As with all social interaction, social media can get strange, according to ASU students.
Justin Johnson, an ASU student, said the weirdness doesn’t stop at Facebook or Twitter, but can seep into dating sites like Tinder as well.
“I had one girl ask me to write an essay for her,” Johnson said. “I wasn't too into that.”
Still, Johnson said, he was bored so he followed through. Next thing he knew, his Tinder match barraged him with political questions, Johnson said.
He said the match was none too enthused with his responses, calling him out for his political leanings and suspected naivete. Despite the rough discourse, Johnson said he appreciated the encounter enough to recommend the app.
“It was an enjoyable morning,” Johnson said.
He said the main appeal to Tinder was how it bypasses the negative aspects of rejection.
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“(In person) you don’t know if you are going to make things awkward if you ask them out for a date,” Johnson said.
By only allowing communication between two people who have shown interest in each other, Tinder negates much of the social backlash of rejection, Johnson said.
“It’s also a nice way to get to know people, too,” Johnson said.
Still, Johnson said he spent more time on Reddit than any other social media site.
“It’s essentially a newspaper or magazine with countless articles run by a community of, just, people like you,” Johnson said.
Apparently, he is not alone. According to the Pew Research Center, 62 percent of adult Americans get their news from social media.
Yet, Kerri Starr, a nursing major at ASU, contended that social media may not be as informative as it seems.
“I find myself studying, and then I find myself on social media, so I don’t get a lot done,” Starr said.
But the annoyance extends past distraction, she said.
“I don’t retain a lot, then I feel like I need to backtrack and redo everything,” Starr said, and she isn't alone.
She said Tinder was no different, but agreed with Johnson that it could lead to interesting confrontations.
“The whole app in general, you’re kind of asking for strange experiences, right?” Starr said.
Nonetheless, Starr said social media was a net positive due to the friendships she was able to make through it.
“Last year, I bought tickets to Phoenix Lights … and I had no one to go with,” Starr said. “So I posted on the Facebook page, ‘is there anyone who would be willing to adopt me for this?’ and I met the most wonderful group of people through that … I went with them and we are still friends to this day.”
This experience had such a lasting impact on Starr that she said it made the constant distraction worthwhile.
“They’re my family now, and I would have never met them if I did not put something on that Facebook page,” Starr said.
Stacia Stone, a creative writing and nonprofit leadership and management major at ASU, said she was less enamored with Facebook.
“It’s a dying social media,” Stone said. “It’s definitely still catered to an older generation than mine.”
She said greed was the motivating factor behind Facebook’s declining appeal.
“In the hunt to become profitable … they wanted to appeal to huge demographics,” Stone said.
Although she had not experienced much harassment recently, Stone said social media is plagued by a worrying social disconnect.
“Making a safe zone, it feels easier on any site to approach someone in a way that normally would not be socially acceptable,” Stone said.
She said this phenomena combined with social media’s general appeal prompted her to distance herself away from the more popular sites.
“It was kind of a dangerous platform to stay on as a young teen girl,” Stone said.
Reach the reporter at chawk3@asu.edu.
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