to what extent will social networking sites change future college social life?

galoisien · 07-29-2008, 05:50 PM

Will it aid considerably in making a large school seem smaller? Despite my huge huge class of 3200 students, it's rather pleasing that I can connect to 68% of them from a single facebook group.

Will it also allow future students to disregard whatever parents say about the non-academic aspects of college life? And shouldn't parents be envious, not concerned?

scuba723 · 07-29-2008, 09:30 PM

Despite rapid advancements being made, I continue to refuse to believe that any digital application will ever be able to replace human contact. Video chat may be better than phone calls, but handwritten letters have a stronger impact than email, which is still preferable to IM and text messaging.

It is great that what is essentially a fully comprehensive and interactive class directory can be so readily available, but I will always, always choose to meet my peers through classes and extracurriculars before I allow social media to become the dominant networking tool in my life. If we share the same interests, that's probably apparent on Facebook -- but aren't we likely to find that out by attending the same meetings, taking the same courses, or through some other serendipitous means?

Full disclosure: I love Facebook, Twitter, blogging, etc. and Web 2.0 totally has its more practical uses. Nevertheless, when people are in the same geographic location (*ahem* a college campus), face to face is my preferred method of maintaining contact. If you're only friends with them because Facebook is convenient, were you really that close to begin with?

chuy · 07-29-2008, 09:52 PM

"Will it also allow future students to disregard whatever parents say about the non-academic aspects of college life? And shouldn't parents be envious, not concerned?"

They've been doing it since college started, not sure why it'd happen more (if such a thing is even possible) now.

The biggest difference, and this sounds bad, is that now it's harder to be "dating" two girls at once. You know, the classic one at home, one at school deal. Just doesn't work out now with facebook, or at least it'd be a lot harder. As far as staying connected, networking, and all of that go, of course it helps. The internet in general has changed the social realm a lot and social networking as much as anything, although it's less about meeting people and more about keeping in touch with people, for the most part.

Makes it easier to scalp tickets too.

LilyMoon · 07-30-2008, 10:44 AM

I am a bit envious that we didn't have facebook when I was in school. I think the obvious benefit is being easily able to stay in contact with so many people from various aspects of life. Just a line or two from an old camp friend or someone you met on a vacation somewhere can lead to all sorts of social contact that wouldn't have otherwise happened. I like the marketplace and some other features as well.

However, there are down sides to it too......as chuy ^ mentioned, it might be harder to juggle dating more than one person and it does allow for a certain lack of privacy. I would imagine it might also make it harder after a breakup to move on if someone can keep track of an ex so easily.

redwingshockey · 07-30-2008, 02:58 PM

i think facebook is having a huge impact on college students and high school students but will probably become less relevant after youre in the real world -- like someone said, there wont be a replacement for human interaction, and i think that will become more apparent as we get older

galoisien · 07-30-2008, 03:12 PM

It seems that as far as networking in business and in academia, facebook would have a pretty large economic impact actually. And it's not just the advertising.

olgita · 07-30-2008, 04:15 PM

If social networks replaced all human interactions, how would we ever make babies?

Seriously, I'm worried that once we get full-fledged virtual reality games in addition to social networks, we will be far less willing to procreate.

galoisien · 07-30-2008, 04:18 PM

^^ Indeed. I'm not saying social networking replaces interactions -- it just augments it a lot. It's really easy to arrange an impromptu outing ... or perhaps to plug my libertarianism in, create economic interactions that will deprecate the role of the State.

chuy · 07-30-2008, 07:15 PM

Quote:

^^ Indeed. I'm not saying social networking replaces interactions -- it just augments it a lot. It's really easy to arrange an impromptu outing ... or perhaps to plug my libertarianism in, create economic interactions that will deprecate the role of the State.

I'd say cell phones are much more important to any change in being able to do spontaneous things than facebook. And the second part is wishful thinking at best.

galoisien · 07-30-2008, 07:18 PM

For the second part, I already see elements of it happening. We have not consciously realised I think, how much the internet has deprecated and will continue to deprecate the role of the State.

chuy · 07-30-2008, 07:28 PM

Tell me how a medium as unsecure as the internet is and by which any information you put out there, intentionally or not, can be gathered by anyone with the means and desire would REDUCE the power of the state?

galoisien · 07-30-2008, 07:39 PM

The issue of security and identification is tangential to the organising power of the internet, which is what I was getting at. Besides, you can be as secure or insecure as you want to be, based on what you want to make public and what you do not. Public key cryptography anyone? (This would probably be a bad time to plug in Linux...)

colboy · 04-29-2009, 12:14 PM

I wonder if facebook will still be around in 20 years when everyone has a job and their own life. How many friends will you have accumulated? It's kinda exciting just thinking about the future in general.

Vehicle · 04-29-2009, 02:28 PM

I don't want my life on the internet for anyone to see. I don't feel comfortable having a conversation with someone that is easily displayed on their page comments. Sometimes about that doesn't sit well with me.

I'm very anti-facebook/internet social networking. It's better to stay off the computer during your free time.

europegrad · 08-11-2009, 12:39 AM

For one instance, Social Networking websites make it much more easier to stay connected with family, friends and, later, alumni from your University.

Smart event organizers can take advantage of facebook and/or similar sites to attract a greater audience. Clubs can affiliate themselves with similar ones in other university much more easily.

I see just benefits for the "onlinization" of social life.

If you attend large college, online social networking makes it far more easier to meet new friends (in person, obviously!) who share your interestes, rather than being forced to socialize with the morons who live down your hall. It expands possibilities a lot.