Research + News | Topic: Internet

When College Kids Surf the Web in Class, Grades Fall

Study finds the habit hurts academics, and supports the notion of leaving laptops at home. Read the article here.

College Students’ Internet Addiction Has Mixed Effects On Families

On one hand, the Internet helps keep college students connected to their families when they are apart, but when they are together, their family complains about their excessive use of the Internet. Read the article here.

Split Image

ESPN takes a look at the life of Madison Holleran, a college student who, according to her Instagram account, seemed to have it all together. The truth was much different as she committed suicide in 2014.

Read the article here.

Searching the Web in Class is a Bad Idea

surfingtheweA study by Michigan State University scholars, funded by the National Science Foundation, found that “even the smartest college students suffer academically when they use the Internet in class for non-academic purposes.”

From the report:

“All students, regardless of intellectual ability, had lower exam scores the more they used the Internet for non-academic purposes such as reading the news, sending emails and posting Facebook updates…

The study also showed students discounted the effects of Internet use on academic performance, reinforcing past findings that students have poor awareness of how their smartphones and laptops affect learning.”

Read the full report here.

Do Students Prefer Online or Face-to-Face Courses?

According to a study released by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University, “most students preferred to take only ‘easy’ academic subjects online; they preferred to take ‘difficult’ or ‘important’ subjects face-to-face.”

Read the press release here.

Download the full report (.pdf) here.

Social Media and Poor Academic Performance

A study published in the journal, Emerging Adult, found freshmen “women were spending nearly 12 hours a day texting, using the Internet for social media networking, or listening to music and watching videos. Researchers found much of this high use of media was associated with lower grade point averages (GPAs) and other negative academic outcomes.”

Read the full report here.

Does College Play a Role in Media Consumption?

According to the most recent Nielsen Cross-Platform Report, the 18-24 year-old consumer demographic consumes media where it can, when it can. Nearly half the viewers in this demo grab their smartphones at least once per day while watching TV, topping any other group. This group also spends the most time watching video on the Internet—almost an hour-and-a-half each week. Consumption differs, however, within the 18-24 demo itself, and the variations are predicated on consumer lifestyle, education and living situation.

Read the full report here.

Teens Without Internet Are Educationally Disadvantaged

A new study by Oxford University’s department of education has shown that teenagers without web access are actually at a serious disadvantage educationally and socially.

Read the full report here.

Young Teens Use Mobile Devices for Homework

According to a recent poll by the research firm TRU more than a third of tweens and young teenagers in the United States said they are using smartphones to do homework. Smartphones were used at home for schoolwork by 39% of 11 to 14 year olds, 31% of those surveyed said they did assignments on a tablet while nearly 65% used laptops.

Read the full report from Reuters here.

How Teens Do Research in the Digital World

A survey from the Pew Research Center reveals that 77% of advanced placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers say that the internet and digital search tools have had a “mostly positive” impact on their students’ research work. But 87% say these technologies are creating an “easily distracted generation with short attention spans” and 64% say today’s digital technologies “do more to distract students than to help them academically.”

Read an overview of the research here.

Download the full report (.pdf) here.