Procrastination Station

This will be my last blog post, since they are due tonight at midnight. My original plan was to have them all done weeks ago, but of course with everything around me, I waited until the last day to finish. I would like to blame facebook, myspace, twitter and online shopping. Without this social networking sites that I have become obsessive and dependent on, I believe I would get a lot more done and not have so many excused to lead me to procrastinate.

With so many distractions, it's easy to see why studies have shown that people who are connected with social networking sites get lower grades than those who don't have online accounts. A study held at Ohio State University conducted by a graduate student Aryn Karpinski, found that users in her study that were one facebook had average gpas of 3.0-3.5, while students who werent on facebook were in the 3.5-4.0 range. That may not seem like a huge difference, but when it comes to getting into graduate school or applying for a job, the use of a facebook might work against you. Facebook users also avereaged a study time of 5 hours per week, while non-facebook users were studying 11-15 hours per week.

Althought students themselves may not admit that these sites are reaking havoc on their education, it is apparent in the many studys that have been done that they are. When you are on a site like facebook or myspace while trying to write a paper, you are constantly going back and checking your page. A simple paper that should take no more than an hour ends up taking three hours, all because you couldnt focus. There are even facebook groups about facebook runing their concentration or i'd rather be facebooking than studying. What once started as a site for just college students to encourage studying and maintaing relatinships, has now spread to everyone, including young junior high and highschool students. Are these sites setting a bad example for study habits in the present and future? If high schools students are already going down hill with their grades, will it get worse in college?

Parents also worry about their kids not getting a full education because of social networking sites. Although they do bring friends together, they don't bring grades up. I can think of countless times where I have been in the library on my computer studying, with a seperate tab logged on to my facebook page just in case I got a new update. Instead of researching for a particular subject, I research friends pages. Hours at spent wasted online instead of studying. In my generation, we were all brought up with these sites. Facebook and myspace started when we started going to highschool and college. We have been in the habit of using these sites for the beginning, and now its getting worse.

With sites like twitter, that is being called the best marketing and pr tool, it might even affect our jobs and what we do. Since workplaces now encourage using these sites to connect to people and get a product or idea out there, it gived workers an excuse to use these sites even if its not for work.

Procrastination also comes when studying with friends. Not only are friends together studying, but they are both on facebook chatting with eachother and other friends. In this case, It helps interpersonal relationships because study groups form. Although they are not using their time wisely, they are together and interacting to somepoint while attempting to study. Social networking sites are good for making plans and keeping up with friends, but for your academics, it can be lethal.