You may remember the tizzy about this study, which claimed that Facebook use was associated with lower grades . Now, Eszter Hargittai, Josh Pasek, and eian moore have a new paper that finds no such relationship:
bq. In contrast to recent sensational and unsubstantiated news reports that Facebook use lowers academic performance, results from three studies indicate that the two variables are likely unrelated. We found no relationship in a representative study of first–year undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a slight positive relationship in a nationally representative survey of youth. Further, we used national longitudinal data to assess changes in academic achievement from 2007 to 2008 in a nationally representative panel study of young people. Changes in academic achievement did not vary with Facebook use when demographic controls were considered. Facebook simply does not seem to have a generalizable impact on grades.
What is remarkable about this study is that it went from zero to a peer-reviewed publication in less than one month. This is a very interesting model for circumstances where a quick, but credible, academic response is useful and even necessary.
Here is Eszter’s initial post (dated April 16) noting the study and her skepticism. Here is the published article. And here is Eszter’s post describing how the article came together so quickly.