College students today are logging on the Internet faster than they're opening up their textbooks.
But is that so bad?
The Internet plays a major role in American lives, to be specific 64 percent of Internet users said their daily routines and activities would change if they couldn't use the Net, according to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project published in August.
"There are simply too many valuable resources and possibilities offered by the Internet and World Wide Web to attempt to coexist without acknowledging the potential," said Lee Allen, instructor in the college of education.
A demographic that may be affected more is the one that you can't miss if you step on to The University of Memphis campus.
More than 8 out of every 10 students have logged on to the Internet, 27 percent higher than the general public.
Ebony Stafford, freshman biology major, said she spends four to five hours on the Net per day, and not all of it may help her grades or education.
Is the Internet a source of educational information or a mere distraction?
"I think it's both, it helps me when I need the Internet to look up stuff," she said. "But when I'm supposed to be writing a paper, I'm on the Internet."
Karen Russell, senior education major, gets sidetracked from her schoolwork.
"I'll start doing my stuff that I'm supposed to be doing, then maybe two hours into it, (the Internet) distracts me," she said.Stafford isn't the only one who uses the Internet to find information for classes.
According to another survey by Pew Project from 2002, only 10 percent of college students said they used the Internet for entertainment purposes only. But the date of the survey may not be indicative of today's more advanced student.
"I believe most students understand the appropriate use and purpose of the Internet," Allen said. "But the Web is a great, big virtual playground/shopping mall/den of iniquity and more, so it is an easy source of distraction, particularly in computer lab settings."
While it's unclear whether students are better off with the Internet or not, it has played a big role in students' education in this election year.
"You can look at Bush's site, you can look at Kerry's site, and you can look at BBC's site and look at what other people in other countries have to say," said Austin Selby, junior history major.
The Net has also changed how students communicate with their professors.
Russell says she can e-mail her professors if she doesn't feel comfortable in class.
"Definitely, it's easier because the classes are so large, like auditoriums, you don't have that individual attention that you could in smaller classes, so it's easy to do by e-mail," she said.
Colleges today may be in somewhat of an Internet gap between themselves and professors.
Twenty percent of college students were first introduced to computers between the ages of 5 and 8. But today's professors may have not had that luxury.
"I have several teachers that have taken pretty good use of it," Selby said. "Then again there are some that don't have a clue."Are students in time when they are more technologically advanced than their educators?
"Unfortunately, many professors are not adequately prepared or challenged to incorporate these possibilities into their teaching, and thus the students' learning, process," Allen said.
