Author: Jocelyn Coffin
It seems as though Facebook has taken over our lives. For many, part of the day is (perhaps compulsively) set aside for browsing our friends’ profiles and catching up on pictures and statuses. With the development of Facebook chat, the addiction continues to increase. Who needs e-mail or AIM when you can find everything you need to communicate on one Web site? However, as Facebook has become more and more intrusive – with people we’ve met only once looking at our pictures and keeping tabs on our lives – we should begin to wonder if we have crossed the line. In many ways, Occidental’s entering class of 2013 has felt the effects of the invasive power of Facebook.
Almost immediately after the first-year class received acceptance letters in the spring, groups dedicated to the Occidental class of 2013 began popping up all over Facebook. These groups were not solely student run, but were encouraged by the admissions team and by students already enrolled at Oxy. We received our letters, and then, thanks to the wonders of the Internet, we immediately felt like a part of the Oxy community through our participation in these groups.
During such a celebratory time, it was great to enjoy a means of instant gratification, immediately feeling connected to our new-found student-hood at college via the Internet. The outreach was exciting and, in many ways, comforting. The groups, dedicated to everything from sports to residence halls, were helpful in answering students’ questions and informing the incoming class about what it would be like to live at Oxy.
While all of this was convenient and supportive, it became evident that the students’ use of Facebook did much more than relieve curiosity. Concerned about who they would be spending the next four years with, people who had not yet met one another were virtually “friending” each other.
Many may argue that having already “met” new people on Facebook proved helpful upon arriving to campus. During orientation, students gravitated to people they were interested in on Facebook, recognizing familiar faces.
Some may be reluctant to admit this, but during high school, it is likely that many students clung to a specific clique or friend-group. While perusing the Oxy 2013 group, many of us searched for people who looked like our high school friends, who had the same interests as us, or who looked “fun.” We sought people whom we perceived to be a good fit for us. People who like to party likely checked profiles for pictures of people partying. Likewise, people who like playing sports likely checked profiles for pictures of sports fans or athletes. Grouping friends in terms of interests is a technique the majority of people use, as we are most likely to get along with people with whom we share similarities. Knowing your peers before actually meeting them has a limiting effect, however, reducing open-mindedness and opportunity to new experiences and change – all things Oxy values.
The problem is that Facebook is a very good tool for creating façades and perhaps masking the truth. Thanks to privacy settings, users have complete control of which of their pictures they want to be seen, and what information regarding themselves they want revealed. The power to create your own image makes it very easy for people to display themselves the way they want to be seen, not necessarily displaying the truth. Learning a person’s personality is something that is most effectively done in person over a period of time.
The use of Facebook as a judgment tool became even clearer once students of the class of 2013 received their rooming assignments. Users quickly divided into groups based on their living arrangements and friended their roommates at lightning speed. It is very possible that Facebook served as a disappointment to many during this time. Seeing their roommates’ profiles, some were plausibly upset and let down, while others were ecstatic – in love at first site. Most of us are probably guilty of making such preconceived assumptions.
Having been at Oxy for some time now, it is clear that these feelings were unnecessary and premature. Those who may have detested their roommates after scrutinizing their Facebook profiles may now love them. Starting college with an attitude that you are already unhappy with something is distorting, and is only fueled by the sometimes creepy nature of Facebook. Students even began complaining about their residence halls via Facebook without having seen them.
While Facebook is great for keeping in touch with friends and keeping up-to-date with their lives, is it the right tool for “meeting” your new cohorts? Should Facebook really be used to judge and examine the mysterious lives of people based on photoshopped images and often-deceiving stereotypes?
Stanford University is trying to prevent problems of this nature by waiting until orientation to inform students of their room assignments. True, this does make it harder to coordinate bringing mini-fridges or printers, but it may keep students open to change and to accepting people who they might not have typically sought to connect with -something that college, in time, is all about.
When meeting new people over the Internet, we must caution ourselves to remember that computers can never substitute that first moment of hand shaking or that first awkward introduction – meeting someone face-to-face, not Facebook-to-Facebook.
Jocelyn Coffin is an undeclared first-year. She can be reached at coffin@oxy.edu.
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
