Social Networking sites are currently the most popular online activity. With the number of users on Facebook surpassing 500 million the impact of social networking sites on society is beginning to attract many people’s attention. As a college student at the University of California – Berkeley it is not hard ponder the negative effects that social networking sites like Facebook might have on student performance.
Every week undergraduates spend multiple hours on Facebook, from updating their status to posting a funny picture they took from last night. But how do they find the time on top of the growing responsibilities of college. Well, the truth is they don’t. Instead of studying for an up and coming exam or completing their necessary readings, many students become entranced by the continuously updating News Feed as well as by the many other features Facebook has to offer. It is not uncommon to be in a large class lecture and see ten or so people in front of you on their laptops looking at their Facebook profiles; it can be quite distracting sometimes.
This ‘addiction’ has forced some to put limits on their Facebook usage. It is amazing what students will do in order to prevent themselves from going on time draining websites like Facebook. A roommate of mine recently downloaded an app called Self Control. This Mac application allows the user to choose his or her own distracting websites and set a given amount of time, up to one day, for the sites to be blocked. Besides other programs similar to the Self Control app, social network users have also deactivated their accounts or had a friend change their password just to avoid the increasing temptations of Facebook. But to what extent do these methods actually prevent the user from accessing Facebook? The Self Control app may prevent you my logging on via a computer, but in today’s technological world it is not uncommon for a student to have a phone with access to the web. Not only have students felt the immediate effects of Facebook, but many companies have also seen productivity go down as a result of employees spending time on networking sites. In the United Kingdom, an employment website polled a group of employees and found that 6% spent more than an hour on social networking sites every day. Now at first I thought that this was an insignificant amount, but according to MyJobGroup.co.uk this small fraction accounts for more than 22 billion dollars’ worth in lost time. Many businesses have taken an approach to prevent employees from misusing their time by restricting time allowed on Facebook or completely blocking it.
This business approach brings up the question of whether universities will limit student access to particular sites in the future. At UC-Berkeley, all dorm residents already have restrictions on total bandwidth, limiting the amount of data uploaded or downloaded from the internet. Cal’s internet usage limitation is mostly related to campus funding, but it is not too far to say that one day colleges may enact rules to prohibit excessive use of Facebook and other networking sites to improve student performance.
I like the idea of the app Self Control and I also agree that it might be distracting if you can see what people are surfing on their computers.
ReplyDeleteUniversity should be a place that students learn to be independent. Independence also implies that a student should learn to be self-disciplined, take care of itself and be responsible for his/her behaviors. Enacting rules might be effective in short time, but it doesn't help the student learn to be self-disciplined.
Even if rules were enacted or Facebook was blocked there are still many way of accessing Facebook without the University's internet. Cell phone is an example as stated. Even if it was possible, students would either get distracted by something else or complain about their rights. As Bob states it may require discipline or even more.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, that a student should learn to be self-disciplined, but that still doesn't change the fact that social networking sites attribute to decreased student performance.
ReplyDeleteStudents would definitely find other ways to waste their time if the use of Facebook were limited, or, as Chue said, they would simply access the site through networks other than Berkeley's. I wasn't trying to imply that further restrictions would actually reduce the negative impact Facebook has on students, but I do feel that at some point the college may attempt to reduce student use of social networking sites in order improve the grades of the student population. I don't know if it is a rumor or what, but I recently heard from an RA that Berkeley was thinking of privatizing the college in order to boost our schools rank as well as increase funding. Now if they would do this, it wouldn't be so unreasonable to say Berkeley would increase the restrictions on their network.
Whenever there are laptops in class there are always Facebook pages open. I saw somewhere that one professor asks the staff that films him (he teaches in a big lecture hall where he is to be projected onto a screen behind the podium) to zoom in on Facebook pages during lecture. His theory is that after he embarrasses a few kids then the rest won't go on Facebook during his lecture.
ReplyDeleteThe self control app is pretty cool. I think that Facebook is a legitimate addiction for some people. I would be curious to see an application that times how long and active someone is on Facebook. It could record statistics of how active one is by the hour, day, or week. I think many of us will be shocked to see the amount of time we've spent on Facebook mindlessly clicking around.
I agree that students spend too much time on Facebook. I also agree that putting restrictions on their usage won't help much. I assume that most students who attend Berkeley are responsible enough to manage their time. They voluntarily applied to come study at Berkeley and are paying a good sum of money to be here. I could see how restrictions in the workplace could be helpful, because employees usually get paid the same amount regardless of time spent working. On the other hand, students studying more usually mean higher grades. To me there already seems to be an incentive to study and not go on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI don't really understand the point of the Self Control app. It seems somewhat ridiculous that people need a program to do something that they could accomplish by simply not doing anything. If you are too busy to go on Facebook, why not just not go on Facebook?
I thought it was ridiculous as well. The application is called Self Control, but the computer is doing the controlling; it is somewhat comical.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of people using Facebook in class:
ReplyDeleteIn many of my economics classes in high school and at Berkeley, we've talked about the use of computers in class and the costs and benefits to both the individual and society. You can argue (I don't necessarily agree with this point of view) that an individual receives benefits from using Facebook in a lecture hall. Yet, in almost all cases, there is a large external cost to society when one person is on Facebook and students behind him or her can see the computer screen. From personal experience, someone looking through party photos from last weekend or chatting with friends on a computer in front of me can throw me off so much from what is being lectured. It's difficult to look at the professor and concentrate when the person in front of you is on Facebook. I know companies can restrict certain websites from being used while on their networks. Do you think it would be beneficial for Berkeley to ban certain sites such as Facebook from being used on AirBears? While I don't believe this is the best solution, something could be done to get rid of the external costs of excessive Facebook use.
I taught a class at a university in Mexico last summer which banned FB and Youtube. It was disastrous. I actually had things to teach about these sites and couldn't demo them on campus. I had to go back to my hotel and take screen shots.
ReplyDeleteThere is actually research (sorry I can't recall the reference, will look it up) that shows that FB use doesn't decrease student performance overall. Of course, I think if you feel it is, then it is.
I sometimes use a word processing program that takes over my screen and doesn't allow me access to the internet or other programs. It's good for when I have to write. It's not self control, but it is a good reminder to stay on task.
As someone who went to college pre-FB and mostly pre-internet, I can assure you we found loads of other ways to waste time.
wow nice blog and i like this article YouTube is the video-sharing site that almost everyone has seen. The videos are shared online, the key words are added so that people can search for these terms or the Socialkik title.
ReplyDeletei really like this idea... face book is effecting students` life adversely. so they should manage their time according to their educational level.
ReplyDelete