At the end of our research process, we were able to take away some valuable conclusions. The main one being that yes, how students use social media affects their reading and study habits. We know this because, in our research, students said they are easily distracted by social media while studying. We can also assume that more time spent on social media leads to less time reading for school and for pleasure. Prior research done on social media and reading suggests that students are slowly reading for pleasure less than they did when social media and technology were not available. This leads us to believe that the decrease in reading for pleasure is linked with the increase of technology.

This is very important and applicable to the lives of all students, not just the ones in college.  It is also important for educators to know of this trend. While this directly affects the students, it could possibly change the way that educators teach.  This change in reading practices has the potential to affect students negatively since students need to read and write every day in order to be successful. If teachers do not address this issue in some way, we could start seeing our students struggling to complete tasks that were once easy for them to do.  Either our education system needs to change to accommodate this cultural shift or society needs to find a way to get students reading again and off of their phones.

As students, we know how important it is for us to stay in touch with friends and connect with our families. Social media allow us to share our lives, meet new people, and see what our friends are up to. If you are a student who is easily distracted by social media while studying and you want to stay focused, there are free extensions and apps you can use that can block specific websites on your web browser for as long as you need. “WasteNoTime”, “FocalFilter”, and “StayFocused” are all free apps that you can use when you need to separate yourself from social media. For your phone, the apps “Zero Willpower” and “Freedom” allow you to do the same thing. However, temporarily deleting distracting apps, turning off your phone, and keeping your phone out of reach when you need to focus on school work is a good idea, too.  With these tools and this research, we hope that you rethink your social media habits and are able to regain your focus again.