When psychology sophomore Hannah Andreasen wants to connect with friends — even on her laptop during class — she said her attention dwindles and she might not remember the topic at all at the end of class.

“Even if I’m copying down the lecture notes, I’m not understanding it — I’m just repeating it,” she said.

A recently published survey suggested social networking sites and cell phones can cause stress for college students — including feeling anxiety when an immediate response to a text message is not received and feeling compelled to track another individual’s site.

An MSU social networking expert disputed the study, but said Facebook status updates and Twitter tweets do have the potential to contribute additional stress to students’ lives.

Cliff Lampe, also an assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, said although such sites can be a positive way to connect with friends, students who have “passive” habits with Facebook can be likened to those who find it difficult to be outgoing in a social circle. Those habits could include not updating photos or writing on friends’ walls — and lead up to not being a part of the online community.

“If you go to a party and you don’t talk to anyone, how fun would that be for you?” Lampe said.

Friendly foes

Conducted by mtvU, The Associated Press and The Jed Foundation, the survey released earlier this month found such feelings of stress to be true for some — one in seven students say feelings of isolation increase when they enter the digital realm. The Jed Foundation works to abate emotional distress and prevent suicide in college students.

The survey was based on interviews with 2,207 undergraduate students at 40 randomly chosen four-year institutions with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

A representative for the survey did not return phone calls seeking further input on its findings.

In addition to websites, misunderstandings and confusion could be created by a text message that has not been responded to in adequate time, according to the survey. About six in 10 said time was spent analyzing the meaning of a nonresponse.

To some students, such as Andreasen, the lack of an immediate response places a burden on the day and communicating digitally.

“If it’s something that’s important or something I’m curious about (and) then if I can’t respond and get more information, I get stressed out,” she said. “If it’s just like, ‘Hi,’ I don’t really care.”

Students surveyed also said they felt compelled to immediately respond to text messages. Almost 50 percent of those surveyed said they were unsure of whether comments made in digital modes of communication were serious or joking.

More than 60 percent of students surveyed said they found themselves frequently tracking someone’s social networking profile.

The merits of the report should be questioned, Lampe said. It has not been peer-reviewed by a number of people and The Jed Foundation is focused on reducing stress and suicide rates among students, he said.

“Can (social networking) cause stress? Absolutely,” he said. “(But) I cannot take any of the claims that they say — it is more anecdotal evidence.”

Matt Helm, director of MSU’s Graduate Wellness program, said the survey might be true in that students lose focus and become stressed with a constant barrage of data, especially if it is distributed through social networking.

Graduate Wellness is an initiative Helm started about three years ago with the help of many other university programs’ collaboration.

“The stress is basically an information overload and if anything, students are continually using it as a source of — I would almost say — procrastination,” he said.

Class clowns

For almost any college student who looks around the classroom, it might be a rarity to find a laptop that does not have a Facebook window larger than a document for typing notes.

Jeffrey Conroy-Krutz, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science, implements a no-laptop rule in his Government and Politics of the World class, PLS 140, where he attempts to limit such behavior.

Some students get away with breaking the rule, he said. However, it is meant to minimize distraction and increase participation.

“As somebody who sat in an audience, if I have my laptop that has an Internet connection, I’m going to do other things,” Conroy-Krutz said.

“It’s really hard to get back into the lecture, so once you’re gone, you’re gone.”

Although it might seem a student’s overall GPA would decrease with increased time spent checking one’s status — later contributing to stress — the concept has not been proven.

“Over multiple years, we never found any sort of social network use and decreased grades,” Lampe said. “You cannot become an addict just because you use Facebook a lot.”

But if there is not a direct correlation that social networking is a factor of becoming an addict, the general use of the Internet is one of the top 10 addictions in the U.S., according to a report from the National College Health Assessment, Helm said.

Student statuses

Lampe said the rapid increase of using social networking websites can act as a benefit for many.

“(They) act as a filter to get a lot of information for many people without spending the energy of actively looking,” he said.

Of course, there is always the option of ditching one’s profile page and relying on “real-world” communication.

“It really distinguishes between your actual friends and the people you know who they really are,” economics junior Ben Schneedecker said.

Two weeks ago, Schneedecker said he deleted his Facebook profile after having it for a little less than two years.

Since then, he’s had no regrets and has realized how much additional time he has to hang with friends.

“My friend Paul from home was kind of annoyed about it,” he said. “I talk to him more now that I deleted the profile.”