Outer Rim Territories

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Facebook Users Are Poorer Students — And Dont Know It

Facebook Users Are Poorer Students — And Dont Know It | Epicenter from Wired.com

Like drunk drivers who insist to the arresting officer that the booze has no affect on their ability behind the wheel, college students who are on Facebook are poorer students than those who dont partake — and say it has no impact on their studies. A study by a Ohio State University education researcher Aryn Karpinski found that the GPAs of Facebook users were in the 3.0 to 3.5 range, compared to 3.5-4.0 for non users. Not a huge spread, but maybe the difference between the grad school of your choice and your safe school. True scientist that she is, Karpinski reports this as a correlation, not necessarily a matter of cause and effect.
This and a heavy dose of law preaching from my campus friends convinced me. I no longer get email from Facebook. I am absconding Twitter. They are over. Yes, I read blogs but I've whittled those down to maybe 60 posts per day, many of which can be easily skimmed or captured for archive. Its far too easy to waste time.

Apr 16, 2009
Aunt Nancy said...
Yea, I'm beginning to wonder about this too. I'm trying to limit my friends list to family and those whom I don't see very often. I'm not going to do twitter. Fortunately, I am blocked from facebook at work so that is not a temptation. Times are "a-changin'", but is this for the better? Our back door neighbor told us yesterday that she lost her job at the newspaper after 36 years. Another sign of times are "a-changin'", what is the future of the newspaper? My thought is it will go away all together as the next generation will read everything on-line. Sad, but true. I'm keeping a close eye on Facebook and will see what I decide over time.
Apr 16, 2009
dizziness said...
Agreed. Even e-mail is something to work on. I'm trying to get in the habit of only checking it when I can fully process every email. INBOX ZERO! is our new mantra. There is no doubt we're approaching information overload and so little of it is good.

I get the whole pirate thing but is it really an all day news item?
Apr 17, 2009
Mom said...
But, I feel like, at least, I can hear something from my "friends." I don't always write e-mails or call on the phone, so Facebook keeps me in touch a little.
Apr 17, 2009
dizziness said...
I agree. It is a fine way to build a contact network. Unfortunately so much of what is "shared" is not useful at all, e.g. the obsessive amount of quizzes.

I'm not deleting my account. The reality is that many people have become dependent on it for communication. I'm sure it will be the same within the congregation, especially if it is younger.

I'm not checking it more than twice a day now, along with Google News and RSS feeds, kind of like a morning and evening paper.