If there’s one thing the Oxford Facebook page has taught me, it’s that sometimes it’s better to turn off your notifications. Some days there will be only a few posts, but others, the page will be awash in lost and found posts, (often duplicate) flyers for events, requests for help or shared rides, general announcements, and offers of assistance, or admonishments for poor behavior.
On a campus with just short of a thousand students, most between the ages of 18 and 20, nobody expects an angelic student body. Rules will be broken, messes will be made, and feelings hurt: in short, things will go wrong. We know this, and we yet hold ourselves (and the student body as a whole) to a higher standard all at once. We expect our fellow students to take responsibility for the messes they make; to clean up after themselves. We expect our classmates to treat us, our property, the school, and its staff with respect. And if people fail to live up to those expectations, we take pictures and post about it on Facebook.
I’m not about to say that these posts are overreacting to minor mistakes made by stressed, overworked, and sleep-deprived students. Generally, the aim isn’t to point fingers, it’s to increase awareness of bad habits and ensure a better living environment for the community as a whole. Yet the fact remains that every few weeks, there’s a post about mess in the bathrooms or the kitchens, or about issues with laundry rooms, like moving of other people’s loads or missing clothes.
It’s not like these are outlandish requests, or that students could reasonably be unaware of such behavioral expectations without posts on Facebook. The girls’ bathrooms on each floor feature posters reminding us to clean up after ourselves and to remove hair from the showers. The laundry rooms have detailed sets of guidelines posted, and the trashcans there also have posters reminding us it’s okay to use them for lint from the dryer, but all other trash should go down the hall.
Ultimately, the question is what we hope to accomplish. Are we posting on Facebook because we genuinely think it will change people’s behavior? Are we trying to document transgressions in the hope of gaining public approval of others for doing so, or else, shame wrongdoers? Are we simply reminding each other that expectations are high? I don’t have an answer, but I do think it’s something to consider.
Even when our fellow students mess up, (and even when that mess is monumental or seems malicious, rather than an accident or prank), righteous anger only does so much on Facebook. Public attention may not lead to shame, and sometimes, the best way to handle things is privately. Just as there is no single goal to these, there is no single right answer about how to respond when things are stolen, the kitchens are a mess, or someone does us wrong. There is, however, a way to prevent a new careless accident, and that is to simply (and perhaps obviously), think before you post. Ask what you want to accomplish, and whether this is a way you can do so.