Social media and Internet usage has stepped into the limelight of society as being a double-edged sword, according to faculty at Shippensburg University.

The use of the Internet can save time, make projects easier and provide an outlet for students who seek information on subject material for their classes, SU sociology professor Ying Yang said. On the other hand, it can be addictive and affect their studies, Yang noted.

Social media, some sociology experts say, has negatively affected the way college students prepare for homework, exams and class involvement in general. Social websites at their core are focused on bringing people together, but has this new surge of technology usage become too much for the current generation of college students?

According to a Johnson and Wales University survey, 45 percent of college students use social media six to eight hours a day, 23 percent spend more than six to eight hours, and only 12 percent spend less than two hours a day. More and more students are investing much of their free time surfing the Web and browsing social sites. Social media outlets like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook have become increasingly popular among both high school and college students.

Barbara Denison, chair of SU’s Sociology/Anthropology Department, said it is often a losing battle trying to keep cell phones and tablets out of the classroom.

“Students today are more distracted, and attention spans are getting shorter,” Denison said.

Twitter sees more than 6,000 tweets a second on a daily basis, as reported by internetlivestats.com. Not only that, but when Twitter was first released in 2006, its growth rate went up nearly 1,400 percent each year until 2009, when its use slowed slightly but still grew each year. The most popular site, Facebook, has generated more than 1.35 billion users since its launch in 2004, according to Zephoria, an Internet marketing solutions website. Students at Shippensburg University agree that the use of such applications can distract people from what they are supposed to be doing.

“It is definitely time consuming to say the least. Most people have a hard time focusing on their work because social media sites are just one click away,” said Alexander Cooper, a sophomore at SU. “I have a good GPA and do all of my work like I’m supposed to, but sometimes I still get caught up on social sites because it’s just so easy to get off track.”

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