A typical conversation between concerned parents and their high school students might, theoretically, begin with a casual inquiry about homework. A most unwelcome question about what plans are being made to get it done might come next.
Often, the child, typing furiously in front of a computer, might note that there is barely any homework, or that he or she is about to start.
"Get off Facebook," the concerned parent might venture. "Do your homework first."
"Okay, fine," comes the reply. "I'm just saying Bye."
Ten minutes passes. The furious typing continues. The backpack remains unopened.
"I thought you were getting off Facebook to start the homework?"
"I am! I'm just saying 'Bye!"
"Why does that take so long?"
"Because there is more than one person on – everyone is on!"
It turns out, there might be as many as 100 or even more Facebook friends on at once, posting links and invitations to join causes along with photos and videos. They may be simply chatting online about their daunting adjustment, or search for a New York City high school. At the same time, many are texting, reading, and possibly even doing homework.
While multiple conversations are certainly a more efficient way of catching up then say, making nearly 100 phone calls, I can't help being annoyed by the constant distraction, which might include other ways of wasting time like AddictingGames, also known as "Please, just let me just finish this one game, I'm about to win!"
Am I alone in thinking the time would be better spent doing homework or reading? Especially when the offerings are rich: my 9th-grade son is reading the literature of Sophocles, Bernard Malamud, and Henry James. Why is it more interesting to know whose status has changed from single to "It's complicated?"
There are some teachers who use Facebook to post assignments and even wish students good luck on exams. Others have assigned their students to Facebook groups to discuss books and assignments. But I can't believe they aren't concerned about the time Facebook takes up.
I know this is can be an issue for college students: A small, pilot study at Ohio Dominican University released at the American Education Researchers Association convention in San Diego last spring found that college students who use Facebook spend less time studying and had lower grade point averages than students who are not on social networking websites.
I asked Dr. Susan Lowes, the director of Evaluation and Research at the Institute for Learning Technologies at Teachers College, Columbia University, what she thinks about the time students are spending on Facebook.
Lowes isn't aware of any new studies that link academic performance in high school to time spent on social networking sites, in part because the technology is so new. She did note that she would caution parents who think Facebook is useless.
"I don't necessarily think it's any different than any other way of spending down time," Lowes said. "In some ways, it may be more productive because at least they are communicating….there may be less social ways to waste time, and the socialization could be good for kids. Facebook is just one more way for them to engage with one another."
That is an argument my 9th-grade son likes to use. And Lowes shared something that gave me some comfort: Teenagers may become very involved with Facebook at first and later back off because it takes so much time.
It could be that the novelty wears off. While I use Facebook for professional reasons and have also enjoyed the fun of connecting with old friends, I'm mostly ambivalent. Postings that describe meals, reactions to sitcoms, and difficulty sleeping seem especially banal when they come from people I haven't had an actual face-to-face or even telephone conversation with in years.
It's possible that I might have been just as thrilled to have the opportunity to video chat and instantly connect with my friends electronically if Facebook and similar technology existed when I was in high school instead of fighting with my siblings about whose turn it was to get off the telephone.
I'm glad I didn't, though. One study I found out of Stony Brook University, in fact, suggested that too much time social networking leaves teenage girls more prone to anxiety and depression. And developing study skills early on in high school is key.
I'm curious how other parents and educators feel about Facebook. I've set some rules: Facebook and the computer stay in the living room, not the bedroom. And I won't let my 7th-grader have one till he turns 13, at the end of the school year.
Many of his middle school friends, it seems, are already on. Some got Facebook pages in elementary school. So what is the right age for kids to have one, and how much time should be allotted for it? When is it too much? Any thoughts on how it interferes with homework?
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