<p>[Is</a> Facebook Destroying the American College Experience? | LinkedIn](<a href=“http://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/today/post/article/20130301160528-79695780-is-facebook-destroying-the-american-college-experience]Is”>Is Facebook Destroying the American College Experience?)</p>
<p>Excerpts from the linked article:</p>
<p>“What most students (and parents) fail to realize is that the success of the American college system has less to do with the quality of the formal education than it does with the social engineering project that is quietly enacted behind the scenes each year. Roommates are structured to connect incoming students with students of different backgrounds…”</p>
<p>“Early campus activities are designed to help people encounter people who’s approach to the world is different than theirs. This process has a lot of value because it means that students develop an appreciation for difference and build meaningful relationships that will play a significant role for years to come. The friendships and connections that form on campuses shape future job opportunities and help create communities that change the future.”</p>
<p>Facebook may indeed to some degree undermine this valuable aspect of a college education. But the advent of on-line learning totally destroys it - which is one reason why I think on-line courses and degrees will never measure up to to a real in-person education. And thus it will remain a boutique supplement to main-line college education and not the game-changing replacement for it that its boosters imagine.</p>
<p>Don’t mean to hijack the thread, but it seems to me the author makes a stronger argument against distance learning than she does against Facebook.</p>
<p>I know one girl a current freshman who picked her roommate via Facebook, it wound up being a disaster. School had to do a mid first semester room change, it became dangerous.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t let my child pick a roommate via facebook, colleges have been doing it for ever, seem to have it down to a science.</p>
<p>So what if you know a little bit about your roommate before you meet them.</p>
<p>in less then 5 years facebook will be like myspace. in the trash bin of history.</p>
<p>My son found he had much LESS interest in hanging out on the computer once he got to campus with so many real people to hang out with.</p>
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<p>I disagree. I believe that on-campus training will eventually become the “boutique supplement” to online learning. There are lots of places and organizations that young people can become involved in to get exposure to a diversity of people and even intellectual back and forth. Other ways of experiencing new environments will spring up.</p>
<p>A lot of colleges have found that finding roommates on Facebook has been more successful than random draws. Our one son’s school talked about this at the accepted students day. They were moving toward that for the next class. samiamy–there are plenty of stories of college picked roommates just like the Facebook story you shared. Facebook wasn’t the problem, the girl was the problem and probably would have been a problem for any roommate no matter how they were selected.</p>
<p>One of my children found a roommate through Facebook. They were actually quite different as far as religion, ethnicity, and personality are concerned. Both, however, wanted a roommate who would not drink or have sex in the room. They were very compatible on the things that mattered, and they got along great.</p>
<p>My daughter has found that most students are quite happy to have roommates of another race or religion. She says that even a roommate’s sexual orientation isn’t a big deal for most students, especially the women. Instead, roommates are much more concerned about compatibility in sleeping hours, partying/non-partying behavior, and whether to have overnight guests. </p>
<p>The right to choose a roommate should be paramount, as well as the right to have certain reasonable expectations (that a roommate will not drunkenly vomit in the room, that he/she will not have public sex or exclude the other from the room to have sex, or that he/she will not play loud music when the other is trying to sleep). If we expect most college students to share a bedroom (which I think is a good experience), we should at least allow them to choose with whom they are sharing it. If Facebook helps with this, then I’m all for it.</p>
<p>And I agree with SteveMA. Even best friends from high school sometimes don’t get along as roommates. I’ve heard of more problems, though, from random assignments.</p>
<p>In my opinion Twitter is ruining the college experience.</p>
<p>all students should have a single room centered around a common living area for 4-6 students. (problem solved) the room mate in college is a very dated concept. most schools will catch on , sadly the housing stock takes 50-60-70 years to update/upgrade at most schools.</p>
<p>I think being online, social networking in generally, is damaging to peoples lives, and texting. I will go out in public. And the teens are all staring at their phones, much like zombies, texting or doing whatever else. I look around in public anywhere and people of all ages are no longer speaking. I meet so many young adults who cannot even make eye contact or interact because they are so used to texting. I know adults in their 40’s and such who can hardly carry on a conversation if they are looking at or speaking to the person. They just text, all the time. And FB…people just spout off their every thought. “I woke up early” and “I burped when I woke” and then “baby spit up” and then “dropped the shampoo in the shower” and…ok…maybe not that extreme…but seriously…we do not need to know everyone’s thoughts and actions. And I think a lot of people have forgotten basic manners in every day life because they have taken away the barriers and “people” have become faceless and easy to forget that there are actual real people there.</p>
<p>D2 found her freshman roommate online, & it worked out very well.
Some people use tools, and others allow the tools to use them.
[WWU</a> professor offers guidance on benefits, risks of social media for teens | Dean Kahn | The Bellingham Herald](<a href=“http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/03/11/2911767/wwu-professor-offers-guidance.html]WWU”>http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/03/11/2911767/wwu-professor-offers-guidance.html)</p>
<p>Ahh of course if your child has a reasonable ability to discern eagerness from weirdness, it is fine. Can you get that from facebook?
if you get a bad feeling you tailor your interaction. What happens if it all seems great via facebook but when you meet in person your radar is giving bad vibes and you have already made the agreement to live together. How do you get out of it then? Let the relationship develop on your terms. If weird oddities develop you were never committed via a random assignment. Keep it to passing ships in the night.
My d has shown me some twitter/facebook stuff from some of the college acceptance pages groups, I would have my doubts picking from that as my base for choice of roommate.</p>
<p>^^^My roommate in college was one of my best friends in high school. In theory, it should have worked beautifully as we knew each other very well. It was a disaster; I moved out over the winter break and we basically never spoke again. So bad roommate situations can happen no matter how you find the roommate.</p>
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<p>I have a family member who does that…it can seem quite self indulgent to think that people want to know your every thought multiple times a day (I would get emails every time he posted something new…which was several times a day). I have a friend who does the same thing, and again, the emails.</p>
<p>It’s probably why I practically never post on Facebook. My privacy boundaries are much tighter than some. The only reason I have one is to see my Ds’ pages.</p>
<p>Social media is poisonous when not used in moderation.</p>