In the ever growing world of electronics, social media sites such as Facebook are becoming a popular way of meeting new people, especially before the first year of entering college.
Freshman Sarah Curtelli said that there are both advantages and disadvantages to having met her roommate on Facebook. “An advantage was that when I got accepted to Monmouth and got my roommate information, I was able to find my roommate and get to know her. We mainly talked about what to bring and got to know each other a bit,” said Curtelli.
She added, “A disadvantage was we never met face-to-face until move in day and that did cause slight tensions and took us more time to get along.”
This is becoming more of a trend now than it was a few years ago since links to University pages are mailed to students upon their acceptance into the University.
Even with recommendations that students should call their roommates to get to know them better, many just search the class webpage.
Junior Eryn Siddall believes that there are a few reasons as to why this is the case when it comes to finding roommates. “I think the initial reaction of every freshman is to friend as many freshmen as possible before the school year starts,” said Siddall.
Siddall added, “Then once you actually start going to school you either casually say ‘hi’ to the people you recognize from Facebook or don’t even acknowledge their presence at all.”
Siddall said, “Now I am a junior and have friends on Facebook who I’ve never talked to and don’t even know who they are, except for that they are in my class.”
Siddall pointed out that the class Facebook pages to her were more of a tool than a way of making friends. She used it to straighten out things such as what students were bringing to the dorms. “It was cool to connect with people on the page at first, like when everyone found out what rooms they were living in and posted it on the page. But now I feel that the page is kind of pointless,” she said.
She said that there are some advantages, but more issues may arise as the year progresses. “Some good things about it are that it can be an outlet to reach out to the entire class if someone has a question in mind. It also helps people such as Outlook writers to gain input for articles they’re writing which is convenient.”
She added, “However it is also annoying to receive notifications and people are asking unnecessary questions or spamming the page.”
Many clubs and organizations at the University are creating group pages to help increase membership and maintain a discussion board with happenings and events. Sometimes these pages can get off topic and other times they can be of help.
Junior Jessica Ketch believes that these groups can be helpful to others. “I think they are great when you first come to Monmouth. A lot of people meet potential roommates and friends from the groups. It does take away from face-to-face contact but it is helpful as well when you do not know anyone.”
Junior Rachel Fox sees this as a helpful tool as well. She said that while some may not like it, a group set up like this can be very important.
She added that the Outdoors Club Facebook group has been a great forum for students. “All posts people have put have some sort of importance, and does not see any disadvantage with this method. She sees it as a great way to communicate even though there is no face to face interaction
Professor Michael Thomas, Assistant Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences sees this differently. “Facebook is absolutely preventing face-to face-communication,” he said. Thomas believes this is due to large innovations and preoccupations with technology today.
Being social on Facebook can have its ups and downs, according to many students, particularly when it comes to conversations of importance.
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