Students' academic performance is affected by how they use Facebook: Engaging and information-retentive activity relates to slightly positive impact while distraction activity relates to slightly negative impact

• Facebook is used by a majority of the college students. A decent number of them use it during class, because it makes them feel socially connected with their interest groups and peers.
• Facebook can affect students GPA based on how they use it, because some activities can be engaging and information-retentive while others can be just a distraction
• There is no direct correlation between the extensive use of Facebook and students academic performance

Facebook is a social media that has connected people all over the world with their friends and families. One of the big demographics that use Facebook is college students. According to PewResearch, around 74% of college students use social media sites as of 2014. Because Facebook is integrated in almost every aspect of a student’s life, researchers have researched if and how extensive use of Facebook affects students' academic performance. The research findings are mixed. Research says, students academic performance can be impacted negatively and positively by how they use Facebook. However, extensive use of Facebook has no direct correlation with the students Academic Performance.

78% of the college students use Facebook because it makes them feel socially connected with their interest groups and peers

Facebook is a social media platform. Through Facebook, people can interact with friends and family over the Internet. The features of Facebook include the ability to chat, write a post, share links, share photos, play games and much more. It is essentially “hanging out” with your friends and families in the digital web. This is why Facebook attracts its users. The main reason why students use Facebook is because students feel socially connected with their interest groups and peers. One study, Online social networks: Why do students use Facebook, has found that students use of Facebook can be explained through the Social Influence Theory, We-Intention, the Use and Gratification Paradigm and the Social Presence Theory. These theories work together to explain that students want to feel connected to their peers and society. Facebook provides the students incentives about self-discovery, entertainment, or social events that can motivate them. By being motivated, students can connect with joint groups that have similar ideas and goals. Facebook serves as a purpose for students to be active in the community. It also is a source of entertainment and keeps them up to date with their friend’s activities. Positive social health is directly related to positive performance. If the use of Facebook can be positive on social health, how does it affect students’ academic performance?

Professor Selterman suggests, sole use of Facebook may not affect students’ academic performance, but the performance might have an effect based on how students uses Facebook.

An Interview with Dylan Selterman, Professor at Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland, established that use of Facebook does not necessarily mean lower GPA. Selterman has not conducted a research for this topic, but he knows that the research for this topic has varying results. However, he believes that the sole use of Facebook has very little impact on student's academic performance. To justify the mixed results of different studies, Selterman says, "It might be a result of how people use Facebook, rather than its general usage". The way students utilize Facebook, for entertainment versus education, can impact the results of the studies.

Facebook activities have slightly positive and negative impact on students GPA, because some activities require engagement and information-retention while others are a distraction from learning.    

Research justifies Selterman’s claim that how students utilize Facebook could impact their academic performance. Reynol Junco, researcher from Loch Haven University, conducted a study that evaluated if multitasking during class affected students’ academic performance. Junco examined a large sample of 1,723 students, out of which 29% reported using Facebook in class. These students’ different activities of multitasking with Facebook were evaluated with their GPA. These activities included posting statuses, chatting, sharing links, joining or planning events, playing games and commenting. The research shows that activities such as posting statuses, chatting and commenting are slightly negatively related with overall GPA. When a student uses chat and posting status features, they are distracted and wasting time. However sharing links, planning or joining events, and playing games are related to a slightly positive overall GPA, because students are learning new information by doing this. However these activities do not have a huge impact on the GPA as shown in the graph. These different activities on Facebook have varying, slight impacts on GPA, both positive and negative, but we need to take in consideration that these students were multitasking. Multitasking is the act of doing two or more things at the same time such as talking and doing work. While multitasking may seem doable, research has proven that humans cannot multitask. Therefore multitasking and certain uses of Facebook has a negative impact, while other uses of Facebook has positive impact on students academic performance. But does the amount of time spent of Facebook have any affect?

Several studies show that there is no correlation between extensive use of Facebook and students academic performance

A Study from Whittemore School of Business and Economics at University of New Hampshire says that there is no correlation between the amount of time students spend using social media and their grades. The study surveyed a total of 1,127 students of various demographics from the college. The study found that "there was no significant difference in grades between those considered to be heavy users [exceeding 61 minutes per day] of social media and those considered to be light users [fewer than 31 minutes per day]". 62% of both light users and heavy users received high grades, letter grades of A or B, and around 38% from both groups received lower grades, letter grades of B or lower. Data from both of the group were equally proportional. This study also cites multiple other studies that have found the same result. The study by Syarif Husin Lubis and his colleagues from University Kebangsaan Malaysia says that “time spent on Facebook is not influential to students GPA achievement on [students].” Pasek’s study, and Kolek and Saunders study also found that there is no correlation with amount of time spent on Facebook and students academic performance. Students who use Facebook frequently have the same chance of getting good grades as those who rarely use it at all. How students use Facebook can affect their academic performance, but the amount of time spent on Facebook does not.