Having a Facebook may possibly be one of the few common denominators among all college students. Because of its intense popularity, this ground-breaking social phenomenon, which began in 2004, could be slowly changing American culture.

When Dr. Pravin Rodrigues, assistant professor of communications studies, discussed with his freshman class the notion of self-disclosure, he noticed an interesting trend regarding how it relates to Facebook.

As students perhaps unwittingly revealed, self-disclosure, which is the act of sharing personal information with others, tends to occur more online than in person.

“I asked students, ‘Would you self-disclose to a complete stranger?'” Rodrigues said. In response, the majority of students agreed it would be inappropriate to share personal information with strangers. “Then I asked them, ‘What about stuff you post on Facebook?'” In reply, the students began to second-guess their initial answer.

“I got the sense that students are not as concerned about what they put up on Facebook as compared to what they would say in person,” Rodrigues said. “Self-disclosure is perceived differently in person than on Facebook. They don’t see it as self-disclosure. They just see it as, ‘fun stuff for my friends to read.'”

Like sending out an email, some students only think of the friends they intend to read their posts when they update their statuses and pictures.

“There’s a perception about it being more secure than it is,” Rodrigues said. “There are blocks, and you only can accept people you want to, but there are these articles saying that people are ‘friending’ [accepting friend requests from] just about anybody, even complete strangers.”

That isn’t to say all students are oblivious to who is seeing their Facebook account. Junior Lindsay Huff, who admits she obtained a Facebook back in high school because “everyone was doing it,” is fully conscious of what she is showing to the public.

“I’m very private about pictures and I don’t put pictures up that are terrible,” Huff said. “I think of other people who are looking at me, like for jobs.”

At the same time, some individuals do not consider the backlash of what they post on their accounts; junior Lindsay Meyer belonged to this group prior to canceling her account.

“I wasted too much time on it and I updated my statuses way too much,” Meyer said. At times, she felt her status updates were too revealing, consequently damaging her reputation. It wasn’t until the beginning of this spring semester that she finally pulled the Facebook plug.

“For the most part, I don’t miss it,” Meyer said. “It was basically like a diary, open to the public.”

Interestingly enough, what Rodrigues gathered from his classroom is the general perception that students feel the material they post is relatively appropriate compared to what younger generations post.

“Some students said there’s a generational gap between them and their siblings,” Rodrigues said. For example, there was one student who mentioned during the class discussion that she has a 13-year-old cousin who posts indecent material on a regular basis. According to that student, her cousin didn’t “think she was doing anything unusual.”

“Is the bar being lowered with every generation?” Rodrigues said.

Huff feels that Facebook is in fact changing American culture, though not just with younger generations.

“I feel like everything is becoming more…improper because of Facebook,” Huff said. She knows of a handful of people who seem unaware of the harmful material they post about themselves. Rodrigues agreed.

“People are not making a separation between private and public,” Rodrigues said. “The things we would refuse to do in person are okay to do on Facebook.”

In spite of the potential detrimental effects of owning a Facebook account, such as the previously-mentioned lack of privacy, the fact that the majority of people have one results in a sense of obligation for everyone to jump on board.

“I didn’t actually join Facebook until college because the people I met (O-Teamers, peers, etc.) used Facebook to communicate,” senior Sara Garska, the Ashland Center for Nonviolence intern, wrote in an email. “I think Facebook increases people’s accessibility to one another (versus e-mail, talking on the phone, etc.).”

Garska also noted one occurrence when a student asked to be removed from the ACN mailing list Garska managed but wanted to still follow them via Facebook. In this regard, Facebook is serving as a new tool that can increase communication between individuals.

Yet, as previously mentioned, students have noticed a sense of pressure to become a part of the trend.

“When a lot of people started getting it, I thought I should too,” Huff said.

Even the students who thought they wouldn’t be converted eventually gave in. Junior Marcus Demas is one such student who acquired a Facebook at the start of his junior year.

“I heard so much about it…I was hearing about it in my everyday life,” Demas said. “The curiosity eventually got the best of me.”

In addition to the appeal of checking out the website’s popularity, he simply grew tired of others questioning his so-called ability to “get with the times,” as Demas said.

“I felt peer-pressured…every time someone found out I didn’t have one, I’d received slight jabs and snickers,” Demas said.

Going along with this notion of peer pressure, sophomore Jake Ewing agreed.

“When somebody doesn’t have a Facebook, it does feel weird,” Ewing said. “I realize that it’s stupid, but it’s a part of our lives now.”

Becky Furman expressed similar sentiments, who said: “I think that now it’s a little strange because everybody’s on it.”

Rodrigues noted that Facebook is no longer for younger generations. He has noticed an increasing number of faculty members who have acquired an account. On a personal level, Rodrigues does not see himself ever getting involved with the online social networking trend.

“If I somehow feel my life experiences are ‘incomplete,’ I might seek Facebook,” Rodrigues said wryly. “But at this point, I’m perfectly satisfied in my life without it.”

Those who were unable to fight the siren song of Facebook are now having trouble staying away from it.

Demas feels that various features of Facebook, such as the pictures or the ability to “keep tabs” on friends, makes the social networking site addicting. Ewing agreed.

“It’s weird how obsessed with it people are, but it is a nice way to communicate with people,” Ewing said.

There are even instances when an ex-Facebooker can’t help but feel the urge to log back on.

“I’ll admit that sometimes, I ask my friends to use their Facebook to look someone up,” Meyer said.

In spite of the time Huff said she wastes on her Facebook and the threat it may pose to her privacy, she seemed fairly confident that she would not be getting rid of her account in the future.

“Sometimes I want to stop Facebook, but I know I’ll always have it,” she said. “I feel it’s addicting.”

While most trends rise and fall, it appears that Facebook in the United States is a powerful cultural force that is here to stay for many years to come.