Spring Break
Campus obsession with connection (part 1 of 3)
Laptops, iPods, cell phones, Myspace, Facebook - students find ways to connect on the go
Rachel Spitler
Issue date: 4/4/07 Section: News
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Socializing has been a fundamental part of Internet use since its creation, and as more people obtain online access, the popularity of social networking services continues to increase.
However, according to OSU professors, the effect social networking will have on future generations is, at best, a guessing game.
Alexa Internet reports that the most popular of these services is MySpace, which is the fifth most visited Web site in the world. A quick search reveals that 11,824 of its members are listed as students or graduates of OSU - no small tally considering the university's current enrollment of 19,362.
The school is well-represented on Facebook as well.
"It's a good way to put up information and stay in contact," said Alison Heninger, a sophomore in English.
Facebook is famous in part for displaying the activities of friends who are logged into the site, and, like many students, Heninger checks in at least once a day.
"I mostly got on it because my friends would never e-mail me," she said. "So this way I at least know they're alive."
Other students, such as David Mize, are less avid about the services. A junior in business, Mize has both MySpace and Facebook accounts but rarely uses them.
"I'd rather talk to my friends in person," he said. "I'd rather go out and do something. I don't need to be socially involved on the Internet."
Bill Loges, assistant professor in new media communications, said that online social networking is much more popular among college students than older generations.
According to a 2001 study in Los Angeles, only 15 percent of people over age 55 were using the Internet, compared with 75 to 80 percent of those ages 18 to 24.
This discrepancy is at least partly due to the fact that today's youth have grown up with computers, Loges said. "If not at home, then at school or the local library. It's simply unheard of. (This is) the first generation to be raised that way.
"If you ask a 17-year-old what motivation they might have to learn how to use MySpace, they'll tell you, 'Well, to link up with my friends.' You ask a 70-year-old how important it is to link up with their friends, they'll tell you frankly, 'Many of my friends are dead and dying.' And that's sad, but that's a fact of life of being that old."
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