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Sparkle (1)
I have a bargaining system with myself when I study. I say “Self, if you finish [insert school related assignment that needs to get done here], I will reward you by spending a mind-numbing amount of time watching trashy TV and staring at Facebook.” Then, my self normally starts said assignment, gets frustrated, and de-stresses with said trashy TV and Facebook. However, my means of relaxation may be actually bringing me more stress than relaxation.
A recent study suggests that social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter may be more of a stressor than a stress reliever. With 90% of college students surveyed reporting having visited a social media site at least once within the past week, the study questioned what sort of effect this apparent shift toward non-personal communication (via social media sites, emails, and text messaging) has.
When asked, nearly 70% of the surveyed students reporting having an argument exclusively through text message. Surprising? To me, not particularly, especially given the next statistic:
At least half of the time when college students read emails/text messages or posts on social networking sites, 48 percent report[ed] that they are unsure about whether the sender was serious or joking.
And Facebook stalking? 61% of students say they have found themselves frequently tracking someone’s social networking site. And the other 39% are probably lying — everybody does a little, um, investigating … right?
While the ambiguity in texts and anonymity in social media interaction does pose potential problems, is does prove helpful as almost 4 in 10 students have texted someone to ask for help with a serious personal issue or let a friend know they were upset.
The nature of social media essentially makes anyone with an internet connection accessible, which the majority of surveyed students find this helpful as 85% of those surveyed feel more connected to others.
However, the with computer and phone screens starting to replace face-to-face communication, 1 in 7 surveyed students reported feeling more isolated.
While progressions in technology open the virtual door to an essentially limitless amount of accessible information for students, they also introduce another realm of stress to an already stressful time. What could my tech-savvy academic peers have to complain about? Well, I’ll tell you, in no particular order.
My Top 10 Tech-Related Student Stressors
- Text-Fights/Facebook Fights/Passive-Aggressive Emails/Non-confrontational Confrontations: As the study suggests, I have learned that my sarcasm does not always translate well through text. And apparently “Yeah” has a completely different connotation than “Yes.”
- Batteries Dying: Computers. Phones. iPods. And always at the most crucial times. Such as when I’m trying to look busy so the guy at the bus stop pushing $5 packs of cigarettes doesn’t try to strike up a conversation with me.
- Bad Video Chat Quality: I’ll make plans to Skype with my out-of-state friend, excitedly press the little green phone button, only to encounter a pixelated mess in the place of her face and broken sound bites of her asking if I can hear her.
- Free Trials Running Out: What? You mean I actually have to spend $150 on a course-required, non-resalable software that I will most definitely not use after the semester is over? I suppose I’ll opt for spending hours in the library, trying to find an available computer that ends up only having the old version of the program I need.
- Dysfunctional Email Attachments: Dear Class, Please spend the following hour trying every possible way to open the important assignment information attached to this email only to realize that the file is not compatible with your computer. Freak out accordingly! --Your Professor for your class tomorrow.
- Internet Connection Not Working: As almost every class has everything — course information, assignments, quizzes, paper drop boxes — online, and only online, being stuck in a place where the Internet won’t connect is essentially academic suicide.
- Presentations Not Working: Because class presentations don’t give me enough nauseous anxiety as it is, I have to worry about my PowerPoint — my visual safety blanket — not opening on the classroom computer. And the class syllabus specifically states that the professor is not particularly sympathetic for technical difficulties.
- Printer Running Out of Ink: This causes my desperation to reach a point where I assume I can MacGyver an ink cartridge refill with various pens or
