Gastbeitrag: Uni-Mobbing gegen Ex-Facebookler

Facebook sei Dank: Freundschaften gehen kaputt, Beziehungen scheitern. Facebook ist nicht nur eitel Sonnenschein, so die New Yorker Studentin Stephanie C. Tardieu in ihrer klugen Analyse rund um Soziale Netzwerke im Internet. Ein netzwelt-Redakteur entdeckte ihren Artikel während eines New-York-Besuches in der Unizeitschrift "The Campus to City College New York and the Harlem Community". Netzwelt veröffentlicht den Text exklusiv und im Original-Wortlaut in Deutschland.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. 1Die heutige Studenten-Generation bevorzugt Quickies - in jeder Hinsicht
2. 2Nach der Profil-Löschung kam das Campus-Mobbing
3. 3Freunde fragten mich, ob ich mich für was besseres halte, da ich nicht mehr in Facebook zu sehen bin
4. 4Was macht Facebook & Co. so mächtig?
5. 5Der durchschnittliche Facebook-Nutzer hat 150 'Freunde'
6. 6Freundin rausgeschmissen, da sie in Facebook Fotos postete
7. 7Facebook zeigt Dir, dass Du ein Mauerblümchen ohne Partyeinladungen bist
8. 8Von der Sucht alle fünf Minuten Nachrichten auf Facebook zu checken
9. 9Wenn lieb gemeinte Messages aggressiv beim Buddy ankommen
10. 10Facebook drückt die Schul- und Uni-Noten
11. ...aufklappen
12. 11Schul- und Unifreunde nie mehr aus den Augen verlieren
13. 12Unsere Zukunft wird durch Internet-Freundschaften verändert
14. 13Cheers!

It’s safe to say that the college experience today has come a long way from that of our parents and even older siblings. The college experience has often been regarded as "the best four years of your life," the place where you go to expand your mind and boundaries through Academia; the place where great ideas are born and the sky is the limit as to the potential you can achieve. You may have been preached old adages from your parents encouraging carpe diem and enforcing that knowledge, and education, is power; but in today’s quick-paced society, the reality is that college has lost much of this idealistic appeal to students. Instead, college has become synonymous to all-nighters, Adderall, spring break, and Facebook.

Die heutige Studenten-Generation bevorzugt Quickies - in jeder Hinsicht

It’s no surprise that in today’s Y-generation of quick-fixes over delayed gratification, students prefer quick and easy solutions to, well, everything. Even the face of keeping in touch with friends has drastically changed in college. Way back when - oh, four years ago -, students used to keep address books, email addresses and even practiced the archaic ritual of sending hand written letters to keep in touch with their social circle. Well, all that will soon be extinct with the online social-network explosion of Facebook.

With social circles evolving into social-mega-networks, college students are only a click away from all their closest friends, whether 40 or all 500 of them, their personal information, contact information, and virtually all other details they could possibly desire. Facebook seems to have revolutionized college socializing at an astonishing rate and has even become a rite of passage to freshman college students dying to join the club. According to ComScore, an internet marketing Research Company, some 62 million people around the world surf the website for an average of 20 minutes per day, making Facebook the 7th most visited website in the world, trailing powerhouses such as Yahoo, Google, and YouTube. But amidst all the hype surrounding Facebook, little has been done to question the short and long term effects of spending so much time in a virtual world of uninhibited communication filled with limitless personal information about the people in your community and more importantly, yourself.

Nach der Profil-Löschung kam das Campus-Mobbing

To gain insight into exactly what the effects of Facebook were on my life, I decided to do some investigating and cut myself off completely from the network by deleting my account. This of course, I learned, was not possible - thanks Mr. Zuckerburg - , so I did the next best thing; I deactivated, which allows you to reactivate anytime you want. At first, like any break-up, I felt relieved and liberated from my previous relationship. For the first day, I was actually able to sit at my computer and work quite productively. I checked my emails, finished a seven page history paper, and even got a head start on reading some English Lit.

The next day, however, was not so easy. As I struggled through my Bio lab report, I found myself increasingly preoccupied with needless questions: Did that cute guy from Saturday poke me back yet? Did Anna post those pictures from last weekend’s party? Like any addict, I tried to stay focused, but the harder I tried, the more I felt the need to just take a one little peek. So I reactivated my account, put an end to my curiosity, took some application quizzes, then deactivated, again. This process repeated itself painfully for a week or so before I decided to just throw in the towel and reactivate my account for good.

Freunde fragten mich, ob ich mich für was besseres halte, da ich nicht mehr in Facebook zu sehen bin

Short of being addictive, another effect I noticed from my short break-up with Facebook is that a good number of my friends seemed distressed and confused by my absence from the site. Many of them wondered if I had "unfriended" them from my page or if anything was wrong. I reassured them that we were still friends and that I was simply taking a break from the site, an idea that seemed to confuse them even more. This sense of confusion, I found out, is not isolated to my case alone. When I asked Yonavel Capellan, a 4th year CCNY student psychology major, who happens to not use Facebook, what the general responses are to her M.I.A. status from the website, she shared: "People always ask if I have Facebook and they tend to react weirdly and surprised when I tell them I don’t use it. I think it’s because so many people have one [account]. I’ve lost contact with some friends and sometimes people I’ve just met because I don’t use the website."

Was macht Facebook & Co. so mächtig?

Although my leave of absence opened my eyes to the addictive potential Facebook has, it also left me with more questions. What makes Facebook so fascinating and potentially addictive to college students? And if Facebook has been powerful enough to change how we make new friends and the way we qualify those friendships, what are the greater long-term effects of Facebook on our mental health, the college experience, and our future? The college experience being quite broad, I settled to find out if and how Facebook affects students’ social lives and academic records.

Der durchschnittliche Facebook-Nutzer hat 150 'Freunde'

On the site’s “About” page, Facebook describes itself as being: “A social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them; a place to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.” According to Helen Birtwhistle, press officer for the Institute of Ideas, the average Facebook user has roughly 150 friends. Suffice it to say, college students are taking in a lot more stimuli than just the information from their textbooks. But what are the consequences of the mind being overstimulated by random information about so many persons’ lives on a daily basis? In an informal survey of various colleges across the nation and abroad, 100 students were polled on the effect of Facebook on their social lives, and in particular whether using Facebook had facilitated social interactions with their fellow peers within the college community.

Links zum Thema

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