Social Networking as a School Distraction

The modern technology available to college students today can be either greatly helpful and beneficial, or it can be a detrimental distraction.  For the sake of this argument we are going to elaborate on the later of the two.  The portability that a laptop computer offers gives it potential to be a great tool for students.  At the same time however, it gives the students easy access to other sources that are not exactly dealing with the “curriculum”.  Whether it’s Social Networks, YouTube, Email, etc., students have a tendency to get off track during college lectures.  Here is a great link to an article that elaborates more on this issue.

In many college campuses , Professor's encourage students to use their laptop’s to take notes and turn in assignments.  This is not only because of today’s environmentally safe practices, but also because of how much more quickly and efficiently work can be done this way.  What these universities are not accounting for is the ease of a student to be checking his/her Facebook profile instead of typing notes on the lecture.  This creates a mentality amongst students that they don’t need to listen in class.  They know that they can get the class notes later from a friend or off of a campus oriented website such as Blackboard like we have here at NDSU.  This leads to another problem; Cramming for exams.  With all the course materials online, students don’t necessarily have to retain any information prior to the exams.  Students will study for a couple nights before the exam, and once the exam is over, the information is forgotten.  This is one of the primary reasons that college students have proven the inability to retain and learn and significant amount of information.  To the right is a great graph showing the increase in use of Social Networks from college students

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that we change back to pre-laptop college campuses. That being said, there are a few things that can be done to improve the statistics for college students.  The first is that Professors should not put there notes online (with the exception of online classes).  Instead, it should be the student’s responsibility to get the notes from a classmate if they don’t attend class.  Second, an increase in the amount of “pop-quiz’s” would make the student cover the material more diligently than just studying when they know they have a quiz. Overall, I believe there needs to be a better use of computers in the classroom, which will in turn increase class participation. 

Social Networking and the Workplace

Social networking has exploded within the last decade.  Many can relate on feeling the need to constantly be up to date on whats happening with family and the friends we surround ourselves with.  I will be the first to admit that I am just as guilty as the next person when it comes to this.  However, when it comes to job searching and relationships with others in a workplace, we need to watch what we say!!

The use of social networks in the workplace has been a controversial issue.  By now we as students have all heard the horror stories of how future potential employers will use fake names to either add you as a friend on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. in order to see what kind of a person you are.  On that same note, we have all been warned to be cautious about what we allow people to see on our own such social networking sites.  As college students, it is crucial that we think about what we are saying before we post a comment for hundreds, if not thousands of people will have the ability to see it.

When the opportunity presents itself and we are established within a career, the importance of keeping our negative thoughts to ourselves about our Superiors in the workplace in detrimental.  "Trashing" your boss is sure to have a negative affect on your career path.

Another major issue with social networking in the workplace pertains to relationships with other employees.  Intimate relationships within the company are often frowned upon, and rightfully so.  There are many negative examples of how such relationships complicate your job. 

If things go wrong withing these relationships, one of the worst things a person can do is make it a public affair.  By this I'm talking once again about using social networks to talk badly about the other person in the relationship.  A PRIME EXAMPLE of this can be found on CNN's website where a man has relationships with several employees within his office.  After things went wrong he felt the need to go public with them and chaos followed.  We would think that by now it's common sense to keep such issues to ourselves, or in the very least not on the internet for everyone to see.