The sound of slamming doors is often heard through the University residence halls at odd hours of the day and night.
But this noise isn’t caused by any lover’s quarrel or roommate disagreements. It’s just the sound of America Online’s Instant Messenger, letting users know a chat “buddy” has signed off.
Students have found many reasons to hang out in cyberspace for hours at a time. Devices such as ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger, which allow real-time chatting, keep students up until the early hours of the morning talking to romantic strangers and friends in other states — even neighbors who live in the room next door or the floor above them.
Five years ago, the University brought the magic of high-speed Ethernet connections to residence halls, supporting fast Internet access and allowing students to be “perma-online.”
In the Ethernet’s beginning years at the University, an estimated 20 percent of the residents used it, while today nearly 85 percent of students who live on campus are connected, according to Housing Computing Coordinator Norm Myers.
Although access was only granted to the University Inn and Riley Hall in the first year, by 1997 all residence halls were wired, contributing to the “Internet revolution” of the last decade.
Online chat devices and e-mail tend to be popular uses of the Web and especially help freshmen keep communication strong in their first year away from home.
Junior journalism major Brian Carlson estimates he spent nearly 40 hours a week online during the fall term of his freshman year, mostly to keep in contact with his long-distance girlfriend of the time.
“That term, I was joined at the hip with my computer,” he said.
But Carlson also admits to using minutes online to communicate with people that didn’t necessarily have a different zip code.
“I’d ‘I-M’ people down the hall because I was so lazy,” he said.
But long chatting sessions and hours of e-mailing are only a part of the Internet faze. The Web also offers free music from Napster, news groups and search engines such as Yahoo! that eat up the time of students who have easy Internet access from their rooms.
Brian Matson, a sophomore multimedia major who has lived in the residence halls for two years, said the Ethernet hook-up makes it twice as easy to quickly download music and movie clips and search for information. He added that because the access is so fast in comparison to dial-up modems, it also serves as a tempting distraction from other tasks such as homework.
Students also find the fast access convenient for classes. About 59 percent of all college courses now utilize e-mail, up from 20 percent in 1995, according to the 2000 Campus Computing Survey. Similarly, almost 43 percent of college courses now use Web resources as a component of the syllabus, up from 10.9 percent in 1995.
Besides the residence halls, other common forms of access are granted through the library, computer lab, or free dial-in connection.
Kenneth Green, founder of the Campus Computing Survey, said many institutions offer students free and fast Internet access because the Web has evolved from a luxury to a necessity in recent years.
“This trend just parallels what’s going on all over the world,” he said. “Students can communicate with other students, faculty members and researchers, and they have access that would be impossible years ago.”
But although the majority of freshmen live in the residence halls their first year and are introduced to the wonders of the Ethernet connection, moving out brings the challenge of satisfying the Internet hunger by other means.
Sophomore history major Jordan McDaniels who now dials-in through the University, said she sometimes misses the fast Internet service she had when she lived in the residence halls. She added that last year, she spent about 2-3 hours a day online, and now barely spends an hour a day.
Carlson had a high-speed connection sophomore year when he lived in Ducks Village, and currently stays connected through a commercial provider. He said he probably spends about an hour a day online to quickly do research for classes and trips, download music, e-mail and chat.
“I’m just an Internet junkie,” he said.