Study Confirms Internet Use During Class Results In Poorer Performance, In Other Words‘Water Is Wet'

The internet is a wonderful, innovative network of technologies all working together to bring the world closer via information and communication. However, as study after study has shown, it is also becoming a source of addiction and a giant distraction. Researchers confirmed this with a study that looked into internet use in the classroom, which noted that it resulted in poor performance by students.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Michigan State University, Phys.org reports, using one of the school’s introductory courses as a base. According to their findings, students would surf the web during class on average of 37 minutes. This browsing activity didn’t have anything to do with the lecture either, but rather involved watching videos or even shopping online.

As a result of such activities that had nothing to do with the class that they were taking at that time, the performance of the students suffered rather predictably. The intelligence of the participants was accounted for during the study as well, but even the ones who scored highly in that area couldn’t avoid the inevitable decrease in academic performance.

According to the study’s lead author Susan Ravizza, this is a clear indication that internet use in the classroom had a significant impact on how well the students did. This casts a shadow on a once-promising concept of encouraging the use of devices in the classroom intended to further academic excellence.

"The detrimental relationship associated with non-academic internet use raises questions about the policy of encouraging students to bring their laptops to class when they are unnecessary for class use," Ravizza said.

More than anything else, however, it was the fact that web browsing during classes is such a huge predictor of decreased performance that really sealed the fate of the practice, Alphr reports. Basically, if the students used the internet during class, their exam performance suffered every single time.