Social networking affects on college students
According to an online article by Jeff Bullas, social media coach, one in every 13 people on Earth are on Facebook and also 48 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds check Facebook right when they wake up.
The growing number of social networking sites leads us to question if it is affecting the attention span of college students, who often look down at their phones when they lose interest in class.
Kelsey Atkinson, Kinesiology major uses Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and also a mobile application that offers the ability to send friends pictures called “Snap Chat.” She admitted social networking accounts for 60 percent of her internet usage and 40 percent included other uses, such a research.
“I feel like Facebook interconnects everything because you use it for everything, [ex. school and work],” Atkinson said.
Facebook has not only become a place for friends to chat and share photos with one another but it is also a place for business and schoolwork. It is no longer uncommon to ‘friend’ classmates on Facebook instead of taking down their phone number. Also the use of marketing on Facebook has become predominant.
According to smartinsights.com, 90 percent of marketers do some form of content marketing, and 74 percent of that is the use of social media (excluding blogs).
Jessica Chene, Oceanography and Art major, uses only Facebook and mainly uses the Internet for research and playing online games. She also admitted to using her phone during class time on occasion.
It has become difficult for college professors who have a constant battle between giving students fair freedom to use social networking devices, but also maintain the attention of the students during class time.
Saddleback students were asked whether it was rude to be on their phone while your friend is talking and they agreed it was; but those same students admitted to texting during class while the professor is talking.
The growth of social media and technology has lead students to be faced with more decisions on how to use or abuse this growing technology.