College, technology and social media

The world has changed – at least on my front.  I'm one of the young people that contribute to the daily hive of smartphone activity at University College Dublin.  I can see the social and educational environment at the university rapidly changing. The old cojito is gone and it's now; I instagram – therefore I am.

The way I process information has been revolutionised by the little device in my pocket.  I now sit in the hallways of the Newman building scrolling.

I'm craving bite sized data snippets that match my own little app-ified persona.  I remember one of my first philosophy lectures in the Colosseum (theatre L); the professor stated foremost that he didn't want to see any 'extensions of Satan' in our hands.  He was referring to smartphones.

Fast-forward to now, my second year, and a different professor asks for students to use smartphones to vote on topic related questions.  A live visual poll is then projected to illustrate the results.  A varying intellectual response to my information age displays a generational divide amongst professors but this balance is important to remind me that concentration should be more wholesome compared to just the visual and bite sized moments I seek.

The immediacy of smartphone communication can be tyrannical at times.  There is an unavoidable now created by all the apps in which I spin my little webs of connectivity.  But, this is not always for the worst.  I'm in a few different Facebook groups for some of my modules, where I can ask other students for help and clarification on deadlines.

These little support groups are fun and helpful to interact with.  I’ve been noticing young freshmen use their smartphones as a coping tool for loneliness – college is a hard beginning for many and the smartphone allows us to brood and scroll our way through gaps in the day.

Recently though, I have witnessed the social impact of smartphones at UCD take an alarming turn.  When I read the College Tribune article on Facebook, the first question I asked myself was; why are the victims always girls? The Tribune reported that 200 Agricultural Science students had been rating and sharing indecent images of notches on their belts; young innocent female students.  UCD is currently investigating the chat group.

I think, there are, amongst all the brewing activities on campus, some odd developing cultures.  One of these mini-cultures was noted by the Tribune as a ‘Lad culture’ and some of these cultures prevail in a minority of UCD online groups.  I’ve scrolled upon pages like Spotted: in UCD Library, Gym and Exams that portray anonymous testimonies which range from light-hearted courting to subversive bullying.  These groups should not be allowed to continue with UCD’s name attached.  I think such cultures are aided by what’s happening around us.

It is important to note the beginnings of Zuckerberg’s Facebook.  I watched ‘The Social Network’ and saw how he set up a Harvard student page for the sole purpose of rating fellow students. These weird little UCD groups probably form from the same intent for social control which is borne out of anger, idleness and entitlement.  I think the UCDSU’s consent campaign is hugely important but there should be further education for students concerning digital boundaries.

With 32,000 students and a matching number of smartphones on campus: My advice to all is to make real connections, join societies and sneeze in the library safe in the knowledge that it probably won’t appear online. Importantly, remember that we are educated people  – every young person needs to learn and demand respectful digital boundaries.

Darragh Miller – 2^nd Year philosophy and sociology undergraduate at UCD.