Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook: Oh My!

 Ever since the start of social networking sites in 1997, these sites have slowly taken over not only the internet, but our lives as well.

Thirty percent of the 6.9 billion people in the world have connected to the internet. Social networks have a staggering 10 billion registered users, showing that people generally connect to several social networking sites.

Many people have become oblivious to exactly how much their lives revolve around blogging on Tumblr, updating their status on Facebook, or constantly “tweeting.”

These sites can cause grades to suffer, social skills to decrease and distract us from our families. Why does the world need another social networking site, such as Google +, to pull us away from what should mean the most to us?

So what draws people to these websites? The chance to connect with old friends? Or how about keeping up on friend’s daily lives and photos?

While these positive aspects might seem appealing to generally everyone, in actuality these positives do not compensate for taking over millions of people’s lives.

Today’s current generation of young adults and teenager’s social skills continue to dwindle away. “It’s discouraging that we must acknowledge the fact that social networking is in competition with, social interaction,” said English teacher Mr. Garbo.

According to a study by Penn Olson, the average Facebook user wastes more than 55 valuable minutes a day on Facebook. Reality shows that people have a difficult time pulling themselves away from one networking site and having more sites simply feeds this addiction.

While one might have over a thousand friends on Facebook, how many of them do you actually talk with in person? Social networking has redefined the term friendship. Your real friends include those who laugh with and care for you, not those who click the “accept” button when you ask for their friendship.

While social networking in itself has positive attributes, it should not consume so much of one’s time and energy to distract one from spending time with true friends and family.

When you look back at your life thirty years from now, I can guarantee you that the most memorable events will include seeing someone face-to-face, rather than someone’s Facebook status from last night.

So next time you plan on logging on to Facebook, try to see your friends in person. I can assure you that old fashion face-to-face interaction will result in a more enjoyable experience.

Facebook at Pres: Yes or No?

Yes

The open access to Facebook gives Pres girls a sense of freedom and respect as mature women. When a girl reaches her mid-teens, she should have the ability to make conscious decisions for herself. Girls, including myself, are quite aware time in the computer lab during class is valuable. It decreases homework and stress and gets us into a different environment. How a person decides to use this time is entirely up to her, however. It’s a simple equation: you plus computer lab plus Facebook equals more work later that night. Inevitably, all students know this, and choose Facebook anyways. The access to the social site shows that each girl is responsible for her own actions.

Despite the waste of time websites such as this bring about, they also help to reduce stress. Keeping our minds off of school for a while is never a bad thing, especially close to finals where our brains are on overload. True, using Facebook for an entire period may lead to consequences later, but a quick visit to your account is not a big deal. Rather than stressing out over a research project, many girls may choose to use Facebook. Seeing what all your friends are up to is a nice treat during a hard day. So I would encourage taking those brief breaks, just try not to get stay logged on too long.

Believe it or not, Facebook can also have some valuable information. Let’s say you are planning a Mission Drive fundraiser and want to advertise the event. Facebook allows its members to make groups and invite friends to join it. Promoting a school event will bring spirit and excitement to students, causing more people to attend. Such connections will help keep your event known.

Even if Facebook were to be blocked again, true fans will surely find a way around the block. For as long as I’ve been at Pres, girls have been logging onto Facebook at school with a simple, unspoken trick. Predictably, this would happen again with any block administrators put on the website. Teachers are smart, but Facebook fans are smarter!

Lastly, I am Pro Facebook at school because I understand it’s what girls like to do. Boys like to play video games and shoot hoops with their friends. Girls like to huddle around a computer and lurk their friend’s pictures. That’s just the way our generation is. Why fight it? Let girls be girls and admire the computer screen freely.

No

Recently, Facebook has been unblocked on Presentation’s school server. That means students are free to check their updates in between classes or during free periods. The amount of social interaction available to students during the school day, however, may have negative effects for students’ motivation and productivity at school.

This popular site can be very tantalizing to those looking to expand their social horizons whenever and wherever possible. With automatic status updates, fun pictures to browse through, and people to chat with, an entire world of social interaction exists on Facebook. However at school, students should focus on business before pleasure.

Students may use Facebook as an outlet to unwind, but this is unacceptable during the school day because it is difficult to concentrate on homework when a familiar popping noise signals an initiated chat conversation, or a little red box notifies a friend’s comment. “As much as I like Facebook, it shouldn’t be allowed at school because people could go on it during class and it’s a pretty big distraction, especially when we’re supposed to be doing homework,” said an anonymous senior.

Dr. Denise Pope, Senior Lecturer at Stanford University, agrees that unplugging from the media is a valuable resource in efficient work habits. Facebook is a big distraction for students working on homework, especially because the screen is always conveniently located right in front of them.

Technical blocking barriers on Facebook usage at school may have only deterred a small percentage of student users. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Pres authorities should look into a more permanent solution to blocking Facebook. Social networking sites are currently banned by the technology agreement in the handbook, even though Pres’ technical department has no longer blocked Facebook. “The thinking behind our lack of forced traffic mitigation is that students should exercise personal responsibility rather than be artificially policed,” said Mr. Cozort. However, when such a liberal privilege is offered, it is likely to be abused when it is unchecked.

