The time students spend “poking” friends, posting photos and updating their status on Facebook may bear some relationship to how they’re faring academically, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that students who use the popular networking site spend less time studying and have lower grade point averages compared to those not on Facebook.
Study co-author Aryn Karpinski, a doctoral student and graduate teaching associate at Ohio State University, said the researchers wanted to look at demographic differences of student Facebook users and non-users and to investigate their typical profiles.
The researchers surveyed 219 students at Ohio State — 102 undergraduates and 117 graduates — in the summer and fall quarters of 2008.
Facebook users were typically younger, full-time students majoring in statistics, technology, math, engineering and medicine, Karpinski said.
When it came to academic achievement, Facebook users surveyed had GPAs between 3.0 and 3.5, a B, compared to non-users with GPAs between 3.5 and 4.0 — an A, said Karpinski.
