By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Michael J. Bugeja[Edit][Delete]: Facing the Facebook, Chronicle of Higher Education [Edit][Delete] January 24, 2006
Another anti-technology screed from the Chronicle (do they ever get tired of running these?) this time contra the Facebook, a social network with membership restricted to U.S. college students. To follow this article, everything bad happening on campus - from disengaged students to rising costs to homophobia to media manipulation - is caused by Facebook. The argument is as ridiculous as it is invalid (but shedding the principles of reason seems to be no obstacle to the professoriate these days, a phenomenon that puzzles me by its pervasiveness). Why do I think the author's "ethical concerns" (his words) are misplaced here? Perhaps it's because I obtained my degrees mostly by skipping class and learning how to think and to write at a student newspaper. More...