Many college students would go to great lengths to avoid carrying textbooks, with some even willing to give up sex and dating for a year, according to a new survey.
Education software company Kno found that students would make surprising sacrifices to get out of lugging around heavy textbooks. In fact, 34 percent would prefer to stay in every Saturday night for a semester and half of the respondents said they would eat boxed macaroni and cheese for a month rather than carry textbooks every day of school for a semester.
Even more surprising, 1 in 4 college students said they would give up sex for an entire year to not carry around textbooks. About 20 percent said they would give up dating for the same period as well.
Also making the list is taking 8 a.m. classes every day (34 percent) and having parents visit every other weekend for a year (28 percent).
About a quarter of students noted that they carry about 20 pounds or more of books on a typical day.
That said, it’s no surprise that 71 percent said they would use digital textbooks through apps on tablets, laptops and netbooks. If students could access textbooks from anywhere without having to carry them around, about 62 percent said they would study more often and 54 percent insisted they would study more efficiently.
Most students also noted that they don’t think their professors are doing enough to integrate technology, such as with online tutorials or digital textbooks, into the learning experience.
However, 44 percent believe that college professors will no longer require students to carry physical textbooks in the next five years.
This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Reach TechNewsDaily senior writer Samantha Murphy at smurphy@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @SamMurphy_TMN.
