No, No, No…. and just in case that wasn’t clear let me say it again:
Facebook is not causing students to get lower grades.
I don’t care what this study says.
In fact, the only thing that this study shows is that correlation does not imply causation.
What’s most likely at work here is a simple path of logic that got misconstrued.
- Kids who study less get worse grades
- kids who study less have more free time
- Kids with more free time use facebook more
It’s not that facebook is preventing them from studying at all – it’s more likely that after they made the decision not to study they started killing time on a fun site like facebook.
I’m sure if you did another study, you’d also find the same about TV, kids in bands, or kids that do anything else they deem fun.
If anything, the problem here is that kids aren’t spending enough time studying. It has nothing to do with facebook or any other activity.
About Ryan Jones
Interesting post Ryan. I agree and disagree. I know firsthand of “certain” teens who use FB ALL the time. In fact, they may even say they are working on a school project, when it’s obvious they are sending their friends a new movie trivia post on FB;)
I think some kids today are more addicted to FB than TV, WE or their iPods. So, yes, if kids are not studying it’s because they are probably doing something else. I just think recently, in a lot of households, that “other stuff” is using FB!
Parents, as usual, play an important role here. Bottom line is that if your child is getting bad grades, it’s up to parents to eliminate the “other stuff” or moderate until their kids can prove their study habits are improving.