A Day Without Facebook: “I’m Already Starting to Feel a Little Bit of Withdrawal.”
Produced by Ben Wolff at 10:18 am on December 22, 2009 in Social Media, StudentSpeak • 2 comments
StudentSpeak Webisode 2/ View more Spotlight videos
Earlier this month, high school students Shani and Terrence told us about what social media was most important to them. And Facebook was at the top of their list. So then we asked: Can they handle a whole day away from the site?
“I don’t really know what kind of effects it could have on me,” Terrence says, “whether I get more homework done or spend more time on other things…”
Yet as the day wears on, both teens say they feel they have lost contact with their peers.
“I haven’t been on for a whole day, and I just really want to know what’s going on,” Shani says.
Shani’s mom, Deborah, says the immediacy of digital technology has made Shani and her peers less patient and less likely to plan things in advance.
“You want to know, ‘Can I do this now?’” Deborah says. “Now, now, now.”
Case in point, on Facebook, “There’s always something happening,” Shani says. “You see, ‘two minutes ago,’ ‘four minutes ago,’ ‘eight minutes ago.’ There’s always something new happening. It’s like you want to keep up. It’s like your lifeline.”
Will they be able to resist hitting the refresh button? Watch today’s webisode to find out.
Next: Building Skills, Creating Futures: "It's Really How I Want it to Sound" > >
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Comments (2)
1: Michelle Pacansky-Brock from San Jose, CA at 5:22 pm on Monday, January 11, 2010
I am a college educator and I’m anxious to see higher education pulled into this dialogue, as I think it’s also critical for college professors to reimagine the ways we’re engaging our students in learning experiences.
Social networking holds tremendous potential to keep students engaged in learning outside the classroom and in touch with campus events and, hopefully, craft new pedagogies with participatory learning at the core. However, Shani, Terrence and other students of their generation will be more than challenged to stay engaged in passive-lecture style learning environment, forced to keep their mobile devices tucked away as they will still be considered annoyances by most professors.
2: Terry Prince from Sacramento, California, USA at 3:15 pm on Friday, March 12, 2010
I am thinking that there are certain time periods in the life stage cycle that the “NOW” Facebook, or similar social media platform urgency happens. It seems to me Senior year in US high school is a very “now time” - especially since the students are waiting to hear from their colleges or universities about acceptance. Other times might be when a family is waiting to hear about an impending birth.”
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