網路與我 My Internet And I
-A special bonding between NCU students and their computers
Taiwan is a small island packed with over a hundred universities. (Yes, it’s true, the result of some misplaced education policy.) Most universities strive to fill their limited campus space with buildings, and only if possible, plant a few trees here and there. In contrast, NCU is known for its lines of tall pine trees and carpets of soft green lawns. We might expect students to be taking naps under big trees or chatting with friends on the lawns, but, are students really in the mood to stop and smell the flowers?
Not really. The privilege of napping under tree shades and picnicking on the grassy lawns are left for campus visitors who flock here on weekends. Where are the students? You might wonder. Well, they are on campus, expect they seem to be glued to their computers. For them, the Internet is their world.
Students in NCU are known to have the ability to sit in front of their computers for five hours straight and not even show any sign of tiredness. They linger on the many BBS boards, play online games, surf websites, and google for their mid-term papers. The only time you see lots of student wandering around campus is when hook-up problems emerge and they need to crowd into the school’s computer center.
Students in other universities might hang out with friends after school, go shopping or have a cup of coffee. The Internet is just a tool to kill time. But for students in NCU, they would die without the Internet; they have developed the habit of relying on the Internet and squeezing their life into a 17-inch box. Some might blame this unhealthy friendship on NCU’s secluded location. Yet, NCU happens to have one of the most comfortable environments among the universities in Taiwan, and if students really want to have some fun, the city is only a fifteen-minute ride away. So it is rather the students’ choice to stay with their computers instead of taking a walk around campus or going downtown. It is the student’s choice to chitchat online rather than meet one another face-to-face. All in all, one can only hope that this NCU way of living would result in the extra benefit of preparing students for the on-line world in the future.
-A special bonding between NCU students and their computers
Taiwan is a small island packed with over a hundred universities. (Yes, it’s true, the result of some misplaced education policy.) Most universities strive to fill their limited campus space with buildings, and only if possible, plant a few trees here and there. In contrast, NCU is known for its lines of tall pine trees and carpets of soft green lawns. We might expect students to be taking naps under big trees or chatting with friends on the lawns, but, are students really in the mood to stop and smell the flowers?
Not really. The privilege of napping under tree shades and picnicking on the grassy lawns are left for campus visitors who flock here on weekends. Where are the students? You might wonder. Well, they are on campus, expect they seem to be glued to their computers. For them, the Internet is their world.
Students in NCU are known to have the ability to sit in front of their computers for five hours straight and not even show any sign of tiredness. They linger on the many BBS boards, play online games, surf websites, and google for their mid-term papers. The only time you see lots of student wandering around campus is when hook-up problems emerge and they need to crowd into the school’s computer center.
Students in other universities might hang out with friends after school, go shopping or have a cup of coffee. The Internet is just a tool to kill time. But for students in NCU, they would die without the Internet; they have developed the habit of relying on the Internet and squeezing their life into a 17-inch box. Some might blame this unhealthy friendship on NCU’s secluded location. Yet, NCU happens to have one of the most comfortable environments among the universities in Taiwan, and if students really want to have some fun, the city is only a fifteen-minute ride away. So it is rather the students’ choice to stay with their computers instead of taking a walk around campus or going downtown. It is the student’s choice to chitchat online rather than meet one another face-to-face. All in all, one can only hope that this NCU way of living would result in the extra benefit of preparing students for the on-line world in the future.