You have to be cautious when looking at studies like this one, but a researcher at Ohio State University has found a link between lower grade point averages and the use of Facebook.

According to the study, Facebook-using college students have lower grade point averages and spend less time studying than their peers who don’t use the social networking site. Interestingly, more than 75 percent of the users insisted that their studies were not impacted by the time spent on status updates, etc.

Typically, Facebook users in the study had GPAs between 3.0 and 3.5, while non-users had GPAs between 3.5 and 4.0.

So is Facebook bad for college students? Not necessarily. Just because there is a link, that doesn’t mean there is a cause. It could just be that Facebook appeals more strongly to students who don’t like to study in the first place.

“We can’t say that use of Facebook leads to lower grades and less studying - but we did find a relationship there,” said Aryn Karpinski, co-author of the study and a doctoral student in education at Ohio State University,

When I was in college, I’m pretty sure a researcher would have found that students (like myself) who spent late nights playing poker with their friends tended to have lower GPAs, etc. I think it’s pretty fair to say that many of us are just looking for ways to be entertained or distracted.