Facebook: face of Jefferson communication

Facebook’s usage has spiked in the virtual environment

Facebook Messenger is an essential for Jefferson students.

Sai Mattapalli, Staff Writer
November 17, 2020

From midnight homework help to crucial club announcements, Facebook has always been an essential tool for any Jefferson student. However, its indispensability has spiked with the virtual environment.

“Facebook is definitely a lot more of a necessity now because evidently, we can’t talk to people in person,” sophomore Tanish Jain said.

Facebook has also proved to be beneficial for some freshmen, making the transition to Jefferson in a virtual environment smoother.

“I have gotten to know a lot of information about clubs through the Facebook groups, which I otherwise would have not known because it is hard for club officers to communicate with us in a virtual environment,” freshman Srimaye Peddinti said.

Why Facebook? In our digital age with so many social networking and messaging platforms, it is a question asked by many freshmen when they first learn of its importance at Jefferson. There are many ways to answer this question, but to put it simply, Facebook’s importance is due to its accessibility. Facebook comes as a package with its messaging app Messenger. This makes it really easy to start a conversation as you don’t need to type a phone number or email.

“The good thing about Messenger is that you can instantly chat with any friends you have on Facebook just by typing their name which is a unique feature not found in other platforms such as Discord or Google Hangouts,” freshman Neha Asuri said.

Unfortunately, the increased reliance on Facebook in the virtual setting has also brought forth some disadvantages.

“Due to the fact that sometimes academic and personal conversations can be intertwined, it can be really difficult to maintain focus or stay on task,” Peddinti said.

However, students have come up with ideas on how to combat the temptation of diverging from school work when on Facebook. One of these ideas is accountability.

“Something that really helps me from getting distracted is getting on a call with friends, this way we can hold each other accountable, keeping us productive while also helping each other with our work,” Jain said.

If used responsibly, Facebook really helps enhance virtual learning, despite its drawbacks.

“Though a little caution may be required, the pros of Facebook, especially in the circumstances that we are in right now, greatly outweigh the cons,” Peddinti said.