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Bad Grades? Blame Facebook.
Facebook has been blamed for a lot -- from firings and arrests to millions of dollars in lost productivity -- but now, according to a new study, Facebook can be blamed for ruining college students' GPAs. Aryn Karpinski of Ohio State University and Adam Duberstein of Ohio Dominican University surveyed 219 undergraduate and graduate students and found that, on average, students who use Facebook receive a full grade point lower than their Facebook-abstinent peers.
"Maybe [Facebook users] are just prone to distraction," Karpinski told Time, "maybe they are just procrastinators." While not a member herself, Karpinksi was inspired to undertake the study a few years back when, working as a teaching assistant, she noticed her students' growing obsession with the site. These days, Facebook is the largest social networking site on the Web, recently exceeding 200 million members.
It's true that time spent on Facebook could be time spent studying, but we agree with Facebook's response -- that it isn't the only distraction in the world. Would this study have turned out differently if, instead of looking at Facebook, it examined people who regularly watched TV or played video games? We doubt it. In fact, British think-tank Demos recently conducted a study whose conclusion stated that social networking sites might actually be good for business and help to increase productivity. [From: Time]
Facebook Crime and Punishment
Blackmail
Sending any personal info or incriminating pictures to someone on Facebook is a huge mistake for many reasons. One of the worst possible outcomes is getting blackmailed for money, sex, or, well, anything these sickos dream up. Really, whether they're using a fake profile or not, it's a horrible idea. Read up on the story of an 18-year-old who blackmailed 31 male classmates after he posed as a girl and asked for nude pictures. That's lesson enough.
Impostors
Sure, it can be harmless to impersonate a celeb online or create a fake profile for a movie character. But seriously, there's a definite line you shouldn't cross when pretending to be someone else and it can lead to dire consequences for you. Maybe it's not as extreme as the Moroccan man who was jailed for 43 days after creating a fake Facebook profile of a prince, but you never know. Just steer clear of it.
Self-Incrimination
Do we really have to explain this? Just look up the shoplifter who posed with her stolen merchandise, the many photos of drunk underage teens, and, most recently, the album featuring a couple who killed and ate an endangered iguana in the Bahamas.
Suicide
Social networking sites has been blamed for a lot of things, fairly and unfairly, but in our opinion, the worst offense has been their indirect involvement in suicides. Obviously, there are a lot of factors responsible in each case, but there does seem to be links between social networking and a rash of suicides, and obviously tehre's the case tragic of Megan Meier, who killed herself after a classmate's mom impersonated a teen boy and harassed her over Myspace.
Murder
We've reported on numerous incidents of people getting in trouble because of their online behavior. Now, people are becoming victims because of what they're doing on the Web too. In England, a man was convicted of murdering his estranged wife after she changed her relationship status to "single." So, be careful of who can see your profile and what you're doing, no matter how harmless it seems.
Nigerian Scammers
Oh, you thought this only happened via poorly worded emails, right? WRONG. Once people got wise to their old ways, these con men are turning to social networking sites for new targets. This time, they're hacking into people's accounts and impersonating them to ask for money, usually with some weird sob story. You can check out a transcript of one of these conversations here.
Cooperation
Even if the law isn't on a case, a victim, his friends, or empathetic strangers might be. Since it's easy to get word out for anything online, people are using blogs, forums, and social networking sites to help track down criminals. In one such case, a vehicle thief was tracked down by a bunch of anonymous car enthusiasts after the victim posted his story on a forum. In the end, they identified the guy through his Facebook profile.
Self-Incrimination
Do we really have to explain this? Just look up the shoplifter who posed with her stolen merchandise, the many photos of drunk underage teens, and, most recently, the album featuring a couple who killed and ate an endangered iguana in the Bahamas.
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Comments
6
Subscribe to commentsAdam KApr 16th 2009 9:49PM
You think maybe it's that people who don't get involved with Facebook are those with higher grade point averages normally? I figure that, with most people having a facebook nowadays, you've got to have a reason to *not* use it.
K DogApr 17th 2009 7:26AM
I don't really think Facebook has anything to do with it. If you want good grades you can earn them. If you'd rather slack off, you don't get good grades. What you do when you're slacking off isn't the cause.
aj121489Apr 19th 2009 12:17AM
I agree. I'm lazy and slack off all the time, I just use the Facebook/the internet in general because it's easiest.
Your name on here is really weird because that's my sisters nickname, I just never thought someone else would think of it much less use it lol. That's even what I have her as in my phone lol.
Brad SmithApr 17th 2009 7:02PM
Has anyone thought that those people that don't use a social network such as facebook just don't have a social life. No social life means more time to study which in turn should mean better grades. I passed college with a 3.9, and can't think of one day that I did not log onto facebook from the computer or the phone.
JuneMay 12th 2009 2:30PM
The study reported here is too flawed to draw any conclusions. Check out other sources here: http://21stcenturyscholar.org/2009/05/12/does-facebook-affect-your-grades/
SRMay 27th 2009 11:07PM
That's funny, I use facebook a lot and I had a 4.0 this semester. Overall my GPA is 3.67. People are just lazy sometimes and submit assignments just to get them in. I see it all the time with friends and fellow classmates.