E-Paper
How will we post that cool selfie now?: DU students
Sharing a selfie or posting a status has become cumbersome for students of some colleges as applications like Facebook and Whatsapp are failing to work when operated via Wifi connectivity provided by Delhi University.
Can you imagine a day without being able to use Whatsapp or Facebook? Or a day without being able to share all that cool stuff with your friends and followers on the social media platform? Or not being able to post those fun selfies? What will happen to all the witty status updates of you had no access to Facebook or Twitter? Many may flip, right? But our college goers in Delhi University are trying to cope with such atrocious WiFi conditions in the campus. The Wifi connectivity provided by Delhi University (DU) reportedly restricts the usage of social media apps.
A third year student of Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR) who wished to remain anonymous, says, “We haven’t been able to access Facebook over college Wifi for two-three days now, and since yesterday even Whatsapp is not working. We don’t really mind that we can’t use Facebook but not being able to use Whatsapp makes us feel very crippled. Saara information dissemination wahi hota hai. Society meetings, classes, and baaki sab important things we discuss over groups on messengers.”
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The problem is being faced only by students of colleges where Wifi is provided by Delhi University Computer Centre (DUCC). A member of the student union of LSR says, “We asked the IT waale bhaiya of the college yesterday why our Whatsapp and Facebook isn’t working, and if he had changed any proxy settings. He told us that these apps aren’t working because people at DU have changed the settings.”
While some students have noticed the issues only recently, students at other colleges have been facing the problem for some time now. Karuna Khurana, a BSc Physical Science student, at Gargi College, says, “We can’t access Instagram also! And this has been happening for a week now. Authorities ko kuch puchte hain toh baat taal dete hain by saying that peeche se kuch hua hoga. How will we share our photos and statuses with friends?”
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Swati Ayyala, a graduate from Maitreyi College, believes that the reason behind the move could be the misuse of these applications by students. She says, “A lot of students use these apps during exams for cheating.It makes sharing photos of notes and answer sheets easy. Also, they’re a distraction of sorts for students in college so it could be that as well.”
However, Shashi Tyagi, the principal of Gargi College, says that she has no idea about these applications not working in the college. The same is reiterated by J M Khurana, the Dean of Students’ Welfare, who says, “I don’t think aisa ho sakta hai ki social networking sites are being blocked but only someone from DUCC will be able to tell.”
On calling DUCC, they said that they were not allowed to comment.
