As an accepted member of Elon University, I have noticed the feasible hunger that people have for acceptance from others. Not simply others for that matter, but strangers. Once accepted into the University, the student automatically becomes a part of the Elon 2017 Facebook group, a place for people to find roommates and post about themselves. Yet as more and more people choose to attend Elon, the group became stranger. People post bios about themselves that would make eHarmony proud in hopes of finding friends or maybe that one special person with whom they will share a room with for their freshman year. This page has shown me that college, a time for self discovery and exploration, has become rather predictable. No one dares to venture out in their once in a lifetime chance to make friends through Facebook. They stick to “chill” people who “like to go out but care about grades too” and “are down for whatever” and will always “need a gym buddy”. This cookie cutter template for posting about oneself just proves that no one wants to make a wrong impression (if you want to hear about bad impressions, talk to me about orientation week). People worry about the judgements of complete strangers in fear that their Facebook posts will not attract any potential friends. More than twenty of these word for word replicas cloud my Facebook, my peers practically begging people to like them. Our society has come to making virtual friends and hoping that they will like you in person (again, ask about orientation). However for as fascinated I am by my future classmates and my constant fear that I will not make any friends, I have not posted on this page. At first my judgement of the overeager, Elon-lovers kept me away from joining the post about favorite TV shows, and then I began to choose who I wanted to friend based on if they posted on the wall. A post automatically crossed them off of my list, harsh but necessary during my time of hatred for the group. Yet now, I realize that the main reason I have not posted yet, lies in the fact that I do not know who I am yet and I certainly do not know how to accurately portray myself over the internet. I do not find myself in the cookie cutter category but how can I show others how I want them to view me if I remain unsure of that myself? So I must refrain from telling everyone my major and how “I’m SO not a morning person” until I know for a fact who I want to be.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
BE MY FRIEND
As an accepted member of Elon University, I have noticed the feasible hunger that people have for acceptance from others. Not simply others for that matter, but strangers. Once accepted into the University, the student automatically becomes a part of the Elon 2017 Facebook group, a place for people to find roommates and post about themselves. Yet as more and more people choose to attend Elon, the group became stranger. People post bios about themselves that would make eHarmony proud in hopes of finding friends or maybe that one special person with whom they will share a room with for their freshman year. This page has shown me that college, a time for self discovery and exploration, has become rather predictable. No one dares to venture out in their once in a lifetime chance to make friends through Facebook. They stick to “chill” people who “like to go out but care about grades too” and “are down for whatever” and will always “need a gym buddy”. This cookie cutter template for posting about oneself just proves that no one wants to make a wrong impression (if you want to hear about bad impressions, talk to me about orientation week). People worry about the judgements of complete strangers in fear that their Facebook posts will not attract any potential friends. More than twenty of these word for word replicas cloud my Facebook, my peers practically begging people to like them. Our society has come to making virtual friends and hoping that they will like you in person (again, ask about orientation). However for as fascinated I am by my future classmates and my constant fear that I will not make any friends, I have not posted on this page. At first my judgement of the overeager, Elon-lovers kept me away from joining the post about favorite TV shows, and then I began to choose who I wanted to friend based on if they posted on the wall. A post automatically crossed them off of my list, harsh but necessary during my time of hatred for the group. Yet now, I realize that the main reason I have not posted yet, lies in the fact that I do not know who I am yet and I certainly do not know how to accurately portray myself over the internet. I do not find myself in the cookie cutter category but how can I show others how I want them to view me if I remain unsure of that myself? So I must refrain from telling everyone my major and how “I’m SO not a morning person” until I know for a fact who I want to be.
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Blythe, I suppose out friendship no longer exists. Unfortunately I am one of "those kids" who posted on the Facebook wall. I just could not help it, I wanted a friend! Of course, after about two days of checking Facebook every two minutes, I realized a couple of things: people are mean and random roommate selection appears the best route.
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