A simple tool

With 45 locations within the campus to enjoy unlimited internet
access, Silliman University has truly come a long way in its
efforts to enhance its learning facilities. It is now very convenient
to learn beyond our hand-outs and books because we now have
information served to us for as long as we have our smartphones,
tablets and laptops at hand. If we are caught off guard by an
unanticipated question, we could always “google” our way to the
answer.
Time and again, the debate as to the boons and banes of technology does not seem to arrive at a definite conclusion. People make it a routine to tear at the issue on both sides, saying that it can accelerate the learning and communication process of today’s generation of Sillimanians while others argue that it will eventually cause the thinking and creative process to degrade. But to only consider what unlimited wi-fi connection can do to our academic and co-curricular performance is an old topic for discussion and falls to be too short-sighted. What we actually need to examine is what we do with this privilege that leads us
either to do better or to flunk in our studies. It is a valid rationale to maximize our usage of the unlimited internet access in campus. After all, why should anyone hold us back when we paid for it? Being connected to the internet in class can be a way for us to do research efficiently. If a teacher makes an important announcement that we need to disseminate immediately, we could always open our social networking accounts and post it. Then again, as with all things, the liberty to use the internet is separated by a very fine line from abuse. Students can be easily tempted to cheat in exams and bully their peers at whim through the internet.
The Silliman University administration and faculty should give constant reminders and impose strict guidance on all students regarding the use of the internet on campus. Although the university has taken a step ahead in blocking malicious sites, it is always possible for students to make average social networking websites as their platform to inflict harm on others and unto themselves. Teachers should especially be vigilant in making sure that all devices used by students within their classes are for studying and research purposes and not as sources of distraction.
Nonetheless, to rely solely on the watchful eye of school authorities is never enough. We should take it on ourselves to have the self-discipline in exercising the facilities we are entitled to because in the end, the internet can be categorized neither as bad nor good unlike the hands that use it. It is simply a tool.