Thursday, April 16, 2009

Facebook users have lower grades?

"Correlation does not equal causation," the researchers say, but a recent survey of college students found that "Facebook user GPAs were in the 3.0 to 3.5 range on average, compared to 3.5 to 4.0 for non-users," LiveScience.com reports. Online socializing seems to be in the same category as other extracurricular activities, such as sports or music (in the case of music, probably at the same time!). "For instance, students who spend more time enjoying themselves rather than studying might tend to latch onto the nearest distraction, such as Facebook.... Student who work more hours at jobs spend less time on Facebook, while students involved in more extracurricular activities were also more likely to use Facebook." LiveScience also reports that over 85% of undergrads use Facebook, versus 52% of graduate students.

2 comments:

  1. Make sure to read this critique of the publicity around that study:

    http://crookedtimber.org/2009/04/13/zomg-facebook-use-and-student-grades/

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  2. Thank you for some level headed posted on this front. I'll be reading the article danah posted as well.

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