To Tweet, to Yak, or to Study?
Yik Yak, Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram, and Tumblr are topics constantly discussed and posted to, all across
campus. With these topics come countless questions such as, "How many
followers do you have?" "Did you see what picture she posted?"
"What is the top Yak?" and many more. For many, it is difficult
to last an entire lecture without sneaking a look at some form of social media
or to go to a nice restaurant and not post a picture of their food or
location. With social media having such a strong hold of practically
every campus in the nation, it begs the question, what impacts does this have
on the academic success of students?
A study done at the Miriam Hospital in Rhode Island
sought to answer this very question. Researchers polled first-year
undergraduate students about their social media tendencies and instructed them
to log their time spent on each type over their first school year. At the end
of the second semester, researchers then asked for their GPA's as well as
health information that may have impacts on their schoolwork and grades. After
compiling this information, the study found that there was as strong correlation that
said the more time spent on social media, the worse the student's GPA's. It
seems that despite some of the positive feelings that social media can produce,
such as a feeling of community or enjoyment, they are outweighed by the negative
impacts on their schoolwork. As students in college, it is important to
remember that the purpose of school is to learn all that one needs for the
future and it seems that to accomplish this better, students should think about
cutting back on time spent tweeting, yaking, posing, and posting.
Beyond
typical social media such as Twitter and Facebook, the study also included
reading magazines and newspapers. However, numerous hours spent using this type
of social media had a different affect on GPA than the other types of social
media. This begs numerous follow-up questions that were not addressed by the
study. Is social media used on a screen the only type to have negative affects
on GPA? If one were to read a newspaper on a computer, would this have adverse
effects to one's grades? And lastly, is there a way that social media could be
altered that would instead help students to perform better in school?
Sources:
http://www.browndailyherald.com/2013/04/24/social-media-use-may-lead-to-poor-grades/
https://www.google.com/search?q=social+media+college&biw=1280&bih=637&noj=1&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=rO3SVInZHsX3UvzqgeAK&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg#imgdii=_&imgrc=Wv9ILuw_IYTeaM%253A%3Brd5bsA_wwvQ6aM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwojdylosocialmedia.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2014%252F05%252Fsocial-media.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwojdylosocialmedia.com%252Fthink-social-media-will-influence-future-public-relations%252F%3B600%3B450
This is a very relevant post especially because I myself am a college student that knows quite a bit about the different types of social media. Each of them has their own unique appeal and can be very addicting. At times I find myself spending an embarrassing amount of time on these and afterwards I always regret it. Social media is a giant time sucker and can be incredibly distracting from things that are much more important. I've noticed that most of the time I used social media it is when I am procrastinating something, and I know I am definitely not alone in this. Over the course of the first year of college I have drastically decreased my use of these networks and have found myself much more engaged in my school work. It would be very interesting to know if different types of social media have different effects on you both long and short term, although in the end they are all just big distractions.
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