Facebook Perhaps Not Smart Move for College

College students: Signing up for Facebook could mean a compromise in grades. Everyone’s different, but a recent Ohio State University pilot study showed that Facebook users spent less time studying and had a lower GPA than students who didn’t sign up for the social media site.

The study was small, consisting of 219 students at Ohio State: 102 undergraduate students and 117 graduate students. Of the 219 students in the study, 148 of them had Facebook accounts. Most Facebook users in the study had GPAs between 3.0 and 3.5, and the typical non-users had GPAs between 3.5 and 4.0.

Facebook users said they averaged one to five hours a week studying, compared to non-users who studied 11 to 15 hours per week.

Aryn Karpinski, co-author of the study, cautioned that Facebook use doesn’t necessarily lead to lower grades. Students who use Facebook rather than studying could find other distractions if Facebook wasn’t available.

If you’re a college student, do you think Facebook is a study distraction for you?

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