Week 10 Response

Although Facebook is not a professional environment and was originated as a place to post fun pictures and keep in touch with a variety of people, it has become an area for college recruiters and employers to do a background check on prospective students and potential employees.  I believe this is an unfair way to judge a person.  Before social media, there was no way to do this sort of check on someone.  A person was judged based on their performance in school, work, or recommendation letters from other professionals.  What happens in the work place should be most important to an employer, and what happens outside should really be none of their business.  With that being said, there are also many aspects of Facebook that could be interpreted in a different way than it was originally intended.  A picture of a group of girls holding drinks could look like they are ready for a crazy night out when in reality, they were having a glass of champagne in celebration of a promotion, engagement, etc.  This misinterpretation could lead to a loss of job opportunity for someone who truly deserved it.  As it has been for decades, work and personal lives should remain separate.

I think there are many factors that determine whether or not a Facebook friendship with a professor is appropriate.  Age definitely has something to do with it.  Graduate students, and even most undergraduate students are adults and can make their own decisions.  At that time, it should be up to the student or professor whether or not they think it is appropriate to become Facebook friends.  However, for high school students and even younger, there is still a boundary that should not be crossed.  Most high school teacher-student relationships are completely platonic, but there is still the fact that all students of that age are not legally adults yet.  It would be completely inappropriate for a teacher to “friend request” a student at that age, but if a student tries to friend request a teacher, I think the teacher should kindly reply in a message that it is not suitable to have that sort of relationship.  Also, the fact that Facebook has become so widely used makes a difference on whether or not student-teacher friendships is appropriate.  At one time, only college students were allowed to use the sites.  Once it expanded, it was still strange for adults to be using the sites, especially wanting to be friends with kids.  Now, though it has become so widespread, almost everyone is on Facebook and friends with everyone.  I am friends with both of my parents, my grandparents most of my aunts and uncles and even some professors.  The expansion of Facebook has made the teacher-student friendship more acceptable.

I am a strong advocate of helping the young deal with their problems.  We have discussed many times in several classes how people, especially young people, are taking advantage of social networks and its ability to spread information across a large forum in a small amount of time.  Many times, these young people will post some heart-felt piece of information that is clearly a cry for help.  Unfortunately, because we have become so accustomed to seeing these sad messages, they are often times ignored.  I believe that there should be an online support group that contacts these young people when they are feeling upset and tries to help them.  Although it is – in my opinion – an immature way to express feelings, the feelings are what really matter, and should not be ignored.