University Ban on Social Media for a Week is a an Unethical Experiment
Closing down a campus network to social media for a week should not be imposed on an entire campus at the whim of an Administrator. Facebook, Twitter and IM are only latest versions of social media. When I was in college in the 80s and 90s, there were bulletin board systems, MUDs and chat rooms for multi-user interaction. Telephones were originally implemented as party lines. Why not ban them? As technology has evolved, it's social uses have as well. Singling out a particular population to be cut off from normal interaction for an arbitrary period of time is an experiment that should ethically require consent. Also, students still have access to social media through smart phones and off campus, so the ban on social media is somewhat voluntary. Why not ask for volunteers? I can imagine it being part of a specific class assignment, but imposing it on an entire campus disadvantages younger and lower income students disproportionately. Cutting off a campus from social media for a week is unethical because it is an arbitrary experiment being carried out on a disadvantaged population without their consent.
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