Just try to balance a full load of human biology course work with the time requirements of a starting position on the MSU baseball team.

As imaginable, goof-off time was scarce for Charlie Braun, shortstop and second baseman for the 2003-04 Spartans.

"I didn't have the luxury of free time," he said. "There wasn't time to screw around."

New research suggests that Braun is one of a shrinking number of students able to effectively manage their time, especially as it relates to the Internet.

A new National College Health Association study indicates a rising number of MSU students are excessively using the Internet at a cost to their academic lives. Fifteen percent of students now report such a problem, up from 10 percent in 2000. About 1,500 students were surveyed.

Excessive Internet use is generally defined as spending about 3.8 hours online per day, three or more consecutive hours online twice in a week, and sleeping less than four hours due to online activity.

"One of the things we've noticed, compared to things like stress and trouble with one's family or something like that, is that overuse of the Internet is being reported higher," said Marshall Poole, a health educator at Olin Health Center. "We've seen it go up in the last three surveys we've done."

However, Poole is quick to point out that excessive Internet use, for the moment, is not considered an addiction but more of a time management problem.

"It's very similar to other ways that people screw around," he said. "It's that basic time management thing.

"Students sometimes do what they know is detrimental to their academic life."

For some, that means too much time instant messaging friends or playing online video games, not to mention simply surfing the Web.

To specifically curtail overuse of online games, parents frequently avoid buying computer systems stocked with high-level video and game cards and instead purchase basic packages.

"I use that as a selling point," said Ron Rivardo, a hardware salesman at the MSU Computer Store.

"The parents are coming in to purchase and don't want them to use games."

And, while games may not be second-semester Cooley Law School student Elizabeth Clarke's reason for logging in, the Internet is always a continuous source of potential non-academic entertainment.

"The moment I get on it, I get distracted," Clarke said. "Usually at home I do it too much."

But, while Clarke said about half her time online is spent in chat rooms and for other entertainment-related purposes, the Internet hasn't posed a problem in her academic life.

Clarke said her advice is to study somewhere besides a computer desk.

"Stay away from the computer," she said. "If you need to do work on it, stay on one Web page."