I read today over at RWW that FOX News covered a story, “Facebook Users Get Worse Grades in College.” The report follows an Ohio State Study that surveyed ~200 students (just over half grad-students) showing that Facebook usage is correlated to lower GPA.
I’m a bit frustrated for two main reason:
1) This isn’t breaking news. I reported in my research 3 years ago about the relationship between Facebook and GPA. I would not say conclusively that prolonged usage of Facebook results in lower GPAs, just that a relationship exists there (same as the researcher said from Ohio State). As I suggested, more research needs to be done in this field. Now, perhaps that’s what Aryn Karpinski of Ohio State did, but I’m not sure – haven’t seen the full dissertation yet. I’m assuming the research was a bit more qualitative than mine was, but it sounds like Fox is taking this a bit far with their overly suggestive title. It’s more than complex than simple usage drives down GPA.
2) I’m just a bit stunned that it took 3 years from the publication of my research and the spike in Facebook traffic last fall to get the news to realize something is going on here. There are tons of things on social networks that are impacting college students (and society) that need to be examined. Yes, there is a relationship between lower GPAs and increased Facebook usage, but why didn’t you cover the relationship between students of color using Facebook as a medium to connect with people on a college campus – when they felt unable to connect in person? Or about the way it allows for non-heterosexuals to connect to other students on a college campus? These are just a few of the golden nuggets that lie in the usage of Facebook.
If you ask me from the perspective of a person with a master’s degree in counseling and student development, I’d rather have a student spend an extra hour on Facebook and feel connected to campus and suffer a few tenths of a point drop in GPA, then to have a student feel disconnected from their campus for a mere few tenths of a point. The goal of a college is to educate first, but that includes social education. Connecting students is critical to students feeling accepted and able to succeed.
If you want to really learn about students and their life online, check out what Kevin Guidry is doing. Now this is where colleges (and news agencies) need to focus — understanding the online world, how we can live within it, and how we can use it to enhance society.
We need more research – more data. If you have some, please share it! We need to educate society about social networks and the impacts they have on…well, the rest of society.
Aryn: I look forward to reading your work. I hope you would send me a copy once it’s completed. And if you’re interested, I’d love to share my data that I’ve collected and collaborate on some future research with you.
(Danah Boyd is another great researcher on the topic – please check her out and read her great work.)
Update 4/14@9:38a: I just discovered that USA Today (via CNET), Time, and MSNBC have all posted similar stories about the research. Time and USA Today seem to provide a bit more than the FOX story, but MSNBC is using the same article that FOX used. Still more needs to be said than just the same story — let’s see the other research people! I know there’s some people in Indiana doing this research as well.
I’m heading to AERA right now (sitting in the Indianapolis airport on their free wireless) and checking out this poster is on my to-do list. My students and I discussed this incident yesterday as their next assignment is to critique some media accounts of youths’ ICT usage. We put this in the “bad” category of media coverage.
Of course, it’s probably good research with clearly-stated limitations but describing that wouldn’t sell impressions or copies.
Kevin: I look forward to hearing about your experience at AERA – please pass on my kudos to Aryn for conducting this research. I’m sure the research is sound (especially from Ohio State and from a doctoral student), but the news coverage of this – which you state much more concisely than I, is way skewed.