WEBCAST: MySpace use linked to lower grades

FRESNO
March 7, 2007 11:35am

High school students who spent significant time viewing social networking Web sites such as MySpace, text-messaging on cell phones or instant-messaging on computers often saw their grades drop, according to research by Tamyra Pierce of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at California State University, Fresno.

According to the study of students in three Fresno high schools and one in Sanger, 49 percent of students responding reported lower grades than last year.

Students with MySpace accounts – 72 percent – reported their grades were significantly lower this year than last year, compared to students without MySpace accounts, Ms. Pierce says.

(Ms. Pierce talks about the findings in a CVBT Audio Interview. Listen or download to your iPod or PC by clicking on the link below.)

“We can’t know for sure that MySpace caused the lower grades,” Ms. Pierce says, “but when compared to other after-school activities only MySpace showed significance.”

More than half of the students surveyed said they check their MySpace accounts at least once a day, and 59 percent spend between 30 minutes and six hours daily on MySpace.

Two percent said they spend seven or more hours a day on MySpace, a popular site used by teens and others as an online meeting place. Like diaries available to the public online, the sites allow users to tell about themselves and their activities, post pictures, play songs and chat with “friends” around the world.

Among the survey’s other findings:

• Forty-two percent of students who have MySpace accounts said they “always,” “frequently” or “sometimes” have MySpace open while doing homework

• Four out of ten (41 percent) who have text messaging capability said they text message while doing homework. More than three-quarters of students surveyed had cell phones, and more than 81 percent of them had text-messaging capability

• Of 353 students with instant-messaging capability (68 percent of the survey group), 27 percent said they have IM open while doing homework

• A third (34 percent) of students with MySpace accounts said they put off homework to spend time on MySpace

Ms. Pierce says students who had MySpace accounts open while doing homework and students who “put off” doing homework to be on MySpace reported lower grades on current report cards than students who did not.

Nearly half of students (47 percent) also reported that they text message while in class and 12 percent said they text message during an exam.

“For years television has been the technology that preoccupied teens’ time and distracted them from their homework. However, with the advancement in technology, teens now have many other gadgets that can keep them from their obligations,” says Ms. Pierce.

“Just as parents were encouraged to set time limits on television and computer use after school, so too should they set guidelines for using MySpace, cell phones and other technology that may interfere with their educational priorities,” she said.

The results are based on surveys of 517 students attending three high schools in Fresno and Sanger. Co-researcher Roberto Vaca, a guidance learning specialist at Sanger High School and a graduate of Fresno State, suggested the project.