University Students Spend Six Hours a Day on Facebook, YouTube and Sending Texts, Even During Lectures

Youtube (Photo credit: Pomeroy Gigantic)

by Schools Improvement Net: http://schoolsimprovement.net/university-students-spend-six-hours-a-day-on-facebook-youtube-and-sending-texts-even-during-lectures/

The Mail is reporting new research that suggests some university students are spending six hours a day or more on social networking sites, looking at YouTube or sending text messages to friends …

The findings come as academics complain they are having to expel students from their lectures for not paying attention.

The survey, by accommodation providers Unite Student, found that 75 per cent of undergraduates spend between half an hour and two hours a day on Facebook or Twitter, with one in ten poring over the sites for at least three hours.

A similar proportion look at ‘video upload’ sites such as YouTube for between half an hour and two hours. Seven per cent watch them for three hours or more. Nearly ten per cent then spend more than three hours using free text messaging services.

Dr Mark Griffiths, a psychologist and expert on social media at Nottingham Trent University, said more and more students used the sites during his lectures. ‘If I see anybody on their mobile, I stop the lecture until they put their phone away,’ he said. ‘If it happens a second time, they are out of my lecture …’.

Ok, so the headline has picked out the worse examples rather than the norm, but are you concerned by the amount of time this research suggests students are spending on social media and equivalent sites, or is it just the way things are in today’s world (and perhaps the equivalent of watching Neighbours and Home and Away or whatever you did to avoid study when you were a student!)? Please share in the comments or via Twitter…