New Study: Christian College Students and Social Networking
I’m not sure I completely understand the motivation for this large-scale study of evangelical Christian college students by two Gordon College faculty members. They went to great lengths to gather evidence about the social networking habits of the demo—as well as the perceived upsides and downsides of those habits. Are Christian students significantly different from others in the age group in their use of social networking? I wouldn’t guess so, and the report on the study doesn’t offer a comparison to college students in the general population.
Still, the results are interesting, and it is valuable to be able to put a reliable number to what we already kind of know:
Over half (54 percent) reported that they were “neglecting important areas of their life” due to spending too much time on these sites. And when asked if one were to define addiction as “any behavior you cannot stop, regardless of the consequences,” 12.7 percent affirmed that they believe they are addicted to some form of electronic activity. Another 8.7 percent report that they are unsure. For small campuses, that translates into large numbers. And 21 percent felt that their level of engagement with electronic activities at times caused a conflict with their Christian values.
The news wasn’t all bad. Students also reported some positive benefits from their extensive integration of social networking experiences like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and texting. The bottom line for all of us, though—and maybe especially for parents of Christian students not yet in college—is that we need to find ways to apply wisdom to the use of these relationship technologies. Students, especially, seem to be in need of guided help in this area that goes beyond expressions of concern and/or stricter control. How can they (and we) develop the skills to regulate our own involvement? What does wisdom say to them (and us) about texting and Facebook?
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