A survey has found that a large proportion of Britain’s top students are struggling to balance the distraction of social networking with their studies, and that some could even be battling Facebook addiction. This comes after a US university recently banned social networking from its campus in the first experiment of its kind.
42% of 200 university students surveyed at Cambridge, Oxford, Reading, LSE, UCL and Imperial reported that using the internet was often getting in the way of their studies. The survey was carried out by iFreeFace.com, which produces distraction-blocking software for students.
A lecturer in the Media and Communications Department at the LSE, Dr Ellen Helsper said “Studies on excessive use and social uses of the internet show that these young people constantly have to weigh the benefits against the disadvantages of being ‘wired’...it is likely that a healthy integration of technologies into everyday life will become more and more important for our social and mental health.”
Meanwhile, Harrisburg University in the US state of Pennsylvania has gone to the extent of banning Facebook from its campus for a trial week in what it calls an experiment on multi-tasking. The idea of the university’s provost, Eric Darr, was to undertake an experiment to find out what distracting impact social media and multitasking were having on college life.
Giovanni Acosta, 21, a student at Harrisburg, found the experiment surprisingly beneficial. "I had to log on to Facebook even though I knew it was blocked, and I did that every 10 minutes or so, again and again," he said. "But now the itch has gone. I've learnt how much I was being distracted."
The impact of social networking on students has led iFreeFace.com to develop a novel solution. The iFreeFace application enables students to set time limits on any computer-based distraction, including websites and games. iFreeFace is designed to help those who might otherwise suffer from Facebook addiction. This leads to improved concentration and focus when performing tasks such as online research and essay writing.
About iFreeFace
iFreeFace is a PC software that helps to overcome Facebook addiction and enables students to set daily time limits on social networking sites and games. iFreeFace is a trading name of Exceltasks Ltd, a British startup.
Survey Methodology
Survey was conducted via online questionnaires. Students at the specific universities were reached via Facebook advertisements. Those who clicked through from the advertisement to the survey were counted as respondents. Each respondent was asked three questions 1) Are you a full-time student? 2) At which university do you study? 3) Do you find that the internet gets in the way of your studies? (Answer options: a) No b) Yes, often c) Yes, occasionally
The proportion of students who find the internet distracting was calculated from the number of full-time students who answered b) or c) to question 3, divided by the total number of impressions of the survey.
According to recent research by Ofcom, 37% of adults and 60% of teens admit to being ‘highly addicted’ to their smartphones, with users checking their smartphones on average, 34 times a day. Additionally, 51% of adults and 65% of teens use their smartphones while socializing with others, and 22% and 47% respectively, confess to answering their smartphones even while on the toilet.
ReplyDeleteSo the International 'Moodoff Day’ is encouraging people around the world to avoid using smartphones for a few hours on February 26. The organization is urging adults and teenagers to spend from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. that day without using their smartphone. This events will celebrate each year on last Sunday of February.
if you feel you could benefit from a morning without smartphones and mobile devices and want to encourage others to follow suit, go to www.MoodOffDay.org and pledge your support. You can even post your personal experiences of smartphone addiction or upload funny images showing smartphone addicts in action at www.facebook.com/MoodOffDay .
Moodoff Day is aiming to raise awareness of smart phone addiction and to minimise the impact on relationships, work/life balance, reduce risk of injury in traffic and improve quality of life.