Miss Senior Kayla McClellan hosted an open discussion for the student body Monday titled "The Social Effect", shedding light on how relationships and bonds between people can be affected by pictures and quotes uploaded on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in addition to courtships depicted from popular reality television shows.
"I previously was scrolling through my timeline on Instagram and noticed how everything was negative," said McClellan. "I then began to take into consideration that the posts were inspired by something that had either been viewed or heard from television or music."
McClellan separated the male and female attendees of the event and placed them on two separate sides of the room. Beginning the event was a mock run of the popular television show Family Feud that was hosted by campus favorite Shelby Prout.
Following the game the discussion began between both sexes to answer preselected questions that were composed by McClellan.
One in particular that received numerous responses from the audience was "What makes a man thirsty"
While it is apparent that the term "thirsty" refers to a person needing a beverage to hydrate themselves, in the demographic group aged 18-34, being thirsty is defined as a man or woman who is eager to receive either attention from someone or is adamant about wanting to follow through with attempted pursuits.
While the question received several responses from both males and females, the response that obtained the most reactions from the audience came from student Daniel Lawson.
"Females create thirst and expect males to not react. For instance, if a female uploads a picture late at night, revealing certain body parts, then of course a guy is going to like the picture and possibly comment. We’re men. It’s in our nature," said the criminal justice major.
"In my opinion, social media has a lot of power and influence over relationships in this day and age. Social media has more often than not destroyed many relationships due to the over analyzing of posts and comments," added Lawson.
Closing the event was senior SGA cabinet member Tiara Thomas, who shed light on social media and reality television. "What some people are unaware of is that reality TV is a business that brings a lack of professionalism as well as creates negative stereotypes about African Americans," said Thomas.
"I’m not against reality TV shows, just how women of color are depicted; as baby mamas, drama-filled, argumentative," added Thomas.
While many enjoy tuning in every week to view popular shows such as Love and Hip-Hop, Black Ink and The Bad Girls Club, it’s important to remember that everything you see in front of you is not always real.