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<p>No, you move. The one thing I was able to take away from the inevitable bad roommate situations was to move and then try not to let it ruin the friendship. It’s hard to live with someone and whatever issues you had with the person as a roommate can be separated from whatever about them that makes them worth having as a friend.</p>
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<p>LOL. OMG, it must be the NYT Education Life section!</p>
<p>“Let’s quote one person’s opinion, make some unfounded generalizations, and sell papers. Certainly, it’ll get linked on College Confidential, and we quote them all the time, so they owe us.”</p>
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I think there is some truth to this, probably–but it is just part of a much broader effect. Does the easy communication promote too much dependence, or is there a new model of interdependence? I can certainly attest that my son solicits our advice in ways that would simply have been impractical when I was in college. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.</p>
<p>My sisters and I went to college when there were land lines in dorm rooms, but no cells, and long distance was expensive. My father’s firm got an 800 number around that time, so we could call him during business hours from any phone. That was a lifesaver many times!</p>
<p>A friend’s only child/daughter leaves for college this fall…</p>
<p>…expecting to see a new helo pad on the dorm roof!</p>
<p>I really want to get a triple. I love the feeling of constantly hanging out with friends and even if once in a while I want some privacy I’ll go outside or the library or something. Honestly college is about being social if you want to sit in a dorm room by yourself so be it. I honestly love the chaos of being in dorm rooms (I’ve stayed at numerous dorms for LAX camp) and am looking foward to it greatly in college.</p>
<p>My parents got involved one time. A girl had my dorm room over the summer and kept my phone line so she wouldn’t have to pay the installation charges. Then a friend of hers ran up a big long-distance bill and didn’t pay it! The girl said, “Sorry, she’s not paying me, so I can’t pay you!” Of course I protested, but she didn’t care. I found out her parents’ phone number, and my mom called hers. The mother was embarrassed and paid us right away. The girl was nasty to me about it!</p>
<p>About 6 years later I took a scuba diving certification course (not related to the university), and she was in the class! I just ignored her.</p>
<p>Seems to me the article in the first post is more about misuse of cell phones than helicopter parents: " “We have students who are mad at each other and they text each other in the same room,” says Tom Kane, director of housing at Appalachian State University, in Boone, N.C."</p>
<p>It will be interesting when my S goes off to college sans a cell phone—he doesn’t carry one at home and has no desire to have one at college either. Fortunately his school still does have land line in the dorm rooms.</p>
<p>“Does the easy communication promote too much dependence, or is there a new model of interdependence?”</p>
<p>Good question. My son calls to ask what he should wear to walk to the store in the snow. Sure he grew up in S. FL and is now on Boston, but BITD you would have looked around to see what other people are wearing or ask room/suite mates for advise. Long distance calls were expensive so it was not so easy to consult Mom and Dad for everything. You figured things out.</p>
<p>Romantic relationships, especially long distance, are greatly affected by easy communication and not always for the good, IMO. Relationships that should have died a natural death are often extended due to the ease and convenience of communication. In the end actual real life communication skills may suffer and the student’s college experience may be marred by an inability to grow and move forward.</p>