Is Facebook a part of your daily activities?

It has been my hobby to check out my Facebook account. Who doesn't? Well, it may be too mainstream, but many still access it, many still post their pictures and share almost anything that they think would attract attention of everybody else.

I open my Facebook account almost everyday. Well, except for days when our internet connection's crappy.  But nevertheless, the point is, I open it as often as I can.  I even know many adolescents who use their Facebook accounts, too. Those kids younger than I am, including my younger siblings and cousins.

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I was in the midst of using Facebook, when I thought of making a blog post. I decided to search on Google, and saw an article from Courier Press. It was entitled “Research confirms social media's impact on adolescent development” written by someone whose under their Youth Resources.

This article, I believe, affects me. Well, I am an adolescent after all, right? I decided to read the article since I think it would affect me.  The article says about Dr. Larry Rosen's – a psychology professor at California State University – research on the effects of Facebook during a session at the American Psychological Association 119TH Convention.

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Some of the results of Dr. Rosen's research included in the article are:

• The more time elapsed, the more windows were opened on the student's computer.
• When students stayed on task, they perform better.
• When they switched between windows and other tasks, they perform worse.
• The more media they consumed per day, the worse students they were.
• If they checked Facebook just once during 15 minutes, they were worse students.

I smiled a bit, while reading this part of the article. It came to me, that it is possible; that there is a slightly big chance that facebook – and maybe all other networking sites – is a major part of the decrease in productivity of students.  Even I can attest to that. As I said earlier, I am a fan of facebook, I use it everyday, and I know that it affects my study habits.

I would often say that I would prefer to read non-academic-related books on term breaks rather than on weekends when I do not have anything else to do. This is one thing that I am teaching myself. I am controlling myself not to read stories or books other that those I am using at school for the current term.

Also, in the article, it says that Rosen suggests the concept of implementing "tech breaks," which involve setting a 15-minute block of time where total focus is required; no cellphones allowed.

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I think that is a good idea. That is really my plan. To keep away my cellphone during my 'study time.'  But at present, I cannot do that. I'm not really sure why. But I think, as long as I have load and my friends keep on sending me messages that I need to reply, this would be pretty hard.

On the latter part, I saw my favorite line from the article. “Overusing social mediums on a daily basis has a negative affect on teens and young adults by making them more prone to anxiety, depression, and other psychological disorders such as anti-social behaviors, mania, and aggressive tendencies.”

I definitely agree with this – one reason why it is my favorite line from the article. Although,  I hate the feeling of guilt when I read stuffs that I really think are meant for me when they really are meant for the general public.  I think this part is true, and a part of me feels that it is meant for me. Well, I think I am not yet on the stage of anxiety, depression and the like, but I think if I continue to use facebook – and later on realize that I am overusing it already – I would probably lead to the worse case scenario, but let's hope not.

♥