A college professor has declared war on social media at a college in Pennsylvania. All access to Facebook and Twitter will be blocked for a week. The reason? It’s not a punishment, the professor just wants students to think critically about the role social media plays in their lives.I find this a bit odd. For one thing students will still be able to access social networks via mobile apps, which is probably how they are checking and updating their statuses naturally. The other thing is just the idea of digressing. You don’t see people shutting down ATM’s for a week to remember the good old days when you had to talk to a teller. Or removing all laptops in exchange for an old-fashioned #2 pencil and a lined piece of paper.
It is good to think critically but I wonder if this is a case of the professor not quite understanding the benefit of social media and instead pulling one of those “back in my day” routines to teach the kiddies a lesson. What do you think?