Whenever college students have free time, they stay at home surfing Facebook and TikTok?

With only 2-4 hours of free time each day, many students choose to surf social networks because they feel tired, or because they lack space and opportunities to participate in other activities.

Many students have 2-4 hours of free time each day, and they spend most of that time surfing social networks. Illustration: Freepik.

“In my free time, I surf social media, watch movies, or spend most of my time sleeping or hanging out with friends. Sometimes I find myself getting too caught up in social media and having a hard time getting out.”

That is what Ngoc Linh, a third-year student in Hanoi , shared when asked "what to do in free time". Not only Ngoc Linh, thousands of other students also use their free time to surf the internet and entertain themselves.

Recently, a research team at International University (Ho Chi Minh City National University) announced a survey of opinions of more than 21,600 students.

As a result, 66.7% of students said they had 2-4 hours of free time each day, while the rest had less (less than 2 hours). During this time, they mainly rested, relaxed, and entertained themselves by watching movies, listening to music, and using social networks, with an average rating of 3.9/5.

Students are also interested in personal development, however, the level of interest is quite modest compared to other activities.

Students have little free time?

Sharing with Tri Thuc - Znews, Ngoc Linh said that a day has 24 hours, the female student spends about 13-14 hours studying. Thus, Linh has 10 hours left for eating, sleeping and resting. During the week, Linh has about 1-2 hours of free time, more on weekends, about 5-6 hours.

If she were in her first or second year, she would have more free time. However, instead of learning skills to develop herself, the female student said that she spends most of her free time surfing social networks because she has up to 4 applications. In addition, Linh sometimes reads stories or watches movies. On weekends, she spends more free time sleeping or hanging out with friends.

"Sometimes, I also want to go to the gym or participate in some group activities, but I'm lazy or tired from studying or doing an internship, so I choose to stay home, surf social networks, and watch movies to rest," Linh said.

Similarly, Vu Nam (a second-year student in Hanoi) also only has about 2 hours of free time each day. Nam thinks that such free time is not too much. Therefore, the male student wants to spend that time resting and entertaining himself, such as surfing social networks, playing games, playing sports , socializing with friends or going to bed.

Nam said he is also interested in learning soft skills or foreign languages to develop himself, but does not have much time.

“Outside of class time, I spend most of my time studying on my own. There is a lot of homework in class, and if I spend more free time learning other skills, I'm afraid I'll be overloaded," Nam admitted.

Uyen Nhi has to spend her free time surfing the internet because the university village lacks suitable recreational spaces for students. Photo: NVCC.

Uyen Nhi, a student at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Ho Chi Minh City National University), gave a different perspective. The female student said she did not participate in the school's survey, but when reading information in the newspapers, she found that her friends' answers were quite consistent with her current situation.

Besides school, part-time work, and personal activities, the female student has about 2-4 hours of free time. During this time, she usually spends it lying in the dormitory playing with her phone and surfing social networks.

Regarding spending all of her free time surfing the internet, Nhi said the problem is not due to laziness or being too tired to do anything, but because students in general and students in university towns in particular are lacking space and opportunities to rest and relax.

The female student gave an example of the university village with very few places for students to hang out and gather, only food stalls and a few coffee shops and milk tea shops. Meanwhile, the central library is only open until 6:30 p.m., so students who want to stay late to read or study cannot.

“University students like us, if we want to go out, we have to go to the city center, which is further and more expensive. That’s why many of my friends and I only surf social media because it’s free, even though we know it’s not good,” Nhi told Tri Thuc - Znews.

Want more space for entertainment

Spending a lot of time surfing social networks, Linh admitted that she was wasting time because she used too many platforms. Many times, the female student only intended to surf the internet for about 30 minutes, but it could last for an hour, taking up all the time for other plans. Besides, Linh also felt that she easily lost focus, which greatly affected her thinking ability.

So, during this time, Linh began to focus on making specific plans while understanding how to use free time effectively.

“Sometimes, I still can't control my time, but it's better than before. I think the only way to completely fix this is to delete some apps or isolate myself from my phone," Linh shared.

Surfing social networks too much makes students feel tired and reduces their ability to concentrate. Illustration: Freepik.

Similarly, lying in the dormitory surfing social media every day, Uyen Nhi realized that her mental health was also affected quite a bit. Short video platforms also made it harder for her to concentrate, sometimes unable to concentrate for more than 30 minutes.

Realizing that staying at home surfing the internet did not bring her entertainment or learning value, Nhi decided to change her lifestyle by reading books, going to coffee shops to chat with friends, or participating in seminars and talk shows related to her field of study.

As a student majoring in Multimedia Communications, Nhi often participates in talk shows about communications and advertising. Although she has not yet established any big relationships, the female student still feels that this activity helps her broaden her mind and reduce her confusion about social networks like before.

Talking more about students' leisure time, Uyen Nhi expressed her hope that Ho Chi Minh City National University could create conditions for students to have fun and entertain, such as opening the library later, or opening more common spaces suitable for students...

“My need to acquire knowledge is quite large, so in addition to the above suggestions, I also hope that the school can organize more seminars, talk shows and invite experts in the industry so that we students have more space and opportunities to study,” the female student suggested.

Meanwhile, Vu Nam determined that if he wanted to learn more skills or foreign languages to develop himself, he would do it during the summer. At that time, the male student would have more time to focus instead of concentrating during the year.

Source: https://danviet.vn/sinh-vien-dai-hoc-cu-ranh-la-lai-nam-nha-luot-facebook-tiktok-20241024090249909.htm