From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg Project on How Internet Connected Devices Redefine Relationships and Space by, Robert Riggs on August 24, 2011

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A beefy man in a black U.S. marshal’s raid jacket bursts through a door and shouts, “Mark Zuckerberg! You are under arrest for friendship fraud!” Within seconds the officer slams a pale-looking teen with thick red hair facedown on a table and straps restraints around his wrist.

 

In the next scene, the distinctive musical chord for “Law and Order” opens on a courtroom where the Zuckerberg look-a-like pleads his innocence before a judge, prosecutor, and jury.

 

The scene plays out in a YouTube video produced by students in one of the most sought-after classes at Texas A&M University in College Station. It’s just one of twenty-eight videos submitted by teams from a 160-member creativity class taught by the College of Architecture named “Environmental Design 101: The Design process.*”

 

Over a weeklong period, the students documented the impact of Internet-connected devices on relationships and personal space. As an Outstanding Alumnus and Peabody Award-winning TV reporter who crossed the digital divide to online communications, I assigned the project, called from “Gutenberg to Zuckerberg.”

 

At the conclusion of the mock Zuckerberg trial, an A&M football player who plays the star witness for the prosecution blames Facebook’s Mafia Wars for a deteriorating relationship with his girlfriend.

 

Facebook is a common thread in all of the videos, an indication of just how deeply it has become woven into the social fabric of daily life. Facebook “creeping,” the popular pastime of looking through people’s profiles or photos and then through their friends, and so, presented a recurring theme that underscored ambivalence about the ubiquitous social network.

 

No ordinary students made these observations. They represent multiple disciplines from the sciences, engineering, and liberal arts. At the start of each semester, the class signs non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and previous classes have set an impressive track record for producing patentable inventions. The class focuses on the creation of new knowledge.

 

A video entitled, “How Has The Internet Ruined Your Life?” uses a sociological study format. Two female students seated across a desk from an interviewer explain how the casual acceptance of a friendship request has resulted in a “creeper” that pops up at the most unlikely places. In the background and unbeknownst to the coeds, a creepy wide-eyed guy with a silly grin peeks in the office window.

 

The video closes with the soundtrack from “Halloween” as a text crawl rolls, “A new level of human connectivity has arisen. People can intrude upon your space simply by accessing the vast amount of information that is available on the Web.”

 

Class discussion about the videos highlighted contradictions among their attitudes about online privacy. A coed proclaimed it was flattering to be “creeped” upon as if it was a measure of good looks and popularity on campus.

 

However, numerous videos indicated plenty of bruised feelings result from living in two distinct social worlds. One team’s video warned that, “just because you are friends online does not mean that you are friends in real life.”

 

To emphasize this new social paradigm, staged scenes unfolded on campus of students rudely ignoring a passing Facebook friend on the way to class.

 

Some of the most telling moments occurred when the camera captured real interactions. A pretty coed scrolls through her Facebook newsfeed and declares to the computer screen, “your status update better be interesting or it better be funny. It better be something that I like.” Off screen a male voice derisively interjects, “Because the world revolves around me.”

 

During one team’s break, the camera kept rolling as each student stood around like they were bowling pins unaware of the very existence of the other, immersed in texting.

 

Another video signals a generation gap in which a student portrays a stereotypical father scolding his son’s distracted attention to texting. The father then resumes reading the daily newspaper.

 

The impact of app-enabled smartphones on social interaction was a popular second theme in many of the videos. A video called “The Deathly Internet” concluded that, “a social interaction is something you do on Facebook.” And a male member of the class drew laughter when he expressed preference for Facebook breakups because, “I don’t have to feel bad about her tears.”

 

Yet, some of the students decried the loss of intimacy and face-to-face contact. A scene of a couple exchanging text messages flashes back to the good old days of '80s-style letter writing. Lionel Richie’s lyrical voice sets the romantic mood with “Hello — It’s me…” as a woman softly removes a ribbon from her lover’s letter under flickering candlelight.

 

In contrast, a video titled “Cybermance” questions, “Why date the old fashioned way when we have machines to date for us?”

 

Zuckerberg and Facebook’s investors should not take comfort in the heavy reliance that these students place on the social network. They feel no sence of loyalty and claim that they have trained themselves to ignore ads.

 

Some say they are already making the transition to Google+ where they can reassemble their social networks into more manageable and private circles.

 

*ENDS 101 is the brainchild of Professor Rodney Hill. He was named the 2011 Piper Professor for Teaching Excellence in Texas and the 2010 Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence at Texas A&M.

 

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Robert Riggs is co-founder of frontpageTV and vice president at WrightIMC, founded by fellow PubCon speaker Tony Wright. Robert Riggs' full PubCon speaker biography is available here, and he can be reached at rr at robertriggs dot com.