Kids On Facebook Get Lower Grades
- By Sam George
- Published 05/13/2010
Sam George
Sam George is the Executive Director of PARIVAR International - a non-profit initiative to address the needs of youth and families of Asian Indian origin in North America and to the Asian Indian community worldwide. Parivar means family in many Indian languages. Sam George also serves as one of the founding directors of Urban India Ministries
www.UrbanIndia.org Sam George and his wife, Mary have spoken at premarital and family events in many countries. They are parents of two boys and make their home in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Sam is the author of the book “Understanding the Coconut Generation: Ministry to the Americanized Asian Indians." Check out this website www.CoconutGeneration.com Coconut (brown on the outside, white on the inside) is a metaphor for the Americanized Asian Indians. Sam George can be reached at sam@coconutgeneration.com
Heard of this? Kids who use Facebook have lower GPA than those who do not. A new study by a doctral candidate has now confirmed what parents always was suspicious about. Too much time spend on computers on social networking apps are taking precious time that should be spend on studying. See the report in TIME.
Critics say you don’t need a doctral dessertation is show what is obvious. Others say study does not suggest that Facebook directly causes lower grades, but there is a relationship between the two. “Networking may not be need now,” parents say, “they need to focus on getting good grades and getting into college.”
But among minority communities like Asian Americans, it is crucial for teens to meet others like them who are marginalized. It is a developmental need and socnet platforms provide an ideal platform for it. When their distinct socio-cultural needs are not met, it could create isolation and greater psychological problems.
When radio, TV and emails appeared, many parents and youthworkers said a similar thing. I’m not saying everything on Facebook or other social networking sites are great. We must educate kids of the dangers posed by such online interface and fallacy of online relationships. Any new technological adoption and cultural revolution is bound to have other repercussions, falling grade is one of them.
Coconut Generation
