No Facebook, Twitter for a week? US college experiments

No Facebook, Twitter for a week? US college experiments

Harrisburg: A central Pennsylvania technological college with fewer students than many Facebook users have friends is  blacking out social media for a week. The bold experiment at the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology — which has drawn praise, criticism and even a jab on late-night TV — means students and staff can't access Facebook, Twitter or a host of other ubiquitous social networking sites while on the campus. Provost Eric Darr said the exercise is not a punishment for the school's 800 students nor a precursor to a ban, but a way for people to think critically about the prevalence of social media. The blackout comes on the heels of a report that Web users in the US spend more time socialising on Facebook than searching with Google, according to data released last week from researchers at comScore Inc. Still, Darr said he can't believe the controversy generated in the Twitterverse, blogosphere and academia, with some accusing the school of inflicting "a terrible thing and an infringement upon people's rights". "By and large, the students are supportive of the whole exercise and don't get so worked up over it," Darr said. On campus, attempts to log in to MySpace or LinkedIn return the message: "This domain is blocked." E-mail, texting and other Web-surfing is still allowed, but not instant-messaging. Student Ashley Harris, 22, said the blackout has freed her to concentrate on her studies instead of toggling on her laptop between social networks and the lesson at hand. "I feel obligated to check my Facebook. I feel obligated to check my Twitter. Now I don't," Harris said. "I can solely focus." Adam Ostrow, editor-in-chief of the social media news site mashable.com, said he would like to see if the university collects hard metrics from the ban, such as better class attendance or more assignments turned in on time. But he said a blackout is not feasible in the long-term.