New study says that Facebook does not affect school performance

A new study refutes the widespread notion that excessive Facebook use can affect student achievement.

The report, released last week at the "Computers in Human Behavior" (Computers in human behavior) analyzed data from a survey of nearly two thousand students on the use of Facebook and current grades.

The results of the report prepared by Professor Reynol Junco, University of Pennsylvania, were revealing, as published by the website Mashable.com.

On average, students reported spending 106 minutes a day on the social network. The study showed that each increment of 93 minutes beyond the 106 minutes reported correlates with a decrease of .12 points in the overall averages in the United States known as GPA (Grade Point Average), which seems almost insignificant.

"You'd have to spend a huge amount of time on Facebook so that your grades noticeably worse," said Reed, contrary to the maxim that the social network usage affects students.

Another finding was that depending on the activity you make when you're online is the way it impacts studies. For example, using Facebook and chat constantly update their status affects your performance at school to share links and review the profiles of your friends.

Reed says the social network itself can be utilized for educational purposes, so it tends to create groups within the online site to continue discussions on a topic.