An associate professor of education at Iowa State University published his research about Facebook and the academic performance of senior and freshman students.
Reynol Junco’s research, “Student class standing, Facebook use, and academic performance,” suggests this relation is based on the ability to multitask after he studied the amount of time students at different class ranks spent on Facebook, the time they spent multitasking with Facebook, and the pages they engaged in on the site.
His results showed seniors spent significantly less time on Facebook and less time multitasking with Facebook than students of other class ranks.
Junco also found multitasking with Facebook was negatively predictive of the GPA for freshman, sophomores, and juniors, but not for seniors.
Some Carleton University professors and students said they believe the relation between grades and Facebook use might be because students are not used to the work load after transitioning from high school to university, and these students might be spending their time online instead.
“Senior students have a better idea of how many hours it takes to write and the amount of hours it takes to produce quality work at the undergraduate level. In the jump from high school to first-year, you don’t know how to allocate your time—at least that’s how it was for me,” said Chris Howell, a sociology teaching assistant at Carleton.
Deanna Whelan, a psychology professor at Carleton, said students learn during their academic career how to manage their time.
“If they’re studying with multiple tabs open, during that time of studying they aren’t processing the information that they need to in order to be successful in the course,” Whelan said. “Even though they might be putting time and effort in, it’s not good use of their time and effort.”
Junco’s study found 92 per cent of students who reported using Facebook were spending an average of over one hour and 40 minutes a day on the site.
When students and staff at Carleton were asked how people might be able to change their dependency at social media, there was a trend in the responses—the “self” factor.
“It’s a matter of self-actualization and self-awareness. I think it’s important to realize what you’re gaining from it, and what it is taking away,” Howell said.
Whelan said it’s important to be able to self-regulate.
“Students’ lives today are complicated. There are a lot of different demands from different sources. It’s about balancing how you use your time,” she said.
Students also suggested approaches to reduce their dependency on social media to help improve grades.
“If you’re more mature, you might have more self-control and know how to focus on your work,” said Steffenie Dubien, a second-year sociology student at Carleton. “I was on the bus and overheard students talking about de-activating your account around exam time to focus.”
If de-activating one’s Facebook account is too much of a “cold turkey” approach, second-year Carleton psychology student Kally Mitchell said she has a different idea.
“You can schedule certain times to go on Facebook, making it a reward after completing homework or an assignment,” she said.
