The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: Opinions

RUSSELL COX

Spend time today seated at a desk and accomplishing nothing? Was that time spent surfing Facebook?

Researchers at Ohio State University are worried about the answers, and what it means for your academic performance. They found a tenuous but real link between Facebook use and lower grades among college students.

The GPA of Facebook users among 219 students surveyed tended to be below 3.5, compared to nonuser's average above 3.5. The survey also hinted at a possible reason: Users reported spending an average of one to five hours a week studying and nonusers reported 11 to 15 weekly study hours.

Of course, these conclusions don't prove Facebook is hindering grades. Perhaps academically-driven students are less likely to use Facebook. But I know firsthand how easy wasting time with this Web site can be.

When I log on - purely out of habit many times - I can be swept up easily in learning who in my social circle is getting married, who had a better spring break than I did and what became of high school friends I haven't seen in years.

I sometimes wonder if the computers we all are required to have at the University and our broadband Internet access are as convenient as we always thought.

My father used to tell me I had an easy time in college because of my laptop.

He spoke of the frustrations of banging out term papers on a typewriter, striking through minor mistakes and retyping entire pages for the big mess-ups.

I appreciated his point. I'm not sure I could complete an assignment without modern word processing. But, I asked him, did a typewriter ever distract him by providing ready access to nearly any piece of information he could desire? When he needed to be working, did his typewriter tempt him with the opportunity to chat with every friend he ever had, no matter the distance?

Work and play could be more easily separated back when the machine used to complete tasks wasn't also an excellent entertainment device.

This is a real challenge of the Information Age: the knowledge of the world is at our fingertips, but we can use it only if we can keep from goofing off.

When drowning in schoolwork with finals approaching, I have found Facebook a welcome excuse to avoid studying.

Sometimes, I have to structure my time carefully to avoid inefficient work. After setting schoolwork goals, I devote attention to their completion, without surfing Facebook at the same time.

When I really have trouble concentrating, I do the unthinkable: I pull the plug on my Internet connection.

I have found the more you practice such techniques, the more easily discipline will come to you. Try it. Your productivity may surprise you.

Facebook arrived when I was a college freshman, so unlike most college students, I remember a time without it. We wasted our time with other things, such as the instant messaging services popular back then. New wastes of time are being invented every day. More than 7 million people are on Twitter, keeping us up-to-date on when they wash the dishes and walk the dog.

This is the world we live in now. But the smart college student who acknowledges this and practices sophisticated time management won't be undone by a silly social networking Web site.

- Russell Cox is a graduate student from Florence, S.C., majoring in journalism.

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