Argumentative Essay Topic Idea

After reading the assignment sheet for the argumentative essay, the idea of how Facebook affects students' grades first came to my mind. As a student myself, I know what it's like to be distracted by Facebook and what it's like pushing off my homework or studying for Facebook. I can only imagine how it affects other people in both college and high school--and even middle school. It's crazy that younger and younger people are now getting Facebook. I know my little brother is only in the 7th grade, and he has a Facebook. In this paper, I would want to argue that Facebook has a negative affect on students and their grades in today's society. I think this is very controversial in today's society because Facebook has become more of an addiction for students causing them to lean more away from studying. While parents should be responsible for their child(ren), in my opinion, it's hard to keep track of what your child does all the time. If a parent is at work or out of the house, a child could easily access Facebook with some type of media device; thus, turning them away from doing their homework. I think this is important because as time goes on students could eventually totally disregard school because they feel it's not that important. Students tend to think "oh i got a bad grade because i'm not smart enough" or whatever and not admit that the problem is too much time on Facebook. 

I came across a couple different articles while I was researching this topic: 

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/fox_news_says_facebook_will_ruin_your_grades.php

http://www.efytimes.com/e1/fullnews.asp?edid=33751

I thought it was interesting how in one of the articles it said that perhaps Facebook didn't exist, would students still be getting lower grades? It might be possible that students would find another way to avoid studying, but what if they did get better grades? Also, I thought it was interesting to see the contrast in the number of hours users vs nonusers spent on studying. I know that if I wasn't procrastinating homework or studying by getting on Facebook then I would be spending way more time studying. Also, in college, students are allowed to use computers in class to take notes and such, but how many students honestly don't get on Facebook during class? I know I have witnessed my classmates getting on Facebook in class---this is another way students start to get lower grades (lack of attention in class, more attention on socializing on Facebook). 

Questions I have:

What if Facebook didn't exist? Would there be another social website for students to distract themselves with? Would students actually start to spend more hours studying?

Could parents have a positive affect on their children? Do parents stay on top of their children about grades and not spending too much time on Facebook? Do college students realize that studying is more important? Or does it still distract college and even parents from work?