Presentation is a private institution; therefore, Pres isn’t legally bound to block Facebook. However, students are contractually bound by the rules in the handbook against the usage of social networking sites for a reason. Facebook certainly detracts from the productive academic environment.

In addition to being harmful to the academic environment, Facebook could also negatively affect the social environment at a school. Facebook has recently been linked to some cases of cyberbullying, especially in connection to programs such as Formspring. Although Pres cannot be held legally liable if cyberbullying is done by a student on campus, the Pres administration can take any necessary disciplinary action against any misuse of the computers on campus. Therefore, Facebook is not only detrimental to the student population; it could also harm the school’s well-being.

It’s true that Facebook can be beneficial by offering creative resources to teachers and faculty. For instance, if pictures are needed for school projects, Facebook photos are sometimes goldmines of excellent candid shots. Still, Facebook is highly distracting to students, and it is difficult to be productive for a long period of time while using this site.

With all its allure for potential procrastinators, Facebook is detrimental to the student population’s productivity on campus. Especially as the weather outside begins to feel more like summer, the student population really needs to log off their Facebook accounts during school hours in order to foster an environment of productivity. It’s the home stretch until summer, and Facebook should not be home base.

Facebook: Adult Attraction

On any given day, hundreds of millions of people return home from school or work to log in to their Facebook accounts. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Facebook is a social networking site that people use to catch up with old friends, share pictures, and make new friends. It is a tool that you may use to remain connected to other classmates and family.

Many high school students who use the site assume that their parents are only on Facebook to check up on them, so they are not aware of the gigantic growth of adults on the site, other than, of course, their parents.  But of Facebook’s reported 300 million active users, 36.3 percent are over the age of 35. This might not seem like much, but their numbers have been quadrupling in the past year.

In fact, in June 2008, people between the ages of 18 and 24 made up 53 percent of the Facebook community, but in July of this year, they totaled only 25.1 percent. They went from comprising a small majority to only one fourth of the website’s users. Their numbers have remained generally stable, while those between 35 and 54 years old grew 190.2 percent. They almost tripled in number over the course of a year. Even more surprisingly, Facebook went from having 954,680 users over 55 years old to 5,859,160. Almost 5 million people over the age of 55 have joined Facebook in the past six months.

Many may not know this, but our own Presentation teachers are contributing to the growth of adults on Facebook. Many like Mr. and Mrs. Cozort, Ms. Raposa, Mrs. Livingston, and Mrs. Stampfl all use Facebook to stay in touch with old friends from high school and college. “It’s really neat to find people you haven’t seen in fifteen years and see what they are up to,” Mrs. Livingston said.

Although they all use the site for varying reasons, all of them appreciate the ability to find old friends. They also dislike the same aspects. Mrs. Stampfl and Mrs. Cozort both shared their aversion to the new format of the site, but were able to adjust quickly. Mrs. Stampfl is happy with Facebook because she can contact her friends without worrying about interrupting them or calling at an inconvenient time. However, she also has some grievances with the site. She dislikes being updated on people’s progress in games or quiz results in her news feed. She also said, “I also don’t like receiving 10 different types of gift applications for which I need to install another application.  I hit ignore for most of them.” Computer teacher and track/cross country coach Mr. Cozort said, “I don’t like all the superfluous content like mafia wars, polls, causes etc.  I feel it takes away from the nature of a social environment rather than enhancing it.” Despite this, Mr. Cozort uses the site for somewhat different reasons. He said, “Social technologies are the tools that students use to communicate, and I feel as educators we have a professional obligation to learn to communicate with students in whatever language they are speaking.” So, instead of using Facebook for other purposes, he uses it as a way of communication that all students use. Unlike the other teachers, he also uses Twitter and Linkedin.

People of all ages are joining Facebook quickly, for example, Mrs. Livingston’s mother created one this summer. Some teachers are using Facebook to answer any questions their own peers may have.  Mrs. Livingston described Facebook as, “a great source of information for me as a new mom as I am able to post questions to all my friends who are moms out there and get responses back.”

Others, like Mrs. Cozort, who is both a social butterfly and a coach, use Facebook for talking with friends and contacting those involved with swim teams. She enjoys constantly keeping up on what everyone is doing through her iPhone and networking with other coaches. She says that Facebook is a great and easy way to congratulate former students on the new house, or the new baby.

Mrs. Raposa said, “When I was in high school, the internet as we know it didn’t exist.” She, as well as our other teachers, describes the site as a fun experience. They appreciate being able to get in contact with friends from their past that ended up going to different schools or moving away.

Since the website appeals to various different interests, our teachers also differ in how often they visit.  Mrs. Cozort said, “I’m on FB all the time- mostly on my iPhone though.” Mr. Cozort, in contrast, uses the site once every couple of weeks. When asked about how much she uses Facebook, Mrs. Livingston said “my husband would say I’m on Facebook too much, but that’s just because he wants to check his!”

With a growing population of new users, Facebook is no longer just available to current high school and college students. Parents of students have been joining recently, sparking a large increase in Facebook members. To Pres teachers, Facebook is obviously a great way to reconnect with old classmates or to just keep in touch with family members in or out-of-state. Facebook has allowed people of all ages like our own Pres teachers to update their contacts with what’s going on their life. Talking with new friends or catching up on the latest news with old friends and family is also available courtesy of Facebook.