The District Chronicles

Issue date: 9/20/09 Section: Student Life

Media Credit: dailymail.co.uk Studies show that facebook can have some major negative implications on students.

WENHAM, MA-- When they're not sending text messages or tweets, today's Christian college students are spending time on Facebook. A lot of it. One in every three says he's spending 1-2 hours a day on the site; twelve percent report using it 2-4 hours each day and 2.8 percent report usage at 4-7 hours a day. That's in addition to other forms of social media and electronic usage such as video games, blogs, e-mail and Internet browsing.

The data comes from a new and unprecedented study by two Gordon College faculty members, Bryan C. Auday, professor of psychology, and Sybil Coleman, professor of social work. Released at the 60th anniversary conference for the Religion Newswriters Association in Minneapolis, Sept. 10, 2009, the study--"Pulling Off the Mask: The Impact of Social Networking Activities on Evangelical Christian College Students . . . A Self-Reported Study"--is the only one of its kind to target and give voice specifically to evangelical Christian college students. It explores the specific trends, behaviors and attitudes Christian students perceive of themselves regarding social media usage.

"We'd received enough anecdotal evidence from college students to raise some red flags about these issues," said Coleman. "But we felt it was crucial to gather scientific data from students about both the benefits and concerns (of usage) if we were going to get a clearer picture about how we could best respond."

The study was conducted in April 2009 entirely online and surveyed 1,342 students between 18 and 27 years of age on four evangelical Christian college campuses with an equal class representation. Seventy percent of all participants were women. Questions included the amount of time participants engage in a specific electronic activity during an average day; the primary reason for using a specific site; the impact (both positive and negative) of usage on personal life and relationships; the ability or inability to stop usage, and the possible conflict of usage with personal Christian values.

"It isn't yet clear whether over-zealous use of computer-based activities will be formally accepted in the U.S. as a distinctive, unique form of addiction," said Auday. "What is clear from our study is that a surprisingly high percentage of Christian students who frequently engage in electronic activities report several troubling negative consequences. But ironically they also mention many positive outcomes related to the time that is spent on Facebook or text messaging their friends."

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