Tweet this: kids addicted to social networking still do well in school.
A study of more than 1,100 University of New Hampshire Students by its Whittemore School of Business showed there is no link between heavy use of Twitter, Facebook or any other social media Web site and their grades. Some 63 percent of heavy users of social media, defined by UNH as spending more than 61 minutes per day on such sites, received straight As or As and Bs for a semester, compared to 65 percent of light users, or ones that use social medial less than 31 minutes per day.
Poor students also tend to be poor students, even without spending time on YouTube or MySpace. Some 37 percent of heavy users got Bs and lower in their classes, compared with 35 percent of light users.
The findings shouldn’t surprise most techies — collegiate distractions are not unique to the Internet age, and one’s Facebook addiction is another’s PBR vice. Yet gadgetry does not necessarily make people any smarter either. Only 26 percent of students said they use social media for educational reasons. Tweeting exam answers to a classmate doesn’t count.
RSS Feeds
