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Are You Satisfied with Your Relationships on Campus?
 
By Han Su-yeon, Student Editor
 
A 23-year-old female student had a boy friend for the first time in her life after a blind date. As she had longed for a relationship with the opposite sex, her friends and acquaintances congratulated her. Within a week she had grown tired of his boring character and showing off, so she decided to break up with him. She wrote him a farewell message and sent it at dawn, because she even hated to get a reply from him. A week long relationship was ended with just one text message. Advances in technology, especially Social Network Services (SNS) are letting students easily create relationships with others and part company from them more easily as well. People are always in a relationship with someone. At the end of the year 2011, how about taking a look at CNUians’ relationships on campus? The Chonnam Tribune makes sure it can help cultivate the right relationships with others.
 
Large Networks of Shallower Relationships
There are four typical kinds of relationships on campus: Friends, boyfriend/girlfriend, senior-junior and professor-student. The four relationships are considered important in Korean society. So, a university student is required to be responsible for his or her relations as a member of society. In suddenly widened relationships at the University, freshmen have different reactions to the situation. Are they satisfied with their human relations this year? Lee Seong-hak (Freshman, School of Economy) said, “Anywhere, including the university, interpersonal relations are same, I think. It’s not a difficult thing, especially at the University.” On the other hand, some are unsatisfied. Kim Min-ji (Freshman, Dept. of Political Science and International Relations) said, “It is hard for me to get used to senior-junior relationships. As time goes by, I find myself getting along with several friends.” People do not always get along with others in the same way.
Thankfully, widening your circle of friends at CNU has become easier than ever with help of SNS such as Facebook and Kakao Talk. Nam Min-ji (Sophomore, Dept. of English Language and Literature) said, “By using Facebook, I am aware of the recent news about someone who I am not close enough with to contact directly. Whenever I check his updated news, I think that I am sharing something in common with him.” But some CNUians do not fully trust the relationships in Facebook. Park Kyeong-seon (Freshman, School of Economy) said, “I think that relationships on campus are shallow and sometimes made by necessity. Facebook and Kakao Talk are triggering superficial relationships among people more and more.”
Between couples, it is increasing to give their lover the push by SNS. Kim Ha-eun (Senior, School of Business Administraion) said, “One day, my friend got a Kakao Talk message from her boy friend. It just said ‘jjong’. At that time, she thought he had called her in that way, as he thought of her as a puppy. But it was not.” ‘Jjong’ is a Korean slang meaning ‘the end’. Like parting company from lovers easily, there is a drift toward meeting lovers easily on-line which is called ‘social dating’. Choe Seok-man (Professor, Dept. of Sociology) said, “Conversation by Kakao Talk message is increasing among youngsters and is just the extension of human relationships. As a conversation can be always made immediately by cell-phone despite the physical distance, it is also natural to break up with someone immediately.”
 
The 4th Workshop of Socrates’ Conversation for CNUians
Conditions for a Good Relationship
It is important to get along with others, but it takes more time and effort to maintain personal relationships and have good ones. On this matter, the Department of Philosophy held the fourth Workshop of Socrates’ Conversation for CNUians from November 26th to 27th. Of two groups made for the workshop, one had time to talk about the conditions for a good relationship. Participants tend to distinguish clearly between friends and acquaintances on campus. A student even split his friends into some groups, and his friends in the top group were so-called ‘best friends’ to him. Although CNUians have a wide range of friends and acquaintances nowadays, they tend to take a more cautious attitude in making true friends. It means that university students are trying not only to gain in number but also not to lose in depth.
Before putting more importance between quantity and quality of human relationships, let’s think about some conditions for a good relationship first. Doctor Shim Ock-sook who teaches writing at CNU said, “Having delicate feelings toward a person is the basis of human relations. We must not just show our feelings to someone but share our emotions with others delicately.” To understand other people and improve personal relationships, intentional efforts are required to be accompanied by delicate feelings. As we cannot fully understand other people, making a conscious effort to understand them makes relationships better. Kim Ji-young (Sophomore, School of Business Administration) said, “A good relationship is made at the point when I do not lose myself in relations, at the same time we wholeheartedly feel thankful toward each other.”
  
Becoming friends at International Summer Session
Back to Basics!
The easier students make relationships, the harder it is to share deep emotions with each other. New ways to communicate as above may be needed in the information-oriented society. Nevertheless, have you ever lost your common decency towards your friends from depending on these easy ways? It must be a problem in one’s entire lifetime keeping the proper balance between a means and a purpose of making human relations. According to Dr. Shim, having a relationship does not mean that more than two worlds meet and become one. It means two worlds coexist and become one universe. Reviewing 2011 and preparing for 2012, how about looking back on relationships you have made and self-evaluating?
저작권자 © Chonnam Tribune 무단전재 및 재배포 금지