Journal 1, August 31

Hello friends.

I logged onto facebook today mostly to find and friend a lot of the new freshmen I've been meeting. I have a leadership position in an RSO on campus and as part of our outreach to new members we especially focus on welcoming freshmen and practicing hospitality. This year someone made the observation that (especially with younger people) friending on facebook can be a form of "technological hospitality." I think there's some validity to this and it shows how important facebook has become to our culture, especially to high school and college students. It's an interesting conversation.

I also had one of my close friends break up with his girlfriend so he had to change the status of his relationship on facebook. So of course a few people commented on it. That's so stupid, I really don't like that...but at the same time why has the fb status of a relationship become such a big deal to us? Wtf.

Greg

Journal #1 (for real this time)

Recently I've been thinking a lot about Honesty Box and how much I hate it. I feel like Honesty Box is a good place to anonymously tell someone that you've had a crush on them forever, or to tell one of your friends that you love and appreciate them, but too often Honesty Box has been used as a forum to conduct cyber bullying. People use it as a place to trash someone down with out having the courage to say it to their face or even have that person know who hates them. If you want to tell someone that they are mean, tell them! Don't write it anonymously! That is the most immature, childish way of "confronting" someone. Honesty Box is not a conducive place for open, honest relationships, but more of a place to hide your face while you wail on someone.

I make these comments because recently I have been both the "victim" and the "offender" of these actions and it has made me realize that I hate Honesty Box. I don't want to be a person to hide in the shadows while I'm calling someone out, and I don't want to be someone that gets called out. I want someone to respect me enough to tell me to my face how they feel about me. And if they don't have that much respect for me, then I don't want them talking to me. So those are my thoughts on Honesty Box...

Journal #1, August 31

Facebook is a very useful tool-
But it can certainly get out of hand.
With all the quizzes, imaginary possessions and games we forget that it's a site for keeping in touch with people,
not for wasting time with frivolities.
I've got my video games for that.

When I can get in touch with most of my friends by phone or car or whatnot, I don't even use Facebook...it's great for friends out of range though, like Williamsburg, Virginia, for example.

I feel like making friends on facebook is sort of a chore, too. I have to keep my quotes witty and my jokes fresh. It gets really embarrassing when you don't stay in touch with people and then you have to remain friends with them when in real life you just never see them again. In short: I don't have the stomach to "de-friend" them. When I'm not resisting facebook purgings, I'm usually waiting for people I want to talk to who only log on at three in the morning.

It's great for finding people with common interests, especially when those people are on campus.
It's a great tool, if used responsibly.

For example, I'm facebook chatting with my roommate right now. He's across the room.

That's an example of irresponsible use.

They should have a warning label...
Use Facebook responsibly.

Better couple a warning label with Youtube text comments while we're at it.

Journal #1, August 31

This past week, it has been interesting to watch my friends on Facebook because almost all of us are going through the same thing: our first week of college. Whether at UIUC, other regional universities, or community colleges near my hometown, people are sharing information about their first week(s) of the school year. I haven't visited most of my friends' dorms yet, but I am getting virtual tours of their dorms through Facebook photo albums. I don't share any classes with my high school friends, but I know what many of them are taking every day through Facebook status updates. So in this way, Facebook helps me glimpse into my peers' college experiences to see things that I otherwise wouldn't get to know (at least for a while).

Like Disha, I've also looked up new UIUC people on Facebook since meeting them on campus. It is pretty fun to learn a little bit more about people and see if we have anything in common. This is often perceived as a stalker-ish activity, but I don't think that makes it wrong. People put personal information on their profile so that others can read it, right? For various reasons, they want to share aspects of themselves with their peers. I think it's a pretty useful idea! In fact, I'm not just looking up profiles of people I've just met on campus--I've met people on campus that I first met through their Facebook activity. For example, I befriended several people in Allen Hall this summer because they had joined the Allen Hall Facebook groups and posted in the discussion boards. Several weeks later, when I came to campus, it was neat (and only slightly awkard) to say hi to these people again, face-to-face.

Overall, I think Facebook has made the transition to this school year a better experience because it's helped me meet new people on this campus and keep up-to-date with my high school friends' activities elsewhere.

Journal #1 August 31

Recently I haven't been spending too much time on facebook. Ever since I came to U of I there has been so many other things to do rather than just sit on facebook and chat and play games. Nowadays I go on facebook to accept new friend requests and respond to wall posts if I have any. 

Regardless, the other day, my friend and I went on facebook to search for some new people we met in our classes. Some would say it is quite stalkerish, I would agree with those people. My friend and I met some cute guys in one of our classes. We decided to look them up on facebook to learn a few more things about them. It was fun. We didn't request them to be our friends yet, because it would be quite weird. Once we establish a real friendship with the guys, we will send a friend request. This thing that my friend and I did is probably very common. It's interesting because no one has to know that someone is interested to know what your facebook is like. Facebook is a really great tool to use to stalk someone. That's not always good when one has bad intentions. It's fine if no one is getting hurt, I believe. My situation was quite funny because it makes my friend and I sound like obsessed losers with no life. I was laughing by the end of the stalking session.

Journal #1 August 31

I have been avoiding facebook as of late. Wanna know why, course you do. There are many people that I don't wish to hear from and they happen to be those people that whenever you update your status; they are the first to comment on it. They are my friends and all (if they weren't I would delete them so fast), but I really don't need to know every thought that passes through their brains.





Now that thats over.





I miss many of my friends and the only way I can talk to them is through facebook, I wanna actually talk to some of them, but alas they are far away, or in the army, no phones and such, just occasional interweb access. depressing. Being forced to say "beeP" over the computer isn't as fun as it is in realy life.





BEEP! (perhaps I will have to explain this in class, too long to type)





Plus my sis keeps putting pics of my dog on here, and it make me sad (why am I so complainy today)


So now you all have to look at her cuteness!

Greetings Fall 2009 Students and Prompt #1

Hello everyone!

Glad you made it. For future reference, here is my personal website:

http://sites.google.com/site/kdrogos/Home

You can find information here about this course, other courses I teach, and even some of my research.


WHAT TO DO FOR CLASS NEXT WEEK

1. Respond to the prompt:
For your first prompt, please tell me about some things you hate about Facebook But also tell me about some things that you love about Facebook. Write the prompt response as a comment to this link. THIS IS DUE BY 1PM ON MONDAY!

Need some inspiration? Re-visit the video we watched in class on the first day of class.

2. Write your first journal:
Start a new post and entitle it "Journal #1, August 31." Please title all journals in this format. THIS IS DUE BY 1PM ON MONDAY!

3. Become Facebook friends with your classmates and T.A.