I think I’m really going to blow your mind with this one. It turns out that using Facebook not only makes you stupid, it also makes you delusional. Yes, it’s true. A recent study of college students shows that those students using Facebook got worse grades and said the social networking site did not interfere with their studying habits. Yep. Stupid and delusional. Sounds like fun.
However, while I hate to spoil the hate parade I’m starting up here, let’s all remember that correlation does not equal causation. That is, just because two things are seen together quite often, that doesn’t mean one thing caused the other. Specifically, this doesn’t mean that Facebook is causing the lower grades. It could be that the students were already stupid and delusional and then just happened to stumble onto Facebook. I, for one, am not buying that last one, though.
The study did show that students who work more hours at jobs
spend less time on Facebook, while students involved in more extracurricular
activities were also more likely to use Facebook.
Such results may help . . . researchers better
understand the profile of the average user on the popular social
networking site. Early findings show that over 85 percent of undergrads use
Facebook, compared to 52 percent of grad students.
Yeah, I know. Hypocracy of the highest order. Especially considering I’m on Facebook myself. I really do know what a time suck this thing is. Right now, I’ve got at least 15 messages in my e-mail inbox from Facebook telling me that people have written on my wall there, want to be friends with me, or have given me some sort of present. I just haven’t had the time to really get back to it all. Thank goodness I’m something of a misanthrope. Imagine if I actually placed a great deal of importance on keeping up with people I last saw 25 years ago or maintaining my Facebook site. I’d never get anything else done and I’m already too much of a procrastinator to be allowed out on my own.
So, just another fun thing to watch out for when you’re trying to raise healthy, happy little dudes.
– Richard
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