An open laptop, scattered papers and a buzzing phone surround freshman Reagan Anthony as she tries to work on her 10-page essay for English 1020.
“Every hour I give myself a 10-minute social media break just to de-stress,” Anthony said, glancing at her phone before writing more notes.
A recent study by researchers at the University of Alabama and Lock Haven University was performed to examine how the use of social media while trying to complete schoolwork was related to a college student’s GPA.
The study suggests that texting and using Facebook have a negative outcome on a student’s GPA.
“Engaging in Facebook use or texting while trying to complete school work taxes the student’s limited capacity for cognitive processing and precludes deeper learning,” the study concludes.
Social media, including texting and emailing, is a normal part of most students’ study time, according to the research —on average a student sends up to 71 texts per day while doing schoolwork.
“I text when I study. I like that it gives me little breaks,” said Anthony, a U of M student from Nashville.
Sophomore chemistry major Audri Jerrolds has a different technique when it comes to study habits and social media influences.
“I check social media maybe once a day, and if I’m studying, my phone is away. I get too distracted,” said Jerrolds, a member of the U of M women’s softball team, who is from Savannah, Tenn.
The study concludes that Facebook and texting cause distractions and make it harder for students to focus on one thing because their brain is being stretched in so many different directions.
“There is only a limited amount of information that can be held in the working memory and when that limit is reached, other information cannot be held,” the study said.
“It’s easy to become overwhelmed when you’re studying because of all the information being processed. I couldn’t handle adding social media on top of that,” Jerrolds said.
Despite their differences in study habits, both Anthony and Jerrolds agree that social media doesn’t belong everywhere. It has its time and place just like everything else — and study time may not be one of them.
