Photo Illustration by Bryan Cole / The Collegian

Are social networks destroying college students̢۪ studying habits?

Begin working on physics homework or log on to Facebook.

This was the internal debate Jocelyn Brown was struggling with after coming home from her three-hour lifespan and development class late Tuesday night.

Making her way to the computer, the 22-year-old health and rehabilitation sciences major typed in the Web address and waited as the Facebook Web site loaded onto the screen. She had made her decision.

“I use it to procrastinate,â€Â Brown said of the social networking site. “I end up cramming in everything at the last second.â€Â

In an Ohio State University survey released this April, researchers found that this may be the case for many students and discovered that there was a correlation between students with Facebook accounts and its affect on their academic success. Of the 206 surveyed, 146 students had accounts and the results showed that typically, Facebook users had a GPA ranging from 3.0-3.5 while non-users fell into the 3.5-4.0 academic spectrum.

Associate Professor and Graduate Director of the MCJ Graduate Program Dr. Tamyra Pierce has been researching media effects on young people for 15 years, and found data that mirrored Ohio State̢۪s within her own research involving high school students and MySpace.

“Those who had spent more time on their social networking sites had lower grades,â€Â Pierce said.

“There also tended to be a pattern of students who would say they did homework while they had their social networking site open and their cell phone on.â€Â

After hearing “MySpace me, MySpace me,â€Â from her students, Pierce began investigating the social networking site and has surveyed 800 Sanger and Fresno high school students on the relationship between media related technology and academic performance.

“It seems that a lot of students are texting and using the technology in the classroom and therefore, are not paying attention to the lectures,â€Â Pierce said. “Just a few years ago, cell phones couldn’t get access to the internet and now you can.â€Â

For 20-year-old Cynthia Figueroa, this constant connection to social networking sites through her cell phone allows Figueroa to update and log on to her account almost every hour.

“I’m basically on all the time,â€Â the pre-nursing major said. “I have Facebook mobile so it’s accessible anytime of the day. I just have to touch the icon on the screen and I’m on Facebook.â€Â

Figueroa first began utilizing social networking sites as a junior in high school and recently transitioned from a MySpace to a frequent Facebook user. She believed that with Facebook, it was easier to keep in touch with friends that otherwise would̢۪ve been difficult to remain in contact with.

Like Figueroa, Jason Salas, 20, also views Facebook as a convenient way to communicate and keep in contact with friends, but admitted that he can get preoccupied with Facebook and tries to access it only three to four times a week.

“I don’t personally do it,â€Â the civil engineering major said. “But I’ve noticed that people are constantly putting updates on their sites. It’s ridiculous.â€Â

Pierce, too, views Facebook and MySpace as good ways to network for college students, but believes that making those connections through social networking sites can act as a double edged sword.

“College students and high schoolers should be aware of what they put up on their site,â€Â Pierce said. “If there’s a whole bunch of language, pictures of drug paraphernalia or they expose themselves inappropriately in pictures, they need to remember that employers are watching these sites.â€Â

She also explained that social networking sites are beginning to have an effect on communication skills and through cyberspace, the loss of the interpersonal can show a regression in grammar, social tools, and even the ability to look at someone when speaking.

Whether or not Facebook and other social networking sites play a role in lower grade point averages, Pierce explained that it was important to understand that Facebook doesn̢۪t cause lower grades and can be influenced by other outside factors.

“It is something that can preoccupy someone and if it gets out of control and one becomes almost addicted to it then it can cause problems,â€Â Pierce said.

“But it’s like anything, whether it be video games, television, watching movies or anything that takes away from studying.â€Â