats, to share their knowledge with the other students. Professors have analyzed group chats over a certain topic, and found the students discussing largely on that topic. Students have shown that when involved with Facebook, they are more than likely to participate in extracurricular activities.