The Wired Generation: Academic and Social Outcomes of Electronic Media Use Among University Students

Little is known about the influence of electronic media use on the academic and social lives of university students. Using time-diary and survey data, we explore the use of various types of electronic media among first-year students. Time-diary results suggest that the majority of students use electronic media to multitask. Robust regression results indicate a negative relationship between the use of various types of electronic media and first-semester grades. In addition, we find a positive association between social-networking-site use, cellular-phone communication, and face-to-face social interaction.