ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (May 10) -- Jackie Bailey sat down at her desk and turned on her laptop. Once it finished booting, Bailey opened her Internet connection and did what she always does. She checked her Facebook account.
“I probably check my Facebook every time I turn on my computer,” Bailey said. “It’s just a habit.”
Bailey and other St. Bonaventure University students agreed that Facebook, a social networking website, distracts students from schoolwork and studying. Some students said they even decided to forgo Facebook for several weeks during the spring semester.
“Facebook can be distracting because you can go onto the website with the intention of only being on it for five minutes and before you know it half an hour has gone by,” said Bailey, a sophomore education major.
Alex Bulszewicz, a sophomore biology major, agreed. Bulszewicz said Facebook distracts her from schoolwork and studying.
“It’s easy to go on Facebook and see what others are doing when you don’t want to focus on your work,” she said.
However, Erika Carlson, a junior journalism and mass communication major, disagreed about how distracting Facebook can be.
“Sometimes I’m super focused on my assignment, so I won’t do anything else until I get my homework done,” Carlson said. “Other times I don’t feel like doing work and I have to force myself to get off Facebook to get my work finished,” she said.
Carlson said Facebook did not affect her study habits.
“Facebook is only distracting if you make it distracting,” she said. “You have to have the willpower to get your work done first.”
Alexandra Henry, a sophomore gerontology major, said she spent too much time on the website and decided to give up Facebook for the 40 days of Lent.
“It’s a huge distraction because you end up prioritizing Facebook in your daily life,” said Henry, who played music, meditated and prayed to keep from visiting the website.
Without Facebook distracting her, Henry said her work and study habits changed.
“I became more focused and finished my work quicker,” she said.
Sharon Rogers deactivated her Facebook account for eight weeks.
Rogers, an elementary and special education major, deactivated her account for one of her classes. Rogers’ professor challenged her and other students in the class to abstain from something they used daily.
Rogers chose to stop using Facebook after noticing how much time she spent on the website.
“Facebook was a big distraction for me from doing my schoolwork,” said Rogers.
“I would check my Facebook so much, every day in between classes, when I had nothing to do and just scroll through pictures,” she said.
Like Henry, Rogers said she put more effort into her schoolwork and studying while not using Facebook.
“I actually liked doing my work and not thinking about Facebook as much and checking it to see what happened,” she said.
After reactivating her Facebook account, Rogers observed another change.
“I don’t spend as much time on Facebook now as I did before,” Rogers said. “I don’t need it as much.”
Whatever opinion students held about Facebook, they agreed it plays a large part in today’s society, especially at colleges.
“I think it is the trend at the time and it’s a part of our culture,” Bulszewicz said.
During her time without Facebook, Rogers became aware of the importance of the website to other students.
“People would always ask me when I was getting it back or tell me things that happened on Facebook,” Rogers said. “It’s hard to find people who don’t use Facebook around a college campus.”
No comments:
Post a Comment