Author Spotlight
Andrew Goble
Over the last two years, social media and networking websites have emerged as the a dominant force on the internet. According to a Nielsen Media Research study in June 2010, almost 25 percent of time on the internet is now spent on social networking web sites—a 43 percent increase from just a year before. Facebook alone reports that it now has 500 active million users, 50 percent of whom log in every day.
As social media websites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter gain popularity, they also are becoming increasingly more dangerous ways to procrastinate while trying to do homework. In a survey of 102 students at East , 57 percent listed that social media has made them less productive and 30 percent listed, “Yes, but it just replaced other forms of entertainment.”
A Nucleus Research study found companies who allow their employees to use Facebook lost about 1.5 percent in productivity, while an Ohio State study found that students who used Facebook studied less and had worse grades. Larry Long, Jr., Ph.D, Senior Director of Counseling and Educational Support Services at the University of Kansas, says that part of the issue is that people overestimate how good they are at multitasking.
“If they give people some complex tasks to do, like homework, and I say ‘OK, do your homework and then turn on Facebook or Twitter or let’s check your text messages,’ what the person is going to say is that they can do that very effectively and efficiently, but what the research shows that if you are multitasking you tend to perform much worse or you’re not as efficient,” Dr. Long said.
Another difference between social media and other forms of entertainment such as TV is that they are interactive, asking for input or constant attention.
“It’s one thing to just follow somebody on Twitter,” Dr. Long said, “but to post…or to respond to texts or to read the Facebook accounts and “like” something or to respond to someone else’s comment–that would be more interactive multitasking.”
Junior Eli Mitchell estimates that when he was entering high school he was using the computer for 10 to 11 hours a day. He would stay up until 4 or 5 a.m. on weekends, and midnight or 1 a.m. on school nights, usually on social media websites or gaming on the computer. His grades fell dramatically in his freshman year as a result.
“It took kind of a whole pep talk from my parents to realize that I needed to kind of buckle down and stop spending all of my time on the internet and on computers and things like that, so it definitely messed up my transcript in that respect,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell would end up seeing a therapist, who helped him learn that the internet was an “artificial addiction.” Now, as an International Baccalaureate student who goes to bed at 9 or 10 on school nights, he has seen that his productivity has increased “a huge margin” by limiting himself to using the computer to 1 or 2 hours a day.
Senior Jonathan Dawson started using Facebook when he was a freshman. He describes the first two years as a “friend war”—trying to get the most friends on Facebook—and then later as a “like” and “comment” war—seeing who could comment on and “like” the most posts. Now he uses the Facebook Chat feature to communicate with friends he doesn’t see often, such as friends from summer camps.
“There’s a sense of belonging,” Dawson said. “It used to be really exclusive, so that had some appeal to it. Once you get hooked onto it, you’re really into it. It’s like a drug, actually, when you come to think of it.”
He generally uses social media websites for around an hour a day, but still feels less productive because of it. He tries to not multi-task too much, but if he feels the urge, he sometimes goes to the library to study.
“They have slower computers at the library,” Dawson said, “so if I want to get my work done, I know I can’t get on Facebook because it’s so slow.”
Social media websites are usually free and funded by advertising from marketers, and now teachers are starting to adapt their curriculum. There is a new social networking and social media section in DECA contests, and Business teacher Jennifer Hair sees integration of social media as important in the future of business. However, since students do not have access to most social networking websites on the school’s internet connection, she says many of these projects must take place outside of school.
“I definitely think that there’s going to have to be some compromise with that,” Hair said. “They have to do it at home, but you know, that’s okay. I have a kid working on a Lancer Boys’ Basketball page and he does it at home, and it’s totally fine.”
Business teacher Mercedes Rasmussen also sees the potential benefit of social networking websites. She hears a lot her students discussing the different ways that marketers reach out to them on different social media websites, and thinks that it will be an important aspect in the future of marketing.
“A lot of people in big business right now aren’t savvy with social networking, so my guess is that in this age student and college kids are obviously very comfortable with those,” Rasmussen said. “I think their skills taken to big business would probably be appreciated because they can teach people how to use it to their advantage with advertising.”
However, she has also seen many issues with her students since the increased use of social networking.
“Good old fashion sales face-to-face and communication, it’s going to the wayside,” Rasmussen said. “When I have to have students come up and do sales presentations in front of the class, they’re completely lost. I’ve seen a huge decline in how well my students have done in sales presentations and sales communication since [social networking has] become so big.”
Jack Martin, Deputy Director of the Office of University Communications at the University of Kansas, works to integrate social media with students. Among other duties, he is in charge of maintaining the university’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts. He sees social media as a benefit to the academic world when use properly.
“Social media will continue to play a more important part in people’s lives,” Martin said, “and as a result will be important in the life of the university.”
Facebook pages like Martin’s are becoming part of the wave of academic solutions to students spending hours on the internet per night. KU Admissions recruiters are now on Facebook, and fan pages for the Class of 2015 and 2016 have been created. This way, Martin hopes that students interested in the school can utilize this resource while on Facebook.
“Students interested in KU or students planning on coming here can become a fan of the pages…find out more about KU, maybe interact with some of the people who are going to be in those classes,” Martin said. “It’s a way to start building the KU community before people even arrive on campus.”
Dr. Long also thinks that social media is a good way to help people “get connected to more individuals,” and that it can still remain in the lives of a productive individual. When he works with helping his medical students become more efficient, he first starts by attempting to separate work from any distractors.
“I think the best thing to do is if you are going to get on Facebook, if you are going to text, you should fully devote yourself to that,” Dr. Long said. “If you’re gonna do something else, like study or some other complex task, fully focus on that and you’re going to get more bang for your buck with your time.”
He suggests to his medical students that they experiment for a week without any multitasking at all, and see if they can study for the “least amount of time necessary.” This is also helps reduce the “inertia cost,” what he calls the psychological disadvantage of constantly restarting studying.
“You know how it takes a little while to get into doing homework?” Dr. Long said. “Sometimes it takes people 10-15-20 minutes to even sort of get into a flow with the homework. Well if you are constantly starting and stopping that, starting and stopping that…you lose that inertia time.”
As social media grows in size and in the variety of ways in which it can be accessed, Dr. Long thinks trying to separate browsing interactive media from studying is the best way to ensure that both can be done positively.
“I find most people are just amazed at the end of [not multitasking for a week] how much better it is,” Dr. Long said, “and how much quicker they cut through and how much more they get out of whatever they’re into.”
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