Social Media Websites are Likely to Negatively Impact College Students Grades

Social Computing: y2lizblog

Social media websites have become more popular and are being used more frequently as they allow individuals to communicate with each other.  As good as it sounds, social media websites has been a major cause in distracting college students.  For example, 1.23 billion people have a Facebook account.  One demographic that can be found on social media websites are college students.  Even though there are many benefits for college students to use social media websites, there are also many drawbacks.  For example, college students can be distracted from their studies. Students can be tempted to sign in to their social media while in class, especially with the accessibility provided by their phone or tablet.  Students try to multitask and do homework while visiting their social media profiles; their academic success is at risk.

Social Media has a Negative Effect on College Students Creating Students to be Off-Task

In many lecture halls, college students can seem disengaged with the professor because they are focused on the social media websites on their phone, laptop, tablet, and other personal devices.  In an interview with Senior Lecturer and Technology Integration Specialist Helen Cohen, at the University of Maryland, College Park, she explains four negative concepts that students often face on social media.

• Multitasking 
• Plagiarism
• Distraction
• Peer Pressure

Social Media Websites Impact Students Grades Negatively

Professor Cohen states that students grades should be impacted on "what they learn and can do".  She also explains the negative impacts of how social media websites can impact college students grades.

College students who use popular social media websites often have lower grades than students who don't use popular social media websites.  Johnson & Wales University did a study stating "college students who use the 500 million member social network have significantly lower grade-point averages (GPAs) than students who do not".The study also showed that students who used social media sites while doing their homework found it affected their ability to complete the task.  The collected data suggested that "eighty percent of the sample admitted that they posted or responded while completing homework and has definitely affected their efficiency and their grades."

In a survey conducted on 35 University of Maryland Students, 60% of students agreed that social social media sites had a negative impact on academics performances.  

According to a study done by Ohio State University, "college students who use Facebook spend less time studying and have a lower grade point averages than students who have not signed up for social networking websites".  A study done by the university resulted that Facebook users had a GPA between "3.0 and 3.5, while non-users had a GPA between 3.5 and 4.0". Faculty members at Ohio State universities who allow students to use their laptop in lecture halls stated that they "often see students on Facebook during class".

College Students Who are Distracted by Multitasking While Doing Homework are Pressured Into Plagiarizing to Make up for Procrastination

According to a study done at Nazarbayev University, students often engage in multitasking on social media websites while doing their work.  Students who engage in multitasking on social media websites while doing homework are seeing a decrease in their academic performance at colleges and universities.  A study states that the time required for social networking site users to complete test were longer". Students often find it difficult to perform tasks while social networking websites ares open, which draws away "maximum attention to any details in their assignments". Furthermore, the act of multitasking can lead to procrastination from less effort put in academics and eventually the peer pressure of plagiarism.  

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Students Who Use Social Media Websites Have Less Motivation Doing School Work Than Students Who Don't use Social Media Websites

In a survey of the University of Maryland, College Park campus, 60% of the students surveyed indicated that they spend three hours or more a day on social media sites.

As a results of students procrastinating from school work, students are less motivated to do complete their school work.  Naizabekov states that "mass media was connecting students unwillingness to study with the inadequate amount of time spent on social media sites".  The unfocused student would rather see their Facebook news feed update with more interesting news than read their textbook. Due to less motivation caused by social media distractions, some students find less credible information. Students can find satire news sources that could be shared on social media sites without researching the information themselves.  It can be stated that there can be connections between "usage of social networking sites and the formation of motivation".  According to Ishfag &Tehmina, "internet addicted people and social networking sites may experience several problems with their motivation that can lead to low academic performance".

College Professors are Putting a Restriction on Digital Distraction at Lectures

In lecture halls, many students become off task due to boring repetitive lectures.  They have access to social media sites because students usually come to class with a laptop or tablet to take notes, and their cell phone.  In an article by the Washington Post More Colleges, Professors Shutting Down Laptop and Other digital Distraction, College Professors in states such as Chicago turn off internet access in the lecture halls.  University of Oklahoma professor Kieran Mullen froze a laptop in liquid nitrogen, shattering it to make a point to students not to bring their laptops to class.

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A few college professors are now enforcing rules that prohibit laptop and tablet use in lecture halls. Professors are also noticing a increase in students grades when laptops are banned from the classroom.  Professor Mullen stated "distracted students using their laptops for reasons other than taking notes as the cause for his demonstration". Afterward, he said "their attention in class improved. But then, whose wouldn't"?

At Rutgers University, J.P. Krahel, both a student and a teacher noticed a decrease in one student's performance once be bought his laptop to class.  He noted in time that, "his performance dipped a little".  Krahel is planning to ban laptops in his classroom even though he used his laptop to take notes as an undergrad.  Krahel admits it caused him to be distracted in lecture halls, so he had "to do a lot of catching up on [his] own time or asking other people for help".

How Colleges Can Create a Better Learning Environment by Using Social Media as an Advantage in the Classroom

In a survey of 35 students at the University of Maryland. Students indicated that college professors "sometimes" or "never" integrate social media sites in their lessons.  This graph shows that more than half of the students polled at the University of Maryland professors don't add social media but can be noted that 42% has used social media sites in their classes.

Even though social media websites have many negatives on students in college, college can integrate social media sites impact learning.  Cohen explains ways how college professors can change social media as a positive in the classroom by using it to educate their students. 

In some college courses, professors integrate social media websites into the courses as a learning experiment to students.  In a case study done at Tufts University, social media sites such as Twitter was integrated into courses at the School of Medicine.  The responses from students indicated that Twitter was a positive experience for the class.  Using Twitter in the class also "increased their social media knowledge". One student explained that using Twitter in the classroom "increased my social media skills, enabled me to participate in the discussion".  Students also noted that Twitter "enabled students to get/share links "quickly and easily". Using Twitter in the classroom helped students broaden their view of social media websites and how professors can use social media sites as an advantage in lecture halls.

Colleges can also reduce procrastination by creating academic communities within social media websites by combining academic projects and labs.  Universities can promote academic usage of social media sites by using online submission for assignments or sending assignments to students. One way that students can avoid multitasking on social networking sites is "develop efficient time-management skills among students of schools and universities".  Colleges can offer classes on how to use time efficiently and decrease the time students are on social media sites avoiding the consequences of procrastinating and cheating.

Social Media Sites Can be used to Benefit Learning if Students Show Self Control

Social media websites have shown to have a negative impact on college students when used during time set aside for academics. The distraction of social media and multitasking while doing school work is one cause of procrastination, and the inability to finish assignments on time. Therefore, students may be peer pressured and tempted into plagiarizing either from an online source or a friend. Students who use social media websites also have less motivation than their non-social-media-participating counterparts.  Unfocused students may be more interested in their news feed updates than completing homework assignments.  Even though social media sites have shown to have many negative effects on student's grades, college professors can integrate social media websites into their lesson, which could lead to positive results in grades.  Colleges can offer classes that that can teach student how to use time management on social media sites can be used as a beneficial way of learning.