The University of Harrisburg, in Pennsylvania (USA), has carried out a curious experimentbanning 800 students from using social media for a weekto see how technology affected their lives. The investigation concludes that being excessively connected to Facebook, Twitter, etc. mayincrease stress, in addition to deteriorating personal relationships and causingsleep disturbances.
“Students realized that social media, especially Facebook and instant messaging, if not used appropriately, can take over their lives,” said Eric Darr, dean of the faculty, who maintained that most of them he behaved like smokers who escape class to smoke. Did they wantsneak around to look at things in theirsmartphones? he added. In addition, among the students they identified the extreme case of a student who felt the need to be connected to Facebook for 21 hours a day, blocking the entry of new publications only between two and five in the morning to get some sleep.
Some of the participants admitted thatduring the experiment they felt less stressednot having the possibility to constantly read the statuses of their friends on Facebook and see that they had more time to do other things. Other students found themselves more willing to meet in person with other students or teachers with whom they normally only communicated through social media.
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