Discussion of love/hate relationship with the Internet held Tuesday
Published Dec. 1, 2006
The difference between utilization and dependency on the Internet was the discussion topic Tuesday evening by those concerned with online social networking.
The discussion was headed by Women's Center adviser Beth Pickens; John Faughn, coordinator of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center; and Monique Mendoza, a graduate assistant for the Multicultural Center.
"We want everyone to know that we have a love/hate relationship with the Internet," Faughn said. "It's OK to embrace the Internet, but we don't want you to become too reliant on it."
A key topic in the discussion was the emergence of social networks on the Internet. Mendoza said she is concerned about these networks presenting profiles of people that are not really who their profile says they are.
"With MySpace or Facebook, a person's entire identity can be changed in a matter of minutes, and that's scary," Mendoza said. "The way a person appears on their profile can be completely different than who they are when you meet them."
Pickens said she has noticed students at the Women's Center interacting with each other less often because they are spending time on sites such as Facebook instead.
"There are so many addictive qualities of using these social tools that it is hard to break away," Pickens said. "But we seem to be becoming more hyper-individualistic, and people skills no longer seem like a high priority."
Pickens, Faughn and Mendoza are all concerned that these emerging social networks and "virtual" relationships are becoming increasingly dangerous. Faughn said that though he still thinks family and friends pose the biggest danger among all relationships, online predators are becoming more and more dangerous.
Pickens agreed and mentioned that she thought it would be interesting to do a study on how accurate people's profiles were on the Internet to who they really were.
"It would be interesting to do that and see if what people put on their profiles are who they aspire to be, what they think the opposite sex would find attractive, and so on," Pickens said.
The three speakers are also concerned about the ability to form meaningful relationships now that relationships are easy to form over the Internet.
Mendoza said that she felt relationships were not as meaningful when text messages or e-mail is used rather than the telephone.
Faughn agreed.
"I don't understand how you can reveal your identity on a profile or a blog," Faughn said. "Online profiles seem similar to people putting profile advertisements in newspapers."
They are also concerned about similar technologies that are making life more convenient, but possibly less safe. Mendoza expressed particular concern with a service called Dodgeball.com, which a cell phone user can set up so that his or her friends receive text messages whenever they go somewhere.
"That just seems like it could be unsafe, having so many people know where you are all the time," Mendoza said.
Other technologies such as cell phone advertisements and online registrations as well as the advancement of the Internet itself are all concerns.
Faughn said Internet users should still feel lucky.
"Some students come to college having never used a computer before," Faughn said. "It is still a privilege to have a computer and the Internet."
