College Students and Facebook

Have you ever wondered how Facebook could be affecting you as a college student? These particular researchers examined how using Facebook affects the attitudes of college students in regards to self-esteem and college adjustment. This is definitely something that relates to college students, as the average undergraduate student spends several hours a day on this social media website. Through their study, they predicted a positive relationship between Facebook and social adjustment, and a negative relationship between Facebook, self-esteem, and emotional adjustment. They also expected to find that there would be a difference between the first-year students and upper-class students.

The results of this study were extremely fascinating and may be useful for F&M student to know. It turns out that first-year students had a greater emotional connection to Facebook, as well as spending more time on the site as well. This study also found that first-year students had fewer friends on Facebook than upper class students did; this definitely seems to be true in my own experiences. As students join a new network, they have a lot of new friends, even people they have never met. When their time at their respective school continues, they begin to delete the students that they don’t know, therefore having less friends than during their first year.

Another point that this article expressed the fact that a greater number of Facebook friends may impede adjustment in terms of academics. This could be true, in that the more friends one has on a social media site, the more time they will spend talking to their friends. In that case, they do not spend enough time on their studies and work, which could be a factor in low grades.

Using a self-esteem scale, the researchers also found that the more time spent of Facebook, the lower the self-esteem of the individual. I think that this claim differs from person to person, but in general, people who have lower self-esteem may also be the same people that feel socially awkward. In that case, they need sites like Facebook to help with making friends and staying in touch with people. It is also seen that first-year students had negative adjustment in terms of emotions and academics, yet there was positive social adjustment and attachment to one’s school for upperclassmen. This illustrates that as students grow and change, they begin to use Facebook more effectively and connect with their peers, rather than using it as a procrastination tool. Being a House Advisor for first-year students, helping them to adjust and grow, I have definitely seen this happening at F&M.

This could be a wake up call to all incoming first year students at any college. Instead of making friends on Facebook and spending time behind the computer on social networking sites, it may be more effective to get out on campus! Meet people through clubs and activities that interest you. While this may be hard to shy and introverted people, it may help with your adjustment to college life, including socially and academically.

Kalpidou, M., Costin, D., & Morris, J. A. (2011). The relationship between facebook and the well-

        being of undergraduate college students. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 

       14(4), 183-189.