Technology, time and transition in higher education – two different realities of everyday Facebook use in the first year of university in the UK

Abstract

Within the range of websites and apps that are part of first-year undergraduates' digital environments, the social network site Facebook is perhaps the most popular and prominent. As such, the ubiquitous nature of Facebook in the higher education landscape has drawn much attention from scholars. Drawing on data from a longitudinal connective ethnography, this paper uses two ethnographic stories to explore further the realities of social media usage by newly enrolled undergraduate students in a UK university. These ethnographic stories tell two differing tales – one of connection, intent, use and organisation – the other, of disconnection, disengagement and unrealised expectations. Facebook structures students' time at university both through connection and disconnection practices and examples of these are presented under two headings ‘I'm always on it’ and ‘Being academic’. First-year student experiences of Higher Education and social media use are not uniform, but nuanced and responsive to their specific ecosocial systems.