Subject:Computer Research in Social Science - Essay Example

The internet has continuously grown during the era of the last two decades, witnessing about 100 percent growth each year. By January of 1998, reports approximated that there were 102 million internet users worldwide. In 2007, statistics forecasted that between 165 and 210 million people were using the internet in the US alone. In particular, young adults and teenagers were contributed to the highest number of internet users. Social network sites, especially, have presented a prominent platform for relationship formation.

The quick growth of the internet led to the emergence of many significant online technologies, and by 2008, social networking sites were amongst the top expanding most frequently visited websites. In a 2008 report by CBC News, Facebook, the trendy social networking site, had moved from the sixtieth most visited website to the seventh most visited website in the world that year. The effects of the relationship of time spent by students spend on Facebook and their academic performance. This is a non-negligible factor that influences academic performance and various researches indicate that spending greater amounts of time on Facebook negatively affects academic performance since it reduces study time.

Originally started by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004 as a site dedicated exclusively to students in his campus, the social network site “Facebook.com” quickly gained popularity particularly among the young generation. Facebook has enabled young people to exchange ideas, personal information, music, pictures and videos at a truly astounding rate. While some researchers may argue that the social media site encourages negative acts among students such as procrastination due to the long hours spent on the site catching up with friends, many students are still spending countless hours engrossed in Facebook and other social media sites.

This may seem to be a waste of study time at first