In the past few years, there has been a transition between frequently used social networking sites, including Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Instagram.
From 2005 to 2009, Myspace was a big hit, but many deleted, or stopped using, their Myspace accounts when Facebook became the new trend.
Madison C. Boyd, freshman psychology and sociology double major, said she deleted her Myspace account when she started using Facebook because it was newer and more people used it.
She said that she likes that Facebook allows her to stay connected with friends and family who have moved, as well as keep up with announcements of the many events at California Baptist University.
Boyd said she does not use Twitter because it is just like Facebook. Unlike Boyd, Aubree R. Vlahos, freshman psychology major, said she uses Twitter more than Facebook. Vlahos uses Twitter to vent and stay updated on celebrity news.
Freshman McKay J. Vandenberg said he no longer uses Twitter or Facebook because they were just too distracting.
“The friends I needed to know I kept in contact with,” Vandenberg said.
Vandenberg said Facebook was cool because everyone had it. But a few months ago, he got bored of using Twitter and Facebook. Vandenberg said Twitter was too time-consuming and he could have been using his time to do more productive things.
Instagram, a relatively new social network, has also become popular.
Anthony J. Ballinger, freshman health science major, said, “(Instagram is) different than Facebook or Twitter because it has that whole picture aspect to it.”
Vlahos said she uses Instagram to post pictures.
“It’s fun to try and be creative with a cell phone camera,” she said.
Vlahos said that she created an Instagram because “everyone else had one.”
Dr. Richard Mobley, professor of Christian studies, said that some students allow social networking — namely Facebook — to take over their lives. Mobley said he has noticed that some have let it become a distraction and a substitution for face-to-face conversations.
Mobley said he once heard an anthropology student remark, “I couldn’t live a day without being connected to the Internet.”
While Mobley said he can see the usefulness of Facebook for keeping in contact with friends, some have become so addicted that even during a dinner date, people will text or go on Facebook, which is disrespectful.
However, Mobley added, perhaps social networking is this generation’s form of communicating and the generation gap makes that difficult for him to understand.
Though social networking has its downsides, it has become an influencial and extensive part of this generation’s
