More than three quarters of students have “suffered significant procrastination” while on the internet, according to a study published this week.
The results, from a survey by software engineers Stop Procrastinating, found that social media is causing the majority of students to struggle with concentrating for long periods of time.
Two thirds said they had lost their train of thought after checking an email or social media notification, and 62% thought social media damaged their impulse control, leading to lots of lost time – most (52%) losing an hour or more every day.
For students, it has largely replaced the TV and the hangover as causes for not studying, with just 16 and 17 per cent of students being distracted by them respectively.
This has all led to a reduction in the quality of the work students hand in, with 47% admitting to having rushed lower quality assignments in to meet deadlines.
An overwhelming 80% of students believed the internet brought a new level to procrastination, complaining “the internet was more invasive then anything students had to cope with before”.
The research was carried out to promote the Stop Procrastinating app, which allows students to choose to block their internet access entirely for a set amount of time, or to blacklist specific websites. 12,000 students have downloaded the app over the past three weeks, as end of term deadlines draw nearer